KARIC Attends General Assemblies of the 2023 Committee of the Asia-Pacific Regional Convention
on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education and the APNNIC
The Korean Council for University Education’s Korea Academic Recognition Information Center (KARIC) participated in the general assembly of the Fifth Session of the Committee of the Asia-Pacific Regional Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education (Tokyo Convention) in conjunction with the 18th Session of the Committee of the Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific (Bangkok Convention)(hereinafter “Regional Committee”) and the Third Plenary of the Asia-Pacific Network of National Information Centres (APNNIC), which were held over three days from Wednesday, November 22nd to Friday, November 24th, at Avani Sukhumvit Bangkok Hotel, Thailand.
This Regional Committee was jointly held by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Office in Bangkok and the Australian Ministry of Education, with the Korean Ministry of Education and the Korea Academic Recognition Information Center attending as representatives of Korea. In addition, the state parties of the Bangkok Convention, including Australia, China, New Zealand, and Japan; state parties of the Tokyo Convention; and stakeholders such as ministries of education and the related organizations of national academic recognition information centres from 25 countries worldwide including countries of the Asia-Pacific region also attended the session.
Furthermore, the occasion was made all the more meaningful as it marked the in-person resumption of the Regional Committee, which had been held online for the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This Regional Committee session confirmed the need to promote cooperation and enhance mutual understanding between countries in the Asia-Pacific region, which had diminished due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while identifying the current status of the subject through reports on the ratification progress for the conventions in each country. Major reports included that Sri Lanka has begun preparing for the ratification process and has established a national degree information center in September 2022. In addition, Bhutan announced that it is simultaneously preparing to join both the Global Convention on Higher Education* and the Tokyo Convention and established the Bhutan Qualifications and Professional Certification Authority(BQPCA) this year. In addition, the previous chair countries of the Tokyo Convention, including Korea, Japan, and China, and the current chair country Australia, made presentations on the ratification process and implementation status, with the Korean Ministry of Education giving the presentation on behalf of Korea. Similarly, the Bangkok Office’s Bureau for Education Innovation and Technology Development (Bureau for Education) is planning to release the Work Plan for the Tokyo Convention, including a statement that it will continue its efforts to promote mutual understanding, advance the ratification of the Tokyo Convention, and expand inter-regional mobility, as well as its action plan until 2030.
* The Global Convention on Higher Education is an international agreement on the recognition of higher education qualifications and the first global treaty in the field of higher education.
The Third Plenary of APNNIC also reiterated the importance of national academic recognition information centers as a key means of implementing the Tokyo Convention, and cooperation with other regional committee networks (e.g. European Network of Information Centres (ENIC), National Academic Recognition Information Centres in the European Union (NARIC)). Among APNNIC member countries, China, Vietnam, and Korea gave presentations on the operation of their national academic recognition information centers, and the Korea Academic Recognition Information Center also spoke on their role, status, and future plans. Based on the outcomes of the plenary, the Bureau for Education of the UNESCO Office Bangkok will present the APNNIC Action Plan.
As a result of this Regional Committee, the periodic interval of the general assembly for the Tokyo Convention, which was to be held annually for five years according to the procedural rules decided at the first general assembly for the convention, was changed from one year to two years with the approval of the ratifying countries in order to reduce the burden of hosting the assembly on an annual basis, and the scope of APNNIC member countries was expanded from Tokyo Convention signatories to all countries that wish to join, in order to motivate non-ratifying countries to ratify the convention and to strengthen the capacity of national academic recognition information centers.
The next session of the Regional Committee will be held in two years’ time in 2025, and Dr. Libing Wang, Chief of Section for Educational Innovations and Skills Development (EISD) at the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Bangkok, Thailand, stressed the importance of using this year’s Regional Committee to call for the ratification of the Tokyo Convention and further expressed the hope for its compatibility with the Global Convention, which came into force in 2023. The Regional Committee also recognized the importance of continued exchanges through active communication among the participants and reaffirmed the need to strengthen networking among national academic recognition information centers.
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