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The ASEAN Plus Three Forum on Quality Assurance in Higher Education, held in Kuala Lumpur from 10th to 11th October 2012 was organized by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). The forum themed - „Building Regional Confidence towards Harmonizing Higher Education of the ASEAN Plus Three Countries‟- was attended by the representatives of quality assurance agencies, institutions and ministries of higher education from the ASEAN Plus Three and ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN) member countries. The forum was also attended by MQA‟s quality partners as well as local participants from the higher education institutions.
The two-day program was officiated by the Honorable Minister of Higher Education Malaysia, Dato‟ Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
Professor Dr. Andrejs Rauhvargers, Secretary General of the Latvian Rectors‟ Conference and Chairman of the Bologna Follow Up Group delivered a keynote address on the theme of the forum. This was followed by four plenary sessions addressing the four subthemes of the forum: “Revisiting the Principles of Qualifications Framework System”, “Revisiting the Principles of External Quality Assurance Agency”, “Revisiting the Principles of External Quality Assurance Processes” and “Revisiting the Principles of Institutional Quality Assurance System”.
The forum also included a special session on the ASEAN-QA Project. It was continued with the 2012 AQAN Roundtable Meeting. Here you will find more information.

« A key element that we believe should be added to the work on how to effectively strengthen the social safety net and make more people feel happy with their lives is to promote lifelong learning. Improving and activating the system of lifelong education is needed not just to help people remain competitive and competent at the workplace but make their life more lively and meaningful.
Lifelong learning can be defined as self-motivated pursuit of knowledge and skills for either personal or professional reasons. Thus, it contributes to enhancing social inclusion, active citizenship and personal fulfillment beyond individual employability and competitiveness. Over the past decades, scientific and technological innovations have changed the public’s attitude toward learning, leading them to recognise that it is not confined to childhood or the classroom but goes on throughout life and in a diversity of circumstances. In terms of traditional brick and mortar schooling, Korea is one of the best-educated nations in the world. But it remains far lower than other major countries in the proportion of people who engage in self-directed learning throughout their lives.
According to a survey by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), nearly 40 per cent of Koreans aged 25-64 received university-level or higher education in 2009, compared to the OECD average of 30 per cent. But slightly over 30 per cent of Korean adults participated in various types of lifelong learning such as not-for-credit courses by universities, lessons at private institutes or community centres and online programmes in 2010. The ratio fell far short of the 2007 OECD average of 40.8 per cent. Source: Editorial Desk, The Korea Herald.

By Bassam Al-Shamori. SANA’A, Jan. 27 — A spokesperson for the Sana’a University Employees’ Syndicate, Mohammed Abdulqawi Al-Absi, declared a comprehensive strike on Sunday at several of Yemen’s government universities to protest the passing of a law that allows academics to be elected to senior positions at the university while preventing administrative staff from running for the positions.
Al-Absi told the Yemen Times that the syndicate agreed with Sana’a University employees on Saturday to instigate a strike.
As of Sunday, the strike was operating at four universities, Sana’a University, Damar University, Ibb University and Amran University. Read more...

By Robert Huesca. Taking an administrative leave in Benin for the past six months provided an eye-opening contrast to my first study-abroad experience, in Mexico City back in 1980. Of particular note was the insidious impact of new communication technologies on living and learning in another culture.
As a former director of the office of international programs at Trinity University, in San Antonio, I am particularly attuned to the issues that concern professionals in study abroad—ranging from cultural immersion to health and safety. All of those issues seem to have been transformed for good and for ill by advances in information and communication technology.
While in Benin, I lived in the town of Ouidah, population 90,000, on the Atlantic coast of this West African republic. I had signed up with a program called the Humanity Exchange, which organizes volunteer opportunities and French-language instruction. Read more...

By Justin Pope. After two strong years, college and university endowments lost ground slightly during the fiscal year ending last June 30, with their investments declining 0.3 percent on average, according to a new study.
U.S. stock markets have risen around 10 percent since then, and many global markets are also higher, so recent performance is likely stronger.
Endowments are the assets owned and invested by universities, who typically spend about 4 to 5 percent of their values annually to support things like financial aid, faculty salaries and other expenses — and then try to replenish the payouts through fundraising and investment returns. Read more...

By Whitney Burdette. Colleges and universities depend largely on donations, and if one estimate holds true, giving to higher education institutions is on track to exceed the watermark set before the 2009 recession.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education found in a survey that giving to colleges and universities grew by 5.5 percent in 2012. The survey also predicts additional growth of 5.8 percent in 2013, exceeding "the high watermark set just prior to the recession," according to CASE President John Lippincott.
"This is very good news," he said in a news release.
Donations to higher education institutions reached a record $31.6 billion in the 2007-2008 school year before dramatically declining the next year, thanks in part to the economic downturn. However, giving began to increase again in 2010, reaching $30.3 billion in the 2010-2011 academic year, according to the Voluntary Support of Education report issued by the Council for Aid to Education. Read more...

By Maan. The Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education on Sunday issued an official condemnation over a Gaza university’s decision to implement an “Islamic” dress code for female students.
Al-Aqsa University president Salam al-Agha told Ma’an Sunday that the code, which is set to be implemented when the new semester begins, does not require the jilbab (full-length coat) or niqab (face-veil), but rather what he termed dress befitting of the university.
He said students would not be expelled for violations of the dress code. Read more...

The chairmen of five parliamentary committees have written to David Cameron to urge him to remove overseas student numbers from migration targets.
They are asking him to "reconcile" the "tensions" between tougher restrictions and the desire for economic growth.
Net migration figures fell last year, with officials saying this was "largely due" to a drop in foreign students.
But the government says it is committed to stamping out abuses of the immigration system. Read more...