1st UMAP Vice President Forum 2007
University Mobility:Trends for Coordination
4-6 October 2007
Bangkok, Thailand
Professor Sriprasit extended a warm welcome to all participants from the region. He expressed appreciation on their spirit to join the 1st Vice president Forum, an important event of UMAP. He added that UMAP should consider to initiate useful new project as a benchmark for new trends of coordination among members.
The liberalization of trade in education would promote greater mobility across the region. UMAP should focus on how to strengthen networking, both formal and informal, among member countries.
He urged UMAP members to interact with each other more frequently and added that, in the changing world, we should learn how to live with each other, understand each other and try to create a better world for the future generations. Building educational network within diversity, is a new direction for sincere coordination. At the same time, quality assurance should be seriously considered.
UMAP Chairman, M.C Miguel Angel Aguayo Lopez expressed his view that universities should train professionals that were qualified to encourage sustainable development of our societies. Students should receive scientific, technical as well as humanistic education. They had to be aware of global problems. They should also receive education that enable them to engage in professional competition and also have strong values to understand with respect to several cultures and the way in which they interact with the world.
The best way is to make a concerted effort to focus on the quality of education, the quality of research and the quality of our relations. He also pointed out that cooperation enable us to learn and grow together. UMAP, with cooperation among higher education institutions, should help students understand political, economic and cultural systems of other countries.
M.C Miguel Angel Aguayo Lopez wanted to make sure that UMAP was recognized as the quality leader in student mobility in Asia and the Pacific. He hoped that the Executive Seminar forum should discuss about the future of UMAP and the best way to cooperate in the programs, projects, and activities of the UMAP Strategic Plan 2007-2010
Dr. Sumate Yamnoon said that UMAP should continue to collaborate in order to increase university mobility among both instructors and students.
Networking is a very important factor to enhance university mobility. University students who are our future generation would not have a promising future if they are not provided the chance to get to make new friends from different cultures. Academic knowledge on its own would be unable to solve the world problems.
Dr. Sumate viewed that university mobility plays a vital role in promoting understanding among people of different culture.
The international community is faced various kinds of common problems such as climate change, different forms of epidemics, and natural disasters. Educated people should build network among themselves in order to collectively solve these problems on the basis of mutual trust, equality and understanding.
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