We proudly present the ASEA-UNINET Annual Report 2019 which gives insights into the great variety of fruitful and successful joint activities within the ASEA-UNINET.
The ASEA-UNINET Annual Report 2019 is available here:
ASEA-UNINET Annual Report 2019
And it can also be found on our website, in the Meetings and Reports section.
In his preface, Prof. Dr. A Min Tjoa, who has terminated his 5 year period as Austrian National Coordinator in December 2019, invites you to to get an impression of the outstanding work of scholars and scientists from the ASEA-UNINET member universities in Austria and in the Asian member countries:
Preface by Prof. Dr. A Min Tjoa
I am pleased to introduce this Annual Report because it reflects a very successful year of cooperation between the academic institutions of our network in staff/student mobility, teaching and research activities. The reporting year 2019 once more shows the impressive commitment of our universities to enhance joint academic activities between Austrian universities and our ASEAN counterparts. As one of the participants of the 1st Meeting of ASEA-UNINET in Ho Chi Minh City in 1994 I can state that this report perfectly reflects one of its founding ideas to serve as a forum and network of excellence providing expertise and initiatives for deepening European – South East Asian academic relations.
One original intend expressed at the first meetings was to assist in forming coalitions of resources for academic activities between member institutions. This year’s report convincingly demonstrates by the many joint research projects the success of these original ideas expressed in the nineties. The numerous joint publications in quality journals and leading international conference proceedings as results of the projects are proof of this.
Different manifestations of academic cooperation within the framework of Erasmus or ASEM and the organization of Summer schools are pieces of evidence for the realization of the initial goals set in 1994.
Another important aspect from the very beginning was the development of curricula and joint-curricula as a main driver for human capacity building. The cooperation efforts within ASEA-UNINET to develop a curriculum for a master study “Restoration of Art and Architecture” in Indonesia together with Austrian partners can be considered as a showcase and role model in this area.
Particularly noteworthy is the role of ASEA-UNINET for a successful meritocracy-based selection in the awarding of Ernst Mach scholarships by the Austrian Federal Government. These scholarships finance a considerable number of doctoral scholarships and research stays. The same scheme holds for the selection of scholarships for Pakistan together with the Higher Education Commission Pakistan.
In my function as ASEA-UNINET Coordinator for Technology, Innovation and Sustainability Projects for Europe I am extremely satisfied that, collaboration in sustainable development plays a central role for a large percentage of the submitted projects in 2019. It is worth mentioning that a majority of the basic research projects are also envisioning applications for future innovations to serve the SDGs (e.g. advanced battery research). One could even go further and postulate that in a broader sense all our projects have an SDG-facet. I would very much encourage that all our scientists who are active within ASEA-UNINET projects should spend some time in elaborating the embedding of their work as a contribution to the SDGs.
The comprehensive nature of ASEA-UNINET to include Humanities and Arts in its agenda from the very beginning is again a very important contribution to the SDGs as stated in the UNESCO Hangzhou Declaration “Placing Culture at the Heart of Sustainable Development Policies”. In this year’s report, we can find significant contributions in the area of Humanities and Arts where we often observe a fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration with technical disciplines.
With December 2019 I have terminated my 5 years period as Austrian National Coordinator of ASEA-UNINET.
I want to thank all supporters of our network for the successful academic cooperation in the past years. In the first place, I have to mention the continuous support of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research. Our special thanks go to those personalities of this Ministry and the OeAD, who have been enduringly committed to the goals of ASEA-UNINET. I would like to cordially thank all members of the Austrian ASEA-UNINET board (“Kuratorium”) for their initiatives, hard work, commitment and excellent cooperation.
It is now the right time and place to thank OeAD (Austrian Agency for International Mobility and Cooperation In Education, Science and Research) and its staff members who are assigned to support and facilitate the administration of ASEA-UNINET for its enduring and wholehearted support in the five years of my work as national coordinator. In the first place, I have to thank Barbara Karahan for her excellent support and total identification with ASEA-UNINET’s work, aims and ideals.
Looking to the future, I am very much convinced that my friend and colleague Gabriele Kotsis as Austrian National Coordinator will pilot us towards a very bright future of the network in the coming years.
Finally, I encourage you to read this Annual Report and appreciate the outstanding progress that was made during 2019.
