Introduction

Details
Schedules and Venues
Workshops
Plenaries
Fees and Aid

Plenary I: Higher Education in Asia 

Human capital is a critical component of economic growth and development.  Quickly growing economies demand skilled laborers with the technical capacities.  East Asia's rapid rise to prosperity has been accompanied by substantial investment in higher education.  Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean universities are consistently ranked among Asia's top 100 universities.  These countries have recruited foreign talent and encouraged their students to study abroad, with incentives to return home afterward.  It is well-known that, together, India and China annually produce nearly fifteen times as many engineers as the United States.  Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew preaches the importance of higher education throughout Southeast Asia, particularly to countries that are struggling to modernize their education systems, encourage research and development, and keep the best students in the country.  How exactly does education interact with economic development in Asia? What is the future of higher education in the region?  Will Southeast Asia be able to catch up?  Is privatization the solution?  This plenary will examine the current state of education policy and educational reform in Asia, seeking to understand the sources of success and failure in different countries.  Delegates will hear from education professionals and specialists from both East and Southeast Asia.

Plenary II: ASEAN as an Economic and Geopolitical Region

Since its inception in 1967, ASEAN has expanded to encompass 10 nations with a total population of nearly 600 million.  ASEAN represents a very different form of regional cooperation from the European Union: it rests upon the foundational principle of non-interference in its members' domestic affairs.  This policy is under pressure, however, with the recent international outcry over the protests in Myanmar and the 2007 ASEAN Charter, which seeks to support democratic reform and human rights in member nations.  The geopolitical calculus for the region has also changed dramatically over the past 10 years.  American foreign policy has treated the region primarily as a ground for fighting Islamic terrorism, while China has made a concerted effort to expand its influence with ASEAN countries.  China has met with substantial success with its use trade, cultural and development projects to exert 'soft power' in Southeast Asia (despite periodic disruptions, like the territorial disputes with Vietnam in the South China Sea).  This plenary will examine the recent history of Southeast Asian regional cooperation and ASEAN's political and economic relationships with the rest of the world.   

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