AUN/SEED-Net held the 12th Steering Committee Meeting on 19 January 2007 at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore. The meeting was chaired by NUS Dean of Faculty of Engineering Prof. Dr. Seeram Ramakrishna, with 44 attendants from Member Institutions (MIs), ASEAN Secretariat, AUN Secretariat, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and AUN/SEED-Net Secretariat.

At the opening ceremony, Second Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education of Singapore Mrs. Tan Ching Yee, NUS President Prof. Dr. Shih Choon Fong, and Director General of Human Development Department of JICA Headquarters Mr. Kikuchi Fumio were invited to deliver speeches to the audience. They admired the spirit of the network established by the AUN/SEED-Net Project and supported the Project’s continuation to continually benefit the development of the whole region.

Apart from a progress report of the AUN/SEED-Net Project for the fiscal year 2006, main agenda of the meeting was a review of the proposal of the second phase of the AUN/SEED-Net Project. The proposal, drafted after the resolution of the Preparation Meeting for the 12th Steering Committee Meeting on 1 December 2006, described the detailed activity plan for the next five years after March 2008. It was agreed that some existing activities should be continued while new programs should be designed to serve the project objectives of the next phase; namely MIs’ capacity enhancement, contribution to industry and community through interdisciplinary collaborative research, further strengthening of the engineering network, and move towards “ASEAN-Japan Partnership Universities of Technology”.

The project activities would be implemented with supports from MIs and their governments, ASEAN bodies, and JICA. These contributions from all stakeholders show their appreciation and strong desires for the AUN/SEED-Net Project and would lead finally to the network’s sustainability. With higher objectives and more funding sources, the project size of the second phase was expected to be similar to, or even larger than, the size of the current phase. After the review, the Steering Committee approved the proposal to be submitted officially to all stakeholders.

Fully operated since April 2003, the AUN/SEED-Net Project will end its initial phase of five years in March 2008. It would be reexamined at the Final Evaluation in mid 2007 to assess its achievements and make suggestions for the future activities.

Information and Communication Technologies are playing a vital role in all sectors of industries and communities. Such kinds of technologies have been progressed rapidly, while demand for engineers who have strong background in information and communication technologies in South East Asian region is growing drastically.

Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) is honour to be selected as a host institution for the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) under the AUN/SEED-Net Project with kind support of JICA. Seven departments at KMITL are involving in the AUN/SEED-Net graduate courses namely: Telecommunication Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Computer Engineering, Control Engineering, Instrumentation Engineering and Information Engineering. With more than 200 academic staffs in the seven departments the students in the program under the ICT field have great opportunities to find the best suitable topics for their research interests.

From the inception of the AUN/SEED-Net, KMITL has produced so far 18 graduated students with master degree, who are currently working in their countries as academic staff in universities, and some of them have continued their studies to the doctoral level. Two doctoral students will graduate in the early of year 2007. Supporting programs such as the Collaborative Research Program with numerous helps from Tokai University and Hokkaido University in Japan play an important scheme to the graduation of those students. Such program also strengthens the relationship between member institutions, host institution and Japanese supporting universities.

During the Japanese Fiscal Year 2006, there have been many activities for the ICT field. In 2006, KMITL in cooperation with Gadjah Mada University organized the Field Wise Seminar in Control Engineering at Indonesia. In January 2007, academic staffs did promotion trips to National University of Laos, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, and Hanoi University of Technology with an overwhelming interest in the AUN/SEED-Net programme from the Lao and Vietnamese students. Additionally, in February 2007, KMITL arranged the Field Wise Seminar with the scheme of "Advanced Topics in Communication Technologies" with guest speakers from Chulalongkorn University, Institute of Technology Bandung and National University of Laos. It was very gratitude to have Japanese professors from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokai University, and Hokkaido University attending this seminar and gave excellent presentations and valuable guidance during the seminar.

We are now approaching the end of Phase I for the AUN/SEED-Net, and the outcome from the project has been proved successfully in human resource development among South East Asian countries. We hope that this relationship among member institutions will create the beneficial enhancement of South East Asian countries in Engineering Education.

Until this moment all of us in the AUN/SEED-Net network have recognized positive impacts of the network on engineering education development of the Member Institutions and we really expect for continuation of the Project. However, the fact that we are ‘inside’ the network as implementers might somewhat bias our views on AUN/SEED-Net.

To get a deeper truth, ‘outside perspectives’ are valuable to the network. Recently the AUN/SEED-Net Secretariat has reviewed news and articles in several media to find out outsiders’ views on AUN/SEED-Net. Let’s explore their views.

The Bangkok Shuho, a Japanese newspaper in Thailand, published an article about the AUN/SEED-Net Project in January 2006 after the Signing Ceremony of the Minutes of Meetings of the Mid-Term Evaluation. Learning about the Project and its evaluation results, the Bangkok Shuho published some interesting comments on the Project (translated from Japanese):

“AUN/SEED-Net is not only a degree program. It is unique because it encourages not only relationship between ASEAN and Japan but also among ASEAN countries. This project is promoting so-called South-South Cooperation.

Academic capacity of host institutions in ASEAN countries has been enhanced through setting up new English courses and getting support from Japan for seminars and collaborative researches.”

Mr. ARAKI Mitsuya, President of the International Development Journal and Chairman of the International Development Education Center, Tokushoku University, as well as member of several committees on international development of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, visited Bangkok and Indonesia in October 2006 to learn more about the AUN/SEED-Net Project. After meeting many key persons involving with the Project and some scholars studying in both countries, he expressed his view about the Project in the International Development Journal Issue No. 602 (January 2007) as following (translated from Japanese):

“AUN/SEED-Net is one of the most important networks. Needless to say, its network shall create human linkage not only among the ASEAN region, whose area will function as the hub for ASEAN Community framework, but also between Japan and ASEAN.”

In the same journal, he also published the interview with Prof. Dr. Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro, Director-General of Higher Education, Ministry of National Education of Indonesia, who gave the following comments on AUN/SEED-Net:

“The Higher Education Bureau hopes that more universities will be internationalized by becoming members of AUN/SEED-Net by 2010.

It is not too much to say that many foreign students studying in Indonesia shall promote the internationalization of universities in Indonesia. In this context, AUN/SEED-Net will play a big role.”

The Director-General reiterated his opinion in the article published in the Yomiuri Shimbun on 16 February 2007:

“Based on my observation, the AUN/SEED-Net Project has been very successful in bringing up the opportunities for the ASEAN scholars to enjoy quality education provided by prominent institutions. The impact of the project has been significant for the Indonesian higher education institutions in developing their internationalization programs. This project also strengthens the collaboration between Japanese higher education institutions and Indonesian higher education institutions and also strengthens the ties between the two countries.

I expect that in the future more scholars can join the project, and also more institutions can participate in the program covering more study fields.”

From these perspectives, it can be concluded that AUN/SEED-Net has been perceived as one of the most important networks in strengthening capacity of the member institutions and promoting academic linkage among ASEAN countries as well as between ASEAN and Japan. Although it is still a long, rough way to the ultimate success - the sustainable development of the region, many people have relied on AUN/SEED-Net members to realize their expectations and achieve such goal.