On 28-29 July 2013 RIAC Programme Manager Ludmila Filippova and RIAC expert Nargis Valamat-Zade attended the 2nd APEC International Conferenceon cooperation in tertiary education “Mobility of Higher Education in the APEC Region”.
The conference was held in Vladivostok, at its Far East Federal University, co-sponsored by the Russian Ministry for Education and Science, Foreign Affairs Ministry and Ministry for Economic Development of the Russian Federation.
On 28-29 July 2013 RIAC Programme Manager Ludmila Filippova and RIAC expert Nargis Valamat-Zade attended the 2nd APEC International Conferenceon cooperation in tertiary education “Mobility of Higher Education in the APEC Region”.
The conference was held in Vladivostok, at its Far East Federal University, co-sponsored by the Russian Ministry for Education and Science, Foreign Affairs Ministry and Ministry for Economic Development of the Russian Federation.
The conference was opened by the Primorie Vice-Governor, Mrs Irina Vasilkova; the speaker of the Primorie Legislature, Mr Viktor Gorchakov; the Secretary General of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), Dr. Christoper Tremewan; the Deputy Director of the Department of Tertiary Education Policies at the Russian Ministry for Education and Science, Mr. Valery Dubitsky; and the Vice-President for International Affairs of the Far East Federal University, Mr. Vladimir Kurilov.
Asia Pacific is evolving into one of the world’s most dynamic markets for education. Asia Pacific countries are joining the global education space, integrating their curricula with the world’s leading universities and promoting a competitive Asia Pacific sector of education services. The growing scientific and educational exchanges and networking involving both undergraduates and faculty from universities all across the region allow for more flexibility in education choices, facilitating innovations in the economy and its attractiveness for investors; in the case of Russia, it also helps consolidate its Far East Region’s integration in Asia Pacific. Brad Fenwick, Elsevier's Vice President of Global Academic & Research Relations,presented some research findings demonstratinga direct relationship between international networking of schools and their citation index, which is particularly relevant for the Russian science and higher education.
Discussing some specific steps to facilitate regional university networking, conference delegates proposed to internationalise plans of study based on the regional qualifications framework; implement mutual recognition among universities of the region; set up task forces to harmonise study calendars across the countries; introduce more short-term educational programmes to promote the emerging aspects in education and raise awareness of longer-term curricula.
However, representatives from different universities repeatedly noted that for regional universities to interact constructively, the “invisible hand” of the government should play the coordinating role in the process of internationalising education and science. The proposed agenda can only be achieved through the financial support of the government and on the basis of intergovernmental agreements.
Russia’s Far East Federal University has made substantial progress in supporting mobility of its students and faculty. In the past year, the number of undergraduates involved in the Far East University’s international curricula doubled from 600 to 1,200; thereare plans to achieve 25 per cent of foreign undergraduates in the total by 2019. As part of the researchers’ mobility efforts, in 2012 the university’s faculty members made over 60 research trips to the US, about 200 to Asian countries and almost50 such trips to Australia. The Far East Federal University is to support the forthcoming opening of research and cultural communications centres in 11 cities in China, Vietnam and Malaysia.
