China’s education development aid to ASEAN: Under the framework of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

• In Event: Chinese roundtable II (Sponsored by SIG: East Asia)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Global and international education

Proposal

Education development aid is one of the most important ways to strengthen international cooperation and exchanges. It not only helps improve the education conditions of the aid-receiving countries, but also serves as an important channel for aid-giving countries to expand their international influence and soft power. Moreover, it plays a significant role in enhancing people-to-people exchanges and promoting the long-term and steady development of bilateral relations. China’s foreign aid programs started in the 1950s and has been lasting for more than 60 years till now. In more than 60 years of foreign development aid, China has achieved fruitful results and accumulated rich experience. As the world’s largest developing country, foreign education aid is one of the most important forms of China’s active participation in the international development cooperation.

Entering the 21st century, China has become a significant emerging donor in international education aid. China’s ways of providing educational assistance to ASEAN countries have been gradually diversified, such as aiding in the construction and maintenance of school buildings, providing teaching equipment and materials, training foreign teachers and professionals in China, sending teachers and volunteers to aid-receiving countries, increasing the number of government scholarships to study in China, and supporting vocational and technical education. The year of 2018 marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of strategic partnership between China and ASEAN. China-ASEAN Dialogue began in 1991 and China became a comprehensive dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1996. In 2002, both sides signed the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) Agreement and in 2003 the Joint Declaration on ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity. Since the following year, China-ASEAN Exposition and China-ASEAN Business & Investment Summit have started to be held annually in Nanning. China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week will be held every year since 2008. China-ASEAN University Think-tank Alliance was established in 2016. ASEAN’s existing Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and ASEAN University Network (AUN) have evolved with the development of ASEAN’s integration. All these above have laid a solid foundation for the all-round cooperation between China and ASEAN in the field of education.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which was launched in September 2015 provided a new vision for national development of all countries and international development cooperation and pointed out the direction of global development aid in the next fifteen years. Later the Education 2030 Framework for Action (FFA) was adopted alongside the 38th UNESCO General Conference on 4th November 2015. Since then China has issued relevant position papers based on China’s own realistic situations, adjusted related policies on education aid to ASEAN countries, and furthermore made efforts to promote bilateral or multilateral relations in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative. This paper analyzes firstly the difference between development aids in the context of 2030 Agenda and traditional ones, and then the relevant measures in education development aids for the realization of the 2030 Agenda. Drawing on a comparative analysis of changes and existing problems in China’s education aids to ASEAN before and after the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in terms of aid funds and aid models, this research gives prospects for China’s education assistance to ASEAN under the 2030 Agenda.

This paper is based on empirical research including questionnaires and interviews done in first ten China-ASEAN education and training centers, which are national-level education and training bases for ASEAN countries approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education. The results reveal that the implementation methods and effects adopted in the field of education aid have been highly recognized and evaluated by officials and teachers from ASEAN countries. However, there are still shortcomings. In order to improve the effectiveness of these aids, this paper is ready to put forward relevant countermeasures or proposals combining the needs and expectations of ASEAN.

Author

• Huan Yan, Beijing Normal University