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Intra‐ASEAN student mobility: overview, challenges and opportunities

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DOI: 10.1108/JARHE-07-2019-0178

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Intra-ASEAN student mobility: Overview of

Intra-ASEAN
overview, challenges student
mobility
and opportunities
Roger Yap Chao Jr.
International Education Development Consultant, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Received 4 July 2019
Revised 14 January 2020
Abstract Accepted 1 March 2020
Purpose – This paper explores the issue of developing and enhancing intra-ASEAN international student
mobility given the context of ASEAN integration, regionalization of ASEAN higher education and the various
intra-ASEAN student mobility schemes currently implemented.
Design/methodology/approach – It explores higher education policies, available higher education and
international student mobility data, as well as the various intra-ASEAN (and relevant) student mobility
schemes to present the current status of intra-ASEAN student mobility, challenges and opportunities to further
enhance student mobility within the ASEAN region.
Findings – Aside from showing that intra-ASEAN student mobility is significantly low compared to outbound
student mobility from ASEAN countries, the paper also highlights the relationship between a country’s income
status with choice of intra-ASEAN or extraASEAN student mobility. Finally, it recommends developing a
comprehensive intra-ASEAN mobility scheme taking the merits of the various intra-ASEAN mobility schemes
currently implemented and guided by developments in the European ERASMUS mobility programs.
Originality/value – This is probably the first (in fact, it is an exploratory) paper that address the issue of
intra-ASEAN international student mobility, which aims to explore relevant issues to address the development
of a comprehensive ASEAN mobility scheme.
Keywords International education, ASEAN higher education, International student mobility, Intra-ASEAN
student mobility, Regionalization of higher education
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
With regional integration or regionalism developing over the past five decades,
regionalization of higher education has been seen advancing over the past two decades.
This is particularly evident in Europe and Southeast Asia, with the establishment of the
European Higher Education Area in 2010 and the various initiatives toward the development
of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Higher Education Area or
common space.
Although the Bologna Process and the various initiatives and frameworks that guided the
development of the European Higher Education Area served as the model for harmonization
of the ASEAN Higher Education Area, the trajectory and development of the ASEAN Higher
Education Area is unique and is developed within the context of the development of the
Association of South East Asian region. In spite of this, the influence of the European Higher
Education developments and policy influence of various international and regional
organizations (e.g. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank and the European Union) in
the trajectory of the development of an ASEAN Higher Education Area should not be
discarded.
Comparing the development of European and Southeast Asian regionalism and their
respective higher education areas, Chao (2014b) argued that historical regional developments
in Europe and the East (including the Southeast) Asian region influence the formation of an Journal of Applied Research in
Higher Education
East (and Southeast) Asian Higher Education Area. It advances the need to define East Asia © Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-7003
(and Southeast Asia), develop regional guidelines/frameworks, the establishment of DOI 10.1108/JARHE-07-2019-0178
JARHE subregional (in particular the Greater Mekong subregion in terms of Southeast Asia) higher
education area to institutionalize regional mobility, quality assurance and mutual recognition
with the establishment of regional institutions within East (and Southeast) Asia.
Chao (2017) analyzes the role of international mobility and mutual recognition in ASEAN
community building and argues that enhancing intraregional student (faculty, researcher
and professional) mobility not only contributes to economic development but also to the
ASEAN community project. In particular, similar to the experience of the ERASMUS
initiative of the European Higher Education Area, intraregional student mobility is presented
to raise awareness of ASEANess, the ongoing construction of the ASEAN identity and
molding future ASEAN citizens, entrepreneurs and leaders of the ASEAN community. In
fact, international student and professional mobility contributes to necessary intercultural
and social awareness and understanding required in any community building project
(Demirkol, 2013; Toth, 2012; Stoeckel, 2016; Vaugh, 2016).
Given the fast pace of development and the various (and often overlapping) initiatives
related to regionalization of ASEAN higher education in the past decade, there is a need to
revisit ASEAN higher education developments especially, but not limited, in the area of
intraregional mobility, quality assurance and mutual recognition of ASEAN higher
education and professional qualifications. Given that there is not much research done on
intraregional mobility in the ASEAN region, this paper attempts to fill in the knowledge gap.
It focuses on the state of development of intra-ASEAN student mobility including the various
initiatives, challenges and opportunities and advance recommendations that supports
enhancing sustainable intraregional student mobility in the ASEAN region.

