Held over a span of two days, HEEACT and APQN jointly hosted the summit on September 21 in Chung Yung-Fa Foundation（財團法人張榮發基金會）in the heart of Taipei. The theme this year is Regional Cooperation and Harmonization: ASEAN Countries and East Asia in Quality Assurance of Higher Education. It was an honor to have all 18 renowned speakers, in which 14 were experts and professionals in charge of different quality assurance agencies in various countries. The purpose of this summit is to gather the best knowledge and expertise in the practices of quality assurance and share the experiences in cross-border cooperation in our neighboring regions and distant ties, in hopes to expand our higher education horizons and ensure the quality education put forth.

A total of eight sessions were carried out.

First keynote speaker, the Founding Director of Commonwealth Tertiary Education Facility (CTEF) from Malaysia, Professor Dato’ Morshidi Sirat gave an high-in-demand, outstanding presentation on the topic “Global Trends in QA and Challenges for the ASEAN QA Agencies and Universities”, addressing the current context of cross-border higher education and its quality provision, this context in Southeast Asian/ASEAN countries and the challenges at hand, and concluding with ways to move forward.

Session 1 dived into the professional contexts of “Quality Assurance and Qualifications Framework”, in which New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQA) and Malaysian Qualifications Authority (MQA) shared their responsibilities of quality assurance in connection with qualifications framework. APQN Session brought us the fruitful conducts from Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN) and The International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and successful implementations throughout the past years.

Keynote 2, made by Director of National Accreditation Agency for Higher Education (BAN-PT) and Vice President, ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN) from Indonesia, Prof. Dr. T. Chan Basaruddin, shared the struggles of external quality assurance in ASEAN countries, supplemented by Secretary of AQAN Prof. Dr. Zita Mohd Fahmi on the specifications of ASEAN quality assurance framework.

Session 2 and 3 shared the experiences of “Regional Cooperation among QA Agencies from Southeast Asian and East Asian Perspectives” from Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP), Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA) Thailand, National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education (NIAD-QE) Japan, and Korean University Accreditation Council (KUAI).

Session 4, with the topic “Cross-border Higher Education: International Faculty and Student, Postdoctoral Researcher Recruitment and Studying Abroad”, was shared among President of National Chengchi University Prof. Dr. Edward H. Chow, President of Ming Chuan University Prof. Dr. Chuan Li, and CEO of Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) Prof. Dr. Jen-Sue Chen.

Session 5 shared the creativities behind “Quality Assurance and International Education” by Director and President of Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU) Dr. Marti Casadesus Fa, British University in Dubai Faculty of Education Assoc. Prof. Christopher Hill, and National Chung Cheng University Graduate Institute of Education Prof. Sheng Ju Chan.

Last but not least, besides the sessions, HEEACT also further future collaborations with the quality assurance agencies from Japan, Thailand and Indonesia by signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This is the first time HEEACT signed the agreement with BAN-PT Indonesia, and the third renewal with NIAD-QE Japan and ONESQA Thailand. With similar goals in the near future, HEEACT looks forward to engage in motivating projects—joint accreditation, joint researches, and staff exchange—as a new way to collect useful resources and reaching multiple goals with these lasting partnerships.