Enhancement of Member Institutions’ academic and research capacity has been one of the AUN/SEED-Net’s missions since the official start of the project in 2003. During Phase I (2003-2008), the capacity of AUN/SEED-Net’s Member Institutions had been enhanced mainly through the Graduate Degree Programs with the complement of supporting programs such as Short-term Visit Programs within ASEAN and to Japan. These visiting programs focused mainly on the Host Institutions. For non-host Member Institutions, they were encouraged to be involved in Collaborative Research Program in order to be able to conduct a short visit to Host Institutions to discuss research collaboration.
In Phase II of the AUN/SEED-Net Project, the support for visit is expanded to cover all Member Institutions including non-host Member Institutions through a supporting program called Short-term Visit in ASEAN (SVAS). Faculty staff of the Member Institutions, including those who are AUN/SEED-Net graduates, will be eligible to receive the support to visit other Member Institutions in ASEAN for a period of not more than 30 days for various purposes such as doing research, discussion on future collaboration, technical assistance, etc. In case that the visit is for research, the topic should be related to on-going Collaborative Research (CR) umbrellas (themes).
Considering the huge need of higher education development of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) compared to other countries in the ASEAN region, higher priority will be given to faculty staff or AUN/SEED-Net graduates who are now working at the Member Institutions in CLMV countries.
Through the implementation of this program, participating faculty staff can continuously improve their knowledge and research capacity as well as to strengthen their relationship with other Member Institutions. Ultimately, the closer collaboration among Member Institutions (host and non-host) is expected and it could lead to more common research themes that respond better to the needs of the region. |