ASEAN and regionalization of ASEAN higher education

Although ASEAN, as a regional framework, has been existing since 1967, it was only in 2007
that the ASEAN Charter was adopted giving it legal personality. In spite of the lack of legal
personality, ASEAN has expanded its membership from its initial five member countries
(Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) to ten member countries with
Brunei Darussalam in 1984 and Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia in the mid- and
late-1990s. Furthermore, significant regionalization initiatives, mostly focused on economic
initiatives, including the establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area in 1992, the ASEAN
Framework Agreement on Services in 1995 and the establishment of the ASEAN Community
in 2015 highlights and presents the Southeast Asian region as the 2nd most advanced
regionalism project worldwide after the European integration project.
Aside from the establishment of various ASEAN-based higher education network and
organizations, the focus on regionalization of higher education initiatives in the Southeast
Asian region started with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization –
Regional Center for Higher Education and Development (SEAMEO-RIHED) exploring the
development of an ASEAN Higher Education Area or Common Space in 2007. Table 1
presents an overview of the various regionalization of higher education initiatives in
Southeast and East Asia (presented based on Jane Knight’s functional, operational and
political approaches, taking into consideration that both regions are inter-related both in
terms of region building and regionalization of higher education development. These
initiatives should be seen in relation to the development of the ASEAN region where the
ASEAN higher education discourse initially focused on higher education cooperation, shifted
to human resource development (within the context of human capital and the knowledge-
based economy) to ASEAN Community building in the mid-2000s (Chao, 2016). Starting in the
mid-2000s, the increasing concentration of regionalization of higher education initiatives in
the functional approach clearly shows the relationship between these initiatives with the
ASEAN Economic Community development and the ASEAN Community building project
1980 1990 2000 2010
Overview of
Intra-ASEAN
Organizational student
Administrative SEAMEO AQAN (2008)
RIHED mobility
(1993*)
AUN (1995)
AUN–QA
(1998)
Functional
Mobility UMAP (1993) AIMS (2009) AUN student mobility
initiatives (2010)
CAMPUS Asia (2010)
Credit transfer SEAMEO RIHED AUN–ACTS (2010)
harmonizing credit transfer harmonizing CTS in GMS and
in GMS and beyond (2009) beyond (2012)
Academic credit transfer
framework for Asia (2013)
Quality assurance AUN-QA guidelines (2004) Guide to AUN-QA assessment
AUN-QA manual (2006) at program level (2011)
Chiba principles for QA in ASEAN quality assurance
HE in Asia Pacific (2008) framework for HE (2011)
Qualifications framework ASEAN qualifications reference
framework (2010)
Mutual recognition Revised UNESCO recognition
UNESCO 1983 mutual convention in Asia and Pacific
recognition convention in (2011 Tokyo Convention)
Asia and Pacific
Political
Regional integration AFTA (1992) East Asian vision group East Asian vision group II
AFAS (1995) (2001) (2012)
ASEAN East Asian study group
Vision 2020 (2002)
(1997)
HE regional integration Brisbane communique APT plan of action on education
(2006) (2010–2017)
Table 1.
SEAMEO RIHED (unimplemented to date) Higher education
harmonization of HE (2008 regionalization
and 2009) initiatives (Southeast
Source(s): Adapted and updated from Chao (2014a, 2016, 2018) and East Asia)

(especially starting the late 2000s) as discussed in Chao (2016 and 2017). ASEAN
regionalization of higher education initiatives are mostly modeled but adapted to
Southeast Asian context, from higher education developments in Europe and in particular
the developments leading to the European Higher Education Area. These initiatives focused
on developing frameworks (e.g. ASEAN Qualification Reference Framework), recognition
agreements (including the various Mutual Recognition Agreements on key professions since
2005) and student and researcher mobility. It should be noted that these initiatives started
materializing in the mid- to late-2000s as the ASEAN region initiated its drive to establish the
ASEAN Community.
ADB (2011) highlighted that various ASEAN nation’s economic status has implications on
their focus on higher education. Table 2 shows that lower income countries (Cambodia, Lao
PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam) tend to focus on policy reform and system expansion,
JARHE increasing enrollment and infrastructure development, while low-middle income countries
(Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand) have been focused on quality improvement
of their respective higher education systems. On the other hand, high income ASEAN
countries (Brunei and Singapore) have focused on enhancing global partnerships and on
developing their higher education system’s and institutions’ global reputation. As such, one
of the possible areas for exploration is the relationship between a nation’s income and
international student mobility, in particular intra-ASEAN student mobility.
Of particular interest for this paper are the establishment of various regional mobility
schemes, particularly the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP), ASEAN
International Mobility for Students (AIMS), student mobility initiative of ASEAN University
Network (AUN) and the Collective Action for Mobility Program of University Students in
Asia (CAMPUS Asia) which were initiated in 1991 and the late 2000s respectively. On top of
these initiatives, the European-funded EU-SHARE mobility scheme, although temporary in
nature (as of now), contributes to intra-ASEAN and ASEAN–European international student
mobility.

