TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - More than 180 university leaders, business representatives, government officials and students from all 51 ASEM partner countries will meet on 4-8 April 2016 in Prague, the Czech Republic for the 5th ASEM Rectors’ Conference and Students’ Forum (ARC5). ARC5 sees the greatest diversity in Asia-Europe representation thus far.
Themed “Employability: Asia and Europe Prepare the New Generation”, ARC5 provides a high-level inter-regional dialogue on how higher education institutions (HEIs) can better collaborate with governments and the business sector to tackle emerging socio-economic issues in Asia and Europe particularly on youth employment, rapid changes in the labour market and skill development.
“It is important to further facilitate exchange of students and academics in order to acquire better understanding of both regions. We also need to support research and encourage interaction between education and private sector. We need to focus on building bridges across different sectors to ensure better and sustainable future,” highlighted Professor Tomáš ZIMA, M.D, DSc., Rector of Charles University in Prague, the host of ARC5.
ARC5 will be an opportunity for all participants to connect, share best practices, and explore possibilities of cooperation for both regions. The main objective for ARC5 participants is to jointly develop Policy Recommendations for the upcoming 6th ASEM Education Ministers’ Meeting (ASEM ME6) to be held in 2017 in Korea.
The keynote speakers of the conference include: Mr Pavel BELOBRADEK, Deputy Prime Minister for the Science, Research and Innovation of the Czech Republic; HE Dr Lubomir ZAORALEK, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic; Professor LEE Young, Vice-Minister of Education of the Republic of Korea and his counterpart Mr Stanislav STECH, Vice-Minister of Education of the Czech Republic; representatives of the business sector such as Mr Alain DEHAZE, Chief Executive Director of the Adecco Group, Mr Mel CARVILL, Member of the Board of Directors of Home Credit and Mr Hun LEE, President of Samsung Electronics Czech and Slovak. Professor LEE Young, as representative of the ASEM ME6 host country, will receive the Policy Recommendations developed by different stakeholders over the course of ARC5.
ARC5 is co-organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and Charles University in Prague with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. Home Credit B.V., Samsung, the International Association of Universities, the ASEAN University Network, the European Students’ Union and the Erasmus Student Network contribute as supporters.
The past editions of ARC have brought together hundreds of Asian and European students, university and business leaders for solution-oriented discussions on emerging higher education issues concerning both regions. ARC is also one of the initial commitments to the Global Action programme on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which is the successor to the United Nations Decade of ESD (2005-2014).
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