ASEAN YOUNG QUALITY ASSURANCE OFFICERS FORUM AND ROUNDTABLE MEETING 2015

The ASEAN Young Quality Assurance Officers Forum and Roundtable Meeting was held in Putrajaya on 19 & 20 November 2015. Themed “Peer Ingenuities – Approaches to and Challenges in Quality Assurance of Higher Education”, the event was organised by the ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN) and hosted by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).

The forum featured four topics, namely:

1. National Quality Assurance and Quali­fications System
2. ASEAN Qualifi­cations Reference Framework (AQRF)
3. ASEAN Quality Assurance Framework (AQAF)
4. Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

The forum was officiated by the Minister of Higher Education Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Idris Bin Jusoh. Among those present were key speakers from around the region and more than 130 local and international participants.

In his opening address, Dato’ Seri Idris Bin Jusoh said that young quality assurance (QA) officers have a big role to ensure the sustainability of quality assurance in higher education. As the region aims to be the centre of future higher educational excellence, he stressed that it is vital for young QA officers to keep up to date with current best practices, and progress and innovations in quality assurance as part of their continuous professional development.

“To achieve this, it is the responsibility of the QA agencies to create the environment that educates, encourages and empowers these young people, to realise their potentials and to be effective part of the next generation leadership that will promote positive change for a more prosperous region and economic growth,” said Dato’ Seri Idris Bin Jusoh.

He added that the ASEAN Quality Assurance Framework (AQAF) was established with the ultimate aim to contribute towards the AEC.

“Its implementation is expected to improve the quality of education in the ASEAN region as well as intensify the mobility of students, workers and professional from within and outside the region, hence promoting regional harmonisation in higher education.

“Another expected key contributor to AEC, the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF), developed under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), entails its fundamental function as the device to enable comparisons of qualifications across ASEAN member states,” he said.

Dato’ Seri Idris Bin Jusoh explained that these comparisons will support the recognition of qualifications, facilitate lifelong learning and promote learner and worker mobility. As most ASEAN countries move towards producing a more skilled workforce through the revitalisation of the TVET sector, the increase of the mobility of these workers within the ASEAN region can be expected.

“I foresee the huge potential of AQRF in addressing this scenario and in creating regional integration, as it supports and enhances each member state’s national qualifications framework while providing a mechanism to facilitate comparison, transparency and higher quality qualifications systems.

“Beyond ASEAN, the AQRF will link the national qualifications frameworks and become a part of the ASEAN’s mechanism for recognition of its qualifications against other regional qualifications systems, and this will subtly promote the competitiveness of qualifications awarded within the ASEAN region.”

In concluding his speech, Dato’ Seri Idris Bin Jusoh said that AQAF and AQRF are intended to bring together the wealth of ASEAN values, expectations, and good practices for quality assurance to benefit all bodies and institutions across ASEAN member countries. He encouraged all members to make use of AQAF and AQRF for the improvement and harmonisation of quality assurance and qualifications systems at the sectoral, national, regional and international level.