ASEAN and ASEAN-linked mobility programs

Established in 1991, UMAP is a voluntary association of government and nongovernment
representatives of the higher education (university) sector with the aim of achieving a better
understanding of the cultural, economic and social systems of other countries and territories
in the Asia Pacific region through enhanced cooperation among higher education institutions
and increased mobility of university students and staff (UMAP, 2016a). Currently, it has over
570 member universities from 35 countries/territories and provides multilateral (program A),
bilateral (program B), usually for one or two semesters and (usually noncredit bearing) short
term (one to eight weeks) student exchange programs (UMAP, 2016b). Credit- bearing
programs (program A and B) uses the UMAP Credit Transfer Scheme (UCTS) to provide a
credit conversation scale for grade equivalence between different higher education systems.
The ASEAN University Network (AUN) was established in 1995, initially with the aim of
“hastening the solidarity and development of a regional identity through the promotion of
human resource development” and strengthening the existing network of leading
universities and institutions of higher learning in the region (AUN, 2012). It has
established a number of networks that focus on various themes such as quality assurance
(AUN–Quality Assurance Network) and Engineering Education (AUN/Southeast Asia
Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net).
Although AUN initiated a number of scholarship programs (see Table 3), it remains
limited in scope and quantity, while its sustainability is not ensured. However, AUN and its
member universities may have established bilateral mobility initiatives partly as a result of
their AUN membership.

Economic status Countries Higher education focus

Lower income Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Policy reform and system expansion
Vietnam Increasing enrollment
Infrastructure development
Low-middle Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Quality improvement
income Thailand
Table 2. High income Brunei and Singapore More independent with global partnerships
ASEAN nations’ Well-developed with high international
economic status and recognition
higher education focus Source(s): Adapted from Asian Development Bank (2011)
Established in 1965 in Singapore and eventually reorganized and relocated in 1993 to Overview of
Thailand, SEAMEO RIHED is the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization’s Intra-ASEAN
centre specializing in regional higher education development. SEAMEO RIHED’s mission is
to foster efficiency, effectiveness and harmonization of higher education in Southeast Asia
student
through system research, empowerment, development of mechanisms to facilitate sharing mobility
and collaborations in higher education. Aside from establishing the ASEAN International
Mobility for Students (AIMS) program, it has been actively engaged in developing various
regional frameworks and tools such as the Academic Credit Transfer Framework for Asia
(ACTFA) (SEAMEO-RIHED, 2012b).
Initiated in 2009 as the Malaysia–Indonesia–Thailand (MIT) Student Mobility Pilot
Project, AIMS eventually expanded into a full-fledged ASEAN program (SEAMEO-RIHED,
2012a). As of 2018, the AIMS program offers 10 study fields among a total of 69 higher
education institutions nominated by their respective governments, and over 3,400 students
have participated in the program. It envisioned that at least 500 students will be mobilized
across the region by 2015 through the AIMS program. In recent years, AIMS expanded their
program to include Japan and Korea into the mobility scheme (SEAMEO-RIHED, 2018).
On top of the above-mentioned mobility schemes, the Collective Action for Mobility
Program of University Students in Asia (CAMPUS Asia) was initiated by the Japanese,
Chinese and Korean governments in 2010 to promote quality-assured student exchanges
through cooperation among the governments, quality assurance organizations and
universities of Japan, China and Korea. It is modelled after the European Community
Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) program which was
established in 1987 to promote student exchange and to strengthen the networks among
higher education institutions. Currently, CAMPUS Asia offers mobility across 17 programs
and received 1,485 students during 2011–2015 and planned to receive 2,076 students for the
period 2016–2020. (MEXT, 2017; NIAD-UE, 2017)
The European Union Support to Higher Education in the ASEAN Region (EU-SHARE)
program, which was launched in May 2015 for an initial period of 4 years, incorporates a
scholarship component targeting short-term (one semester) intra-ASEAN and ASEAN–EU
student mobility. As of April 2019, the EU–SHARE intra-ASEAN mobility component
resulted to 489 intra-ASEAN mobility from 8 ASEAN countries (excluding Brunei and
Singapore) across 32 ASEAN higher education institutions (EU-SHARE, 2019).
Despite all the above-mentioned mobility programs, it only represents a limited number of
ASEAN outbound student mobility. In particular, CAMPUS Asia has only been focused on
student mobility between China, Korea and Japan. EU-SHARE mobility is also limited in
scope and quantity and is project-based with its sustainability after project duration being
unknown. Furthermore, these mobility programs are limited to participating higher
education institutions, which tend to be limited in geographic coverage and scale.
However, these initiatives may form the basis for the development and establishment of a

