The 8th Steering Committee Meeting of the AIMS Programme
The 8th Steering Committee Meeting of the AIMS Programme was held on 3-5 July 2023 in the bustling cultural city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, with the warm hospitality from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (MoECRT), Indonesia, in collaboration with the Universitas Ahmad Dahlan. Twenty (22) AIMS Steering Committee Members and representatives from the AIMS Member Countries attended the meeting.
The Meeting’s Opening included Welcome Remarks from Dr. Rusydi Umar, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, delivering the remarks on behalf of Prof. Muchlas, Rector of Ahmad Dahlan University, followed by Welcome Remarks from Asst. Prof. Dr. Romyen Kosaikanont, Centre Director of SEAMEO RIHED and Chair of the Steering Committee, and Opening Remarks by Prof. Nizam, Director General of Higher Education, Research and Technology, MoECRT, Indonesia.
The Meeting acknowledged the updates on the AIMS Programme, including the changes in Steering Committee Members, the proposed changes in the disciplines of some participating member universities, the AIMS resources and information, which included AIMS Guide for new member universities and the short recap from the 7th Steering Committee Meeting and the 16th Annual Review Meeting.
The Steering Committee discussed some issues and obstacles found in student mobility, including visa processes, changes in academic calendar after COVID-19, English proficiency requirements, and provided solutions to address these obstacles and explored ways to enhance communication and networking among IROs and faculty members of member universities at the upcoming 17th Annual Review Meeting of the AIMS Programme in the Philippines.
The Meeting reviewed the AIMS Student mobility data and confirmed to collect data on 3 modes of mobility: physical, hybrid/blended, and virtual mobility with credits and discussed setting targets to guide the direction of the AIMS Programme.
The Steering Committee Members provided inputs and feedback to the AIMS Activities, including:
AIMS Research Impacts and the Way Forward of AIMS, which the Research Team from Sophia University and Technical Research Team Malaysia presented the preliminary results and informed that the Interviewing phase will be conducted between July-September 2023.
AIMS Orientation, which reported the impact of the Orientations in the past year with the support from AIMS Orientation Task Force Members and alumni, and informed that the next one will be organised at the end of August for the incoming AIMS students.
AIMS Alumni Network is in the process of being set up by a group of AIMS Alumni to strengthen alumni engagement, encourage networking, offer alumni opportunities for continuous growth and development as regional citizens, and contribute to the region through university social responsibility. More input from alumni will be gathered to set up the network.
AIMS USR Working Group reviewed the mapping of the USR activities collected for the 16th Annual Review Meeting and followed the discussion to provide guidelines and ToR on USR activities for AIMS students, which will be refined further and shared with AIMS members, emphasizing on the learning outcomes and impacts and contributions for the benefits of the society.
SEA-Europe Mobility Programme for Sustainable Development is in progress, planned as an innovative, interdisciplinary and interregional programme involving the M-I-T countries Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, and European countries to explore and co-create innovative models of learning mobility to empower learners with skills and competencies to become active global citizens, and contribute to a collective learning space.
The 17th Annual Review Meeting of the AIMS Programme will be organised on 8-9 November 2023, in Tagaytay, Philippines, graciously hosted by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Philippines. The Meeting will continue the discussions on the future mobility of AIMS to be innovative and moving towards learning for skills, competencies, and credentials.
The AIMS Programme will be officially welcoming the Kingdom of Cambodia through the official signing the Addendum to the Letter of Intent at the meeting.
Last but not least, IROs may want to mark the schedule on 10-11 November 2023 to stay on for the IRO training workshop which will be held to strengthen the IRO network. More details will follow soon!
Photos credit: MoECRT Indonesia, UAD, and SEAMEO RIHED
About the AIMS Steering Committee
The AIMS Steering Committee serves as the decision-making body of AIMS that guides the overall policy direction of the Programme, supporting regional alignment of national systems that promotes regional mobility, and screening issues before the Annual Review Meeting. The Steering Committee comprises 1 representative from the government and 1 representative from the universities, officially nominated by the Ministry of Education of each AIMS Member Country.