Regionalism, ‘Europe/Asia’ & Higher Education

Susan Robertson

U of Bristol

WUN/CKS Horizon’s Series

Policy Futures in Higher Education

Outline

• Regionalism/inter-regionalism within the wider framework of globalisation

• Europe/Asia and the development of an imaginary of Europe in Asia

• Higher education as a strategy and mechanism for developing emerging regionalisms

• Possibilities and limitations of higher education as a vehicle for constructing regionalism

Defining regionalism

Refers to a formal process of intergovernmental collaboration between two or more states (Ravenshill, 2005).

Regions are social constructions, and can be viewed as a particular ‘scale’ of activity that is ‘bounded’ or has borders to define those in and those out (Brenner, 2004)

Bilateral agreements are also considered as regional agreements by the WTO

By the end of 2002, there were more than 25 transregional and inter-regional agreements

Why Regionalism?

Political reasons

…economic cooperation and confidence building, security, bargaining tool, a means of locking in reform; satisfy domestic political constituencies, ease of negotiating and implementing agreements

Economic reasons

…access to a larger domestic market, attract additional foreign direct investment (FDI), protect sensitive industries, engage in deeper integration

Cultural/Political

Forge an identity (cf. European identity, African identity) on behalf of the constituent nation

First Phase of Regionalism

1940s Cold War regional blocs – Communist/West

1952 European Coal and Steel Community

1957 Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community

1962 Organisation for African Unity

1967 European Community with its decisionmaking structures

1967 Assocation of South East Asian Nations

The Rise of New Regionalism/Inter-Regionalisms

Globalisation and regionalism appear to be anti-thetical forces but currently one tends to generate the other

Regions are subjects of globalisation (Dale and Robertson, 2002)

Regionalism is a means of harnessing pressures of globalisation (Ravenhill, 200

A new regionalism is emerging along with new forms of inter-regionalism (eg.Asia-Europe, North America-Asia) as means of countering regional blocks

Regionalisms

Between 1948-1994 there were only 124 notifications to the GATT of regional trading agreements;

Between 1995-2003 the WTO received a further 130, noting that ther were a further 75 pending

New Regionalisms

Responses to globalisation

1989 APEC – Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

1992 EC/EU Maarstrict Treaty

1991 Mercosur – Souther Common Market

1994 North American Free Trade Agreement

2001 NEPAD New Partnership for African Development

The European Union or EU is an intergovernmental and supranational union of 25 European countries, known as Member States.

The European Union was established in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty). However, many aspects of the Union date back to 1951.

The European Union's activities cover all areas of public policy, from health and economic policy to foreign affairs and defence.

The most important EU institutions are the Council of the European Union the European Commission the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice

EU

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political, economic, and cultural organization of countries located in Southeast Asia. Formed on August 8th 1967, by Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Phillipines as a non-provocative display of solidarity against communist expansion in Vietnam and insurgency within their own borders.

Following the Bali Summit of 1976, the organisation embarked on a programme of economic cooperation, which floundered in the mid-1980's only to be revived around a 1991 Thai proposal for a regional "free trade area". The countries meet annually.

ASEAN

APEC

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a group of Pacific Rim countries who meet with the purpose of improving economic and political ties. It holds annual meetings in each of the member countries and has standing committees on a wide range of issues, from communications to fisheries and education and training.

Currently, most countries (21 in all) with a coastline on the Pacific Ocean are members of the organization; they include USA, Japan, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Russia, Chile

Early Europe-Asia Inter-Regionalism

•Europe-Asia are not strangers – colonial presence e.g. Portugal and East Timor, Netherlands and Indonesia

•1967-80 first phase of institutional contact

•1980 Cooperation Agreement with ASEAN based on technical assistance, commercial and economic cooperation, institutionalised meetings.

•By 1990s, clear CA had weaknesses – no budget,a trade rather than investment focus, development aid, and did not account for changes in global economy

•Concern that Japan and the USA were using APEC to position themselves within the region (Yang, 2001)

Difficulties in Europe-ASEAN relationship

ASEAN-EEC largely a trade agenda, while Europe tended to focus on own ‘European project’

Europe had not wanted to encourage ASEAN as a region, but overlooked the emerging power of India and China

Differing views amongst EU member states as to developments in Asia (Timor)

But new political agenda with EU Parliament promoting and defending ‘European values’ e.g. human rights, fair trade

EC, wanting to appear ‘state like’, was thus obliged to embrace conditionality and fair trade

However, ASEAN regarded conditionalities as controversial

Creation of ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) 1996

Proposed by Singapore in 1994 as a means for breaking the deadlock between ASEAN and Europe

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was officially established in 1996 at the first summit in Bangkok ASEM is an interregional forum which consists of the European Commission and the twenty-five members of the European Union (EU) and of thirteen Asian countries (Brunei, Myanmar, China, Combodia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).

The main components of the ASEM process, which has been relatively loosely organized, include: political dialogue, security and the economy, education and culture

Struggles between regional actors

…With the rise of APEC, ASEAN became concerned with its relatively diminished status, and it played an active role in creating ASEM in order to keep APEC in check. The creation of ASEM was amied not only in promoting cooperation between ASEAN and the EU, but also in preventing the US from becoming a dominant force in the new international order in the post Cold War era

(Yang, 2001: 87)

Developing an Imaginary of Europe in Asia

ASEM a means of promoting an imaginary of Europe in Asia to maintain economic presence

ASEM to be a project of ‘common grandeur’

Vehicle for widening involvement and expanding cooperation in new areas

However ASEM, like ASEAN, has faced ongoing tensions – as human rights is excluded from agenda (ASEM 2 1998 Spain, Greece, Denmark and Sweden did not attend)

ASEM 3 – Seoul demonstrations around ASEM as agent to neoliberal globalisation

Higher Education - A Means for Trade and Foreign Policy Strategy

Mention of higher education - vehicle for dialogue and exchange of knowledge and best practice

-EC 1994 Toward a New Asia Strategy

-EC 2001 Europe and Asia: A Strategic Framework for Enhanced Partnership

Mention of higher education – above, as well as market for students and promoting of WTO in Asia

EC 2003 A New Partnership with South East Asia

EC 2005-2005 Strategy Paper and Indicative Programme for Multi-Country Programmes in Asia

Blair’s (2005: 3) EU Presidential Address

 Our university sector is not competing in the way in which it needs to with America. China and India are developing their university sector in an extraordinary way …

Our proposal is that we task the Commission specifically on coming back and reporting to the European Council next year on the challenge facing European universities how we compete with the United States how we get more public private partnership into sustaining them and more graduate schools linking business and the academic world across the European Union.

Jose Manel Barosso (EC President)

Today’s challenge is globalisation. Change technological and societal, takes place at a breathtaking speed. The question is whether to resist this change or rather to manage it. …

….I’ve just come back from China and India and what I saw was a vivid demonstration of the sheer speed and scale of the changes going on in the world. ..If China’s new dynamism is driven by manufacturing, then India’s comes from services. …India is tapping into a European, indeed global demand, for efficient services…they increasingly process the world’s tax returns, analyze the world’s medical tests, respond to the world’s telephone enquiries and design its software. …We must remain at the forefront through innovation and investment in the knowledge economy.

Higher Education – Mechanisms/Instruments

HE to build awareness of Europe in Asia to enable commerce to develop, enhance European FDI, and partner in tackling global issues

Asia-Link (set up in 2002) is an Asia-wide programme (South Asia, South East Asia, China) strengthen human resourcesa nd promote networking between higher education institutions in Europe and Asia

ASEAN—EU University Network Programme focused on ASEAN members

ASEF – Asia-Europe Foundation ASEM partners – develop cultural exchanges

EC 2005-2005 Strategy Paper and Indicative Programme for Multi-Country Programmes in Asia (p. 22)

…Both Asia and Europe have top quality institutions of higher education, but they do not make sufficient use of their potential for cooperation, Public intervention is necessary to foster closer cooperation betwene the EU and Asian institutions and help them learn form each other’s know-how. The (Asia-Link) programme shall target higher education groups and institutions, scientific and research groups….

EC 2005-2005 Strategy Paper and Indicative Programme for Multi-Country Programmes in Asia (p. 22)

In order to improve EU visibility…a limited number of key messages…the messages should include the promotion of scholarship programmes which the Commission intends to set up for Asia (Erasmus Mundus)…for future decision makers…

[Indicative budget – 25-35 Euro for higher education (p.27)]

Asia-Link - specific aimsSupport sustainable co-operation projects and multi-lateral networking activities

Promote exchange of experiences and mobility and further training for target groups

Attract future economic and policy decisionmakers for graduate studies to the EU

Encourage and develop links between European and Asian institutions of higher education

Reposition Europe as a major partner in higher education in Asia (and vice versa)

Asia-Link Programme now has 126 projects for funding for (i) human resource development, (ii) curriculum development, (iii) institutional and systems development (management structures) and (iv) partnership projects (funding is on the basis of 75% of eligible project costs,)

ASEAN-EU Universities Network Programme (AUNP Network Initiatives)

1 million Euro funding

•Asian-EU Rectors Conferences (sustainable development, borderless higher education)

•Roundtables (Quality Assurance, credit transfer systems)

•Technical Assistance missions (credit transfer, quality assurance)

•Follow-up meetings

Tensions for Higher Education

National higher education institutions increasingly caught up in scalar division of labour of higher education (regional-inter-regional) and a new inter-regional economy of knowledge production

As an instrument of foreign and trade policy means that it is driven by different logics (R&D, science and technology prescriptions for the competitive knowledge economy

Contradictions between politics taking place at different scalar locations but which may produce positive as well as negative outcomes

As part of the global circuit of cultural capital, HE institutions faces pressures of competition between blocs