Host university Host country Duration No. of places

University of Brunei Darussalam Brunei 4 weeks 10/partner country

Universitas Airlangga Indonesia 1 semester 60/semester
Full Masters and PhD 20/yr
Universiti Malaya Malaysia 1 semester 5
National University of Singapore Singapore 1 semester Not specified
Nanyang Technological University Singapore 1 semester Up to 40 Table 3.
Prince of Songkla University Thailand 1 semester or short term Not specified AUN initiated mobility
Source(s): AUN (2011) scholarships
JARHE genuine ASEAN student mobility program. In fact, CAMPUS Asia represents one of the most
complete processes among the above-mentioned intra-ASEAN mobility programs, which has
the potential to serve as the foundation of developing a genuine ASEAN student mobility
program.

International student mobility

The British Council (2018) report “International student mobility to 2027: Local investment,
global outcomes” discussed key issues in international student mobility. Among these are
that drivers of international student mobility include the following: demographic shifts,
economic growth, digital technology, global workforce demands, cultural relations, local
political conditions and the growth in education provision. Given the significant research
published on the various factors affecting international student mobility and the limited
space for this paper, a detailed discussion of the above-mentioned factors, although
important, will not be expounded.
The British Council (2018) publication also highlighted two major trends namely domestic
investment in higher education and emerging national policies for the internationalization of
higher education. The growing domestic investment in higher education facilitates expansion
of national higher education systems, while the increased focus on internationalization not
only supports international partnerships but also enhanced internationalization of higher
education at home. While the former trend not only enhances participation and capacity of
national higher education systems but also is subject to demographic challenges, the latter
trend supports and also deters international student mobility both beyond and within a
geographic region, such as the ASEAN region.
In relation to the latter trend, increased focus on internationalization of higher education,
Knight and McNamara (2017) argues for the need to classify international program and
provider mobility in the midst of terminology chaos in transnational education and the
different modes of international program and provider mobility. Although the current
UNESCO definition of international students is anchored on students studying in other
countries outside of their home country, data on outbound international students vaguely
captures the reality and implications of transnational programs which may result in
overstating or understanding international student mobility figures at institutional, national
regional and global levels.
Of interest, and relevance, to this paper is the increase direction towards intra-regional
mobility, and the forecast that a slowdown in global outbound students from 5.7% (during
2000–2015) to 1.7% for the period 2015–2027. In the ASEAN region, Malaysia and Singapore
are foreseen to have the largest declines in outbound student mobility during the period
2015–2027 (British Council, 2018). The above-mentioned issues need to be considered when
looking at the current and future growth of intra-ASEAN student mobility and when
designing mobility programs that enhance intraregional mobility in the ASEAN region.

ASEAN international student mobility

Along with the massification of higher education and enhanced focus on internationalization
of higher education in the past decades, international student mobility has shown a
significant increase from slightly over a million in 1998 to roughly 5 million outbound
international students (see Figure 1). Similarly, within the Southeast Asian region, outbound
international student mobility has also been increasing from 154,555 to 287,562 from 1998 to
2017 respectively (see Figure 1). However, as seen in Figure 2, growth and quantity of
outbound international student mobility across the different ASEAN member countries
significantly differs. Furthermore, the growth of intra-ASEAN mobility, in spite of the
 6,000,000 300,000 Overview of
Intra-ASEAN
5,000,000 250,000 student
mobility
4,000,000 200,000

3,000,000 150,000

2,000,000 100,000

1,000,000 50,000

- -

Figure 1.
Asia (South-eastern) World Outbound student
mobility
Source(s): Adapted by author from UNESCO UIS database

90000

80000

70000

60000

50000

40000

30000

20000

10000

0 Figure 2.
Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Lao PDR Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Viet Nam Outbound students
1998 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 (from ASEAN
countries)
Source(s): Adapted by author from UNESCO UIS database

various initiatives to foster intra-ASEAN mobility, has been quite slow especially when
compared with the growth of ASEAN outbound international students (Chao, 2017).
The relationship between a country’s economic status and its corresponding economic
development seem to have a relationship between the growth of outbound international
student mobility. Following the income categorization used by the Asian Development Bank
(in Table 2), but breaking down Malaysia and Thailand (from the group with Indonesia and
the Philippines in the low-middle Income grouping) into upper middle-income countries,
Figure 3 shows that lower-income ASEAN countries (L) show the most increase in outbound
JARHE 120000

