Participants of the recent 4th ASEM Rectors’ Conference (ARC4) and Students’ Forum, based on the theme, University-Business Partnerships: Asia and Europe Seeking 21st Century Solutions, considered the 2 events a huge success.
At the end of the events, 2 sets of Policy Recommendations, on how to enhance university-business partnerships, were produced. These recommendations were developed by more than 100 university leaders from 43 ASEM member countries and 51 students from the entire ASEM constituency. The recommendations contributed as a voice from the civil society to the deliberations of the 5th ASEM Education Ministers’ Meeting (ASEM ME5) on 27-28 April 2015 in Riga, Latvia. The Ministers acknowledged the value of the Recommendations by including them as an integral part of the Chair’s Statement, which is the final outcome document of the Ministerial Meeting.
The Policy Recommendations tackle 3 core areas of university-business cooperation:
How can universities and the business sector (a) enhance their partnerships in order to equip students with employability skills demanded by the modern labour market, (b) better cooperate to cultivate entrepreneurship, (c) jointly create new learning and teaching environments through information and communication technologies?
The Recommendations from ARC4 and Students’ Forum have been further channelled to stakeholders of the ASEM Education Process from government, academia and business.