Bangkok, 21-22 March 2023 – To promote the SEAMEO Education Agenda in revitalizing teacher education in Southeast Asia, the SEAMEO Secretariat convened the SEA-Teacher Student Exchange Summit on 21-22 March 2023 at Avani Hotel Sukhumvit with the participation of 155 university presidents, directors and deans from 78 universities in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. At the end, the collective Letter of Agreement (LoA) to implement the student exchange in 2023 was signed by the participating universities. Over 375 bilateral agreements were committed by the SEA-Teacher Network.  

The main objectives of the meeting were to seek commitments from the participating institutions in implementing the 9th batch of the SEA-Teacher Project in the middle of 2023. Along with the programme, participants gained in-depth information about the other SEAMEO academic mobility programmes namely SEAMEO RIHED’s Asian International Mobility for Students (AIMS) as well as SEA-TVET Student Exchange Programme. In addition, the Summit also presented the innovative approaches and experiences on SEA-Teacher Student Exchange during the COVID-19 pandemic by honorable speakers from Universitas Kristen (Indonesia); Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, (Philippines); Mariano Marcos State University (Philippines); Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University under the Royal Patronage (Thailand); and University of Tsukuba (Japan).

Dr Ethel Agnes Pascua Valenzuela, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat delivered the welcome message

Session 2: Sharing Innovative Approaches and Experiences on SEA- Teacher Student Exchange during the COVID-19 Pandemic

A total of 155 participants comprising of presidents and management-level officials from 78 universities and teacher education institutes in Southeast Asian countries attended the meeting. These included 30 universities from Indonesia, 37 universities from Philippines, 10 universities from Thailand, and 1 university from Vietnam.

One of the highlights of the meeting was the networking session.  The participating universities were encouraged to actively establish partnership with other universities in different areas such as student exchange, teacher development programmes, joint researches, and other academic collaboratons. At the end of the networking sesison, over 375 biraletal agreements were signed by the participating universities.

Signing of Bilateral Agreements among the universities

Signing Ceremony of the LoA of the 9th batch

On 22 March morning, the SEA-Teacher participants were arranged to visit Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University under the Royal Patronage (VRU) in Pathum Thani. Assoc Prof Dr Sombat Kotchasit, President of VRU, as well as the university administrators welcomed the participants to visit VRU Demonstration School, Faculty of Education, and College of Innovative Management.

Study visit at Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University under the Royal Patronage (VRU), Pathum Thani province

The SEA-Teacher project was initiated to improve pre-service student teachers' English proficiency, 21st century skills, and global competitiveness as well as the internationalization of participating universities in Southeast Asian countries. In addition, pre-service student teachers will be able to develop their teaching skills and pedagogy in a variety of teaching and learning experiences.

Since 2016, a total of 2,294 students was mobilised by 113 universities in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam under the SEA-Teacher Project. The implementation of 9 batch was unfortunately postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.

The next SEA-teacher Student Exchange Summit will be hosted by Chiang Mai Rajabhat University, Chiang Rai Rajabhat University and Lampang Rajabhat University in February 2024.

For more information, please visit http://seateacher.seameo.org