In an interview with The PIE News, Thanapan Laiprakobsup, AUN‘s executive director spoke about the association’s goals for the year ahead: strengthening internal quality assurance, advancing English Medium Instruction (EMI), modernising degree qualifications, and equipping ASEAN institutions for digital transformation.
AUN, founded in 1995, is a regional consortium of leading universities from ASEAN member states that aims to strengthen cooperation in higher education by promoting academic exchange, collaborative research, quality assurance, and capacity building.
Through shared standards, mobility programs, and policy dialogue, AUN works to enhance the quality, relevance, and international competitiveness of universities across Southeast Asia.
As AUN sets out its goals for the years ahead, it does so against a backdrop of uneven institutional readiness across the region. Despite differences in resources, digital capacity and English proficiency among member universities, AUN says it remains “committed to supporting member institutions through shared platforms, and steady guidance that help institutions progress at their own pace”.
Strengthening internal quality assurance
At the core of AUN’s long-term strategy is a renewed focus on internal quality assurance (IQA). Over the past year, AUN has published the AUN-QA Internal Quality Assurance Management Toolkit, designed as a practical, adaptable guide to help universities establish and sustain robust internal quality management systems.
“The Toolkit is intended to not be about technical quality assurance concepts alone, but it is made to be adaptable to each institution’s context and responsive to the changing higher education landscape,” said Laiprakobsup.
“It supports institutions in streamlining processes and embedding quality into their institutional culture so that IQA becomes a driver of continuous development, not just a procedural task.”
Built around eight interdependent “building blocks” of university quality management, the framework supports institutions in streamlining processes, tracking progress, and aligning quality practices with their strategic missions – regardless of the external QA standards they follow.
Alongside this, AUN-QