The Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning
(ASAIHL), in cooperation with Scopus and QS, recently conducted a
seminar on "Becoming a World Class University Through Benchmarking
& Innovation" on July 14, 2008 at the Asian Institute of Technology
Conference Center, Bangkok, Thailand.
The conference brought together over 70 participants from prestigious
universities in Thailand and within the region. This knowledge exchange
put forth current tools and technologies that gauge, compare and rank
universities all over the world.
In an opening address, Professor Peter Haddawy, Vice President of
Academic Affairs at the Asian Institute of Technology provided an
overview on ASAIHL's role to aide in positioning institutions in the
region. As a regional leader, this conference seeks to continue to
support and contribute to the promotion of excellence in teching,
leaning and research.
Ben Sowter, started off the seminar by providing a general view on new
university ranking methodologies. He explained the need to continuously
refine the measures in data collection and metholodogy used in
rankings. As the Head of Rankings Reseach & Analysis of
Quacquarelli Symbols (QS), Ben Sowter played a key role in the
development of the Times Higher - QS World University Rankings from
their inception on 2004.
Another key note speaker was Professor Akihisa Adachi who after a
lucrative career at the Japan Development Bank, currently serves as the
Director of the Strategic Planning Group of the President's Office at
Kyushu University, Japan. Professor Adachi shared Kyushu
University's experiences with QUEST-MAP, a management strategy
map that provided a schematic overview on the university's
reorganization efforts, aimed at the formation of the world-class
educational and research institution. QUEST-Map utilizes data off of
Scopus to capture the current state of the universities activities
including researches.
The last talk was on the effective evaluation of research by the
Managing Director Asia Pacific, Science & Technology, Academic and
Government of Elsevier, Mr. Pascal van der Nieuwendijk. Key findings
from Elsevier's worldwide market research on how institutions are
responding to the performance challenge were shared during the seminar.
This involved the emerging solutions academic administrators can grasp
to address their current situations.
This seminar is one of the many upcoming activities which includes
capacity building workshops, seminars and conferences and support
functions that has been planned by ASAIHL. One of these include the
highly anticipated ASAIHL YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARDS which aims to
recognize outstanding achievements in research and society. The awards
will be honored during the annual ASAIHL conference and will be
categorized into the following fields of study:
1. Life Sciences
2. Medical Sciences
3. Engineering & Technology;
4. Agricultural Sciences
The Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning
(ASAIHL) was established in 1956 as an initiative of a small group of
universitites in Southeast Asia who envisioned an organization that
will support universities in the promotion of excellence in teaching,
learning and national and regional public service.
Originally based in Thailand, ASAIHL has since expanded beyond
Southeast Asia to include 166 member universitites in 17 countries
across the Asia-Pacific. For its role, ASAIHL was granted UNESCO status
in 1973.