100000

80000

60000

40000

20000

0
1998 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017
Figure 3. L LM UM H
ASEAN outbound
student mobility (by Source(s): Adapted and calculated by author from UNESCO UIS database
income category)

international students (from 27,592 to 100,919) during the period 2005–2017, while low-
middle (LM) and upper-middle (UM) income ASEAN countries’ growth in outbound
international students seem to be similar. On the other hand, high income ASEAN countries’
(basically Brunei and Singapore) growth in outbound international students only shows little
increase in both periods (1998–2017 and 2005–2017).
Looking closer at the income-based data of ASEAN countries’ outbound student mobility
(Table 4), low income, low-middle income, upper-middle income and high-income ASEAN

% increase
2000– 2000– 2010–
Country 1998 2000 2010 2017 2017 2010 2017

Low income 12,077 13,938 61,673 100,919 624 342 64

Cambodia 1,378 1,656 4,169 5,469 230 152 31
Lao PDR 1,517 1,256 3,887 4,962 295 209 28
Myanmar 1,414 1,896 6,786 8,328 339 258 23
Vietnam 7,768 9,130 46,831 82,160 800 412 75
Low middle 33,005 39,789 48,956 61,784 55 23 26
Indonesia 27,927 34,242 37,058 45,206 32 8 22
Philippines 5,078 5,547 11,898 16,578 199 114 39
Upper middle 81,155 66,863 87,428 94,071 41 31 8
Malaysia 59,468 45,807 59,442 64,187 40 30 8
Thailand 21,687 21,056 27,986 29,884 42 33 7
High income 27,914 23,229 24,048 28,386 22 4 18
Brunei 2,116 2,202 3,342 3,593 63 52 7
Singapore 25,798 21,027 20,706 24,793 18 (02) 20
Table 4. Asia (South- 154,555 144,223 225,815 287,562 99 57 27
ASEAN outbound East)
student mobility (by World 1,949,854 2,095,971 3,775,181 5,085,159 143 80 35
income category) Source(s): Adapted and calculated by author from UNESCO UIS database
countries represents 35%, 22%, 33% and 10% of the total ASEAN outbound international Overview of
students in 2017. During the period 2000–2017, however, low-income ASEAN countries show Intra-ASEAN
a 624% increase, with Vietnam contributing the most (at 800% increase). Vietnam’s
significant growth is seen during the period (2000–2010) when its economy has shown a
student
significant resurgence. Contrasting the growth of outbound international students, low and mobility
upper-middle income ASEAN countries only show an increase of 55% and 41%, while high
income ASEAN countries only have 22% increase during the period 2000–2017.
Aside from Indonesia (22% vs 8%) and Singapore (20% vs 2%), ASEAN countries
across all income categories show a decrease in terms of percentage growth of outbound
international students from the periods 2010–2017 and 2000–2010. Indonesia and
Singapore’s population influenced the percentage growth of low-middle and high-income
ASEAN countries’ figures. Rationales for Indonesia and Singapore’s figures, however, need
to be further studied to understand these countries’ counter trend in relation to other ASEAN
countries.
In spite of the growth of outbound international students in ASEAN countries, however,
intra-ASEAN student mobility appears to be significantly low, both in terms of growth and in
relation to ASEAN outbound student mobility. Although Figure 4 shows an increase of 79%
(143,643 to 256,945) and 132% (7,643 to 17,769) of ASEAN outbound international students
and intra-ASEAN student mobility during the period 1999–2015, the percentage of intra-
ASEAN mobile students is still significantly low (1.87% and 6.9% in 1999 and 2015
respectively).
Furthermore, as Chao (2017) pointed out that intra-ASEAN mobility is also unbalanced
with Malaysia, Thailand and more recently with Vietnam which hosted majority of outbound
international ASEAN students. Table 5, which presents 2017’s (or latest available) data,
shows that Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam host 45%, 25% and 16% (roughly 86%) of
outbound intra-ASEAN student mobility. Although Singapore is a significant host of
ASEAN students, data are unavailable. It also shows geographic and cultural bias in intra-
ASEAN mobility. Roughly 93% of Indonesian intra-ASEAN mobility tend to go to Malaysia,

260000
240000
220000
200000
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Figure 4.
ASEAN outbound vs
ASEAN outbound Intra-ASEAN intra-regional student
mobility
Source(s): Chao (2017)
 Table 5.
JARHE

(2017 or latest
available data)
Intra-ASEAN mobility
Total
From/To Brunei Indonesia Lao PDR Malaysia Thailand Vietnam Intra-ASEAN

Brunei 12 841 6 859 (3.9%)

Cambodia 18 62 251 1,031 432 1,794 (8.2%)
Indonesia 49 5,823 376 6,248 (28.6%)
Lao PDR 6 46 882 3,077 4,011 (18.4%)
Malaysia 130 1,500 180 1,810 (8.3%)
Myanmar 9 418 1,896 2,323 (10.6%)
Philippines 24 32 405 193 654 (3%)
Singapore 24 42 481 36 583 (3%)
Thailand 30 804 890 1,724 (8%)
Vietnam 61 214 688 877 1,840 (8%)
Total 257 (1.2%) 2,484 (11.4%) 276 (1.3%) 9,843 (45.1%) 5,477 (25.1%) 3,509 (16.1%) 21,846 (100%)
Note(s): Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines and Singapore does not have data on where inbound international students
Come from percentages may not equal to 100% due to rounding off
Source(s): UIS global flow of tertiary-level students ( http://uis.unesco.org/en/uis-student-flow)
while roughly 83% of Malaysian studying in the ASEAN region study in Indonesia. Roughly Overview of
82% of Myanmar’s intra-ASEAN mobility tend to go to Thailand, while 77% and 22% of Lao Intra-ASEAN
PDR’s intra-ASEAN mobility went to Vietnam and Thailand respectively. These highlight
possible impact of cultural closeness (Buddhist or Islamic) and geographic closeness(e.g.
student
Myanmar and Lao PDR) in the selection of host countries within the ASEAN region. mobility
The largest contributors to intra-ASEAN mobility (based on Table 5) are Indonesia, Lao
PDR and Myanmar at roughly 29%, 18% and 11% respectively, while Malaysia, Cambodia,
Vietnam and Thailand contribute roughly 8% each to total intra-ASEAN mobility. However,
it needs to be taken within the context that low-income and upper middle-income ASEAN
countries represents roughly 35% (100,919, where Vietnam represents 81% (82,160)) and
33% (94,071, where Malaysia represents 68% (64,187)) of total outbound (287,562) ASEAN
student mobility.
Further consideration needs to be attached to gross outbound enrollment ratio (GOER)
and outbound mobility ratio (OMR) figures (see Table 6), which are expressed in terms of the
percentage of the population of tertiary age and total tertiary enrolment of a country,
respectively. Figure 5 shows that the gap between GOER and OMR are significantly glaring
for low-income countries, Malaysia and especially Brunei, while ASEAN countries’ OMR tend
to be within different ranges as follows: 10% and up (Brunei and Singapore); 5–10%
(Malaysia); 1–5% (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand); and less than 1%
(Indonesia, Philippines). In relation to Malaysia’s OMR, the impact of Malaysia, being a
regional higher education hub with several international branch campuses, should not be
disregarded. Gaps between GOER and OMR hints on the potential of expanding the
respective higher education systems, while low OMR shows low outbound student mobility
as a percentage of enrolled tertiary education students in the country.
Based on the above-presented data, there appears to be a link between income status of
ASEAN countries (especially low-income ASEAN countries) and intra-ASEAN student
mobility. Low-income ASEAN countries (with the exception of Vietnam), have the tendency
for intra-ASEAN student mobility, while all other income category ASEAN countries (with
the exception of Brunei and Indonesia) are inclined toward extraASEAN student mobility.
As seen in Table 7, intra-ASEAN student mobility represents roughly 33%, 81% and 28%
of Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar outbound students respectively. With only 2.2% of

Outbound students GOER (%) OMR (%) Gap (OMR-GOER)

Low income
Cambodia 5,469 0.3 2.6 2.3
Lao PDR 4,962 0.7 4.5 3.8
Myanmar 8,328 0.2 1.1 0.9
Vietnam 82,160 1.1 3.6 2.5
Low middle income
Indonesia 45,206 0.2 0.6 0.4
Philippines 16,578 0.2 0.5 0.3
Upper middle income
Malaysia 64,187 2.1 5.1 3
Thailand 29,884 0.6 1.3 0.7
High income Table 6.
Brunei 3,592 10.2 31 20.8 ASEAN GOER and
Singapore 24,793 10.8 12.9 2.1 OMR (20017 or latest
Source(s): Adapted and calculated by author from UIS global flow of tertiary-level students available)
JARHE 35 90,000

80,000
30

70,000
25
60,000

20 50,000

15 40,000

30,000
10
20,000

5
10,000

0 0
Figure 5. Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Lao PDR Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam
ASEAN outbound GOER (%) OMR (%) outbound Students
ratios vs outbound
students (2017 or latest Source(s): Adapted and calculated by author from UIS Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students
available data)

total outbound students, Vietnam is an outlier but it may also reflect its economic status as a
low-middle income country since 2010. All other income categories (except Brunei and
Indonesia) reflect intra-ASEAN mobility ranging between 2% and 6% of total outbound
students.
Of interest is the Indonesian and Malaysian cases, where a significant portion of intra-
ASEAN mobility is between the two countries. In fact, roughly 93% (5,823 of 6,248) and 83%
(1,500 of 1,810) of their intra-ASEAN mobility are between their respective countries. This
issue needs to be further studied as this may be a result of intracountry higher education
exchange and scholarship initiatives, especially with the mobility flow from Malaysia to

Country Intra-ASEAN students Outbound students Intra-ASEAN/outbound

Low income
Cambodia 1,794 5,469 32.8%
Lao PDR 4,011 4,962 80.8%
Myanmar 2,323 8,328 27.9%
Vietnam 1,840 82,160 2.2%
Low middle
Indonesia 6,248 45,206 13.8%
Philippines 654 16,578 3.9%
Upper middle
Malaysia 1,810 64,187 2.8%
Thailand 1,724 29,884 5.8%
Table 7.
Intra-ASEAN vs High
outbound students Brunei 859 3,592 23.9%
(2017 or latest Singapore 583 24,793 2.4%
available data) Source(s): Adapted and calculated by author from UNESCO UIS database
Indonesia. This case also impacts the intra-ASEAN-hosting country’s data, where Indonesia Overview of
and Malaysia host roughly 45% and 11% of total intra-ASEAN students (see Table 5). Intra-ASEAN
Thailand and the Philippines, which have roughly 6% (1,724 of 29,884) and 4% (654 of
16,578) of their respective outbound students studying in an ASEAN country, clearly show
student
preference to study outside the ASEAN region. In fact, in both countries’ cases, ASEAN mobility
bilateral or multilateral (AUN, EU-SHARE and SEAMEO) mobility schemes may possibly
contribute to a significant share of intra-ASEAN mobility. Considering that the AIMS
program actually started as a pilot between Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, it should be
further studied with regard to the impact of the AIMS program in enhancing intra-ASEAN
mobility within the ASEAN region and possibly in relation to a country’s income status and
maturity of their respective higher education systems.
The above-presented data and discussions indicate the possibility that the maturity and
quality of host country’s higher education systems, a country’s pull factors (e.g. tourism,
cultural closeness, geographic proximity, and costs) and/or availability of scholarships or
intra-ASEAN mobility programs/initiatives for selected ASEAN students may have a
possible impact on enhancing intra-ASEAN student mobility. Although there is the
availability of external (to the region) scholarship opportunities, especially from developed
higher education systems and although countries potentially reduce intra-ASEAN student
mobility, the scope of this paper and the availability of relevant data require such analysis to
be undertaken in a future research.

Conclusions and recommendations

The article presented a broad overview of ASEAN regionalization of higher education
initiatives and in particular the various ASEAN mobility programs and data on
international and intra-ASEAN student mobility. Aside from the disparity in outbound
student mobility between ASEAN countries, in terms of economic status, as seen in GOERs
and OMRs, the article also shows the significant gap between outbound and intra-ASEAN
figures and the limited hosting of intra-ASEAN mobile students to Thailand, Malaysia,
Vietnam (based on available data). It also shows that majority of the Intra-ASEAN mobility
are government or regional organization driven and limited to short-term (one or two
semesters) mobility lacking the scope and quantity especially when compared with the
European ERASMUS program.
Until recently, the rationale for intra-ASEAN mobility schemes has not been clearly
identified and aligned within the ASEAN Community building project and tend to focus more
toward higher education cooperation, highlighting the possible continuation (and mimicking
of global, particularly European, practices) on the human capital and knowledge-based
economy discourse rather than on regional community building. Mobility in the ASEAN
region tends to be of elite nature, being mainly driven by governments or regional
organizations with the benefits of student mobility among the ASEAN countries spread
across a tiny fraction of the total student population which reduces intra-ASEAN mobility
initiatives contribution to the ASEAN Community building project.
Given that the focus on internationalization and regionalization of higher education in the
ASEAN region is relatively recent (mid-2000s), there is significant room for growth and
initiatives to enhance both the quantity and quality of intra-ASEAN student mobility.
However, the challenges of sustainable funding, relationship and alignment with the broader
ASEAN Community building project, harmonization, eventual massification and the
development of a hybrid or ASEAN approach to IntraASEAN student mobility need to be
addressed.
With intra-ASEAN mobility programs being mainly government-driven or regional
organization–driven, sustainable funding of such programs remains to be a significant
JARHE challenge. This is seen with the limited outbound student mobility (in terms of GOMR and
OMR of most ASEAN countries), where mostly low-income ASEAN countries, aside from
geographical proximity and cultural closeness, seem to be biased towards intra-ASEAN
student mobility. With multiple IntraASEAN mobility programs running within the region,
funding and duplication of intra-ASEAN mobility schemes, at regional level, enhance
sustainable funding challenges and the development of a true ASEAN-wide intra-ASEAN
mobility scheme.
There is also a need to reevaluate and further align the various ongoing intra-ASEAN
mobility programs’ relationship and alignment with the broader ASEAN community
building project. As presented in the article, there is only a vague relationship of these intra-
ASEAN mobility schemes, probably with the exception of the EU-SHARE program, with the
directive and momentum of the ASEAN community building project. Current intra-ASEAN
mobility schemes (e.g. AIMS, AUN mobility schemes and CAMPUS Asia) are focused on
higher education institution collaboration through regional networks or regional
organization with minimal or no participation of the ASEAN Secretariat, the region’s key
regional organization. In fact, funding of these intra-ASEAN mobility programs are not
directly funded by the ASEAN Secretariat or ASEAN countries, with the exception of
bilateral agreements and initiatives.
The elitist nature of ASEAN (and intra-ASEAN) mobility schemes need to be revisited,
enhancing massification of the benefits of international student mobility especially within the
ASEAN region. Government or ASEAN initiatives to promote student mobility of ASEAN
students need to be developed taking into consideration the diversity of ASEAN countries
and the needs of the ASEAN region particularly in terms of the ASEAN community building
project. Furthermore, despite the ERASMUS program representing the most successful
intraregional student mobility scheme to date, the characteristics of the ASEAN region, its
member countries and their respective higher education systems may necessitate the
development of a hybrid or ASEAN model and pilot testing to ensure the effectiveness of an
ASEAN student mobility program not limited to a project or university partnerships but one
that encompasses the entire ASEAN region.
Opportunities to address the above-mentioned challenges may be considered by
addressing the lack of data and research, enhanced collaboration between key regional
organizations (especially within the umbrella of the ASEAN Secretariat) and development of
a hybrid or ASEAN approach to intra-ASEAN student mobility scheme.
Given that most countries, including ASEAN member countries, are increasing
investment in higher education and enhancing their focus on internationalization of their
respective higher education systems, the linkages between higher education system
expansion, international and intraregional (particularly intra-ASEAN) student mobility has
not been extensively researched. Data (and especially the reliability) on international and
intraregional student mobility is significantly lacking in scope and in terms of depth
necessitating alternative data-gathering methods and sources to provide reliable evidence-
based policy making and the development of various initiatives to enhance intra-ASEAN
student mobility. Mobility data, especially in ASEAN and ASEAN countries, are also not
disaggregated in terms of time spent aboard, programs studied and the level of program
where students undertake mobility. Furthermore, it is challenging to clearly see the impact of
transnational programs in enhancing or reducing international and intraregional student
mobility.
Addressing the lack of (reliable and comparable) data and research on international
student mobility of ASEAN countries particularly in terms of the relationship between
economic status of ASEAN countries and intra-ASEAN mobility, effect of bilateral, trilateral
or multilateral agreements on student exchange and mobility and on actual processes,
effectiveness, sustainable funding, recognition, access and probably balanced mobility issues
of actual intra-ASEAN and other (especially European) mobility schemes may provide a Overview of
research-based foundation to actually develop a hybrid or ASEAN mobility program. Such Intra-ASEAN
research can be complemented by an overview and assessment of various bilateral, trilateral
or multilateral scholarship schemes that ASEAN students are eligible, government support
student
and promotion for study aboard (including within the ASEAN region), and the possibility of mobility
longer exchange programs (including full degrees).
Furthermore, addressing actual duplication of ongoing intra-ASEAN mobility programs
and the development of a hybrid or ASEAN mobility program with a regional scope,
governance and sustainable funding mechanisms in line with the broader ASEAN
Community building project may prove to be the way forward to enhancing and
promoting a massified intra-ASEAN mobility program in and for the ASEAN region.

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Corresponding author
Roger Yap Chao can be contacted at: rylimchao@yahoo.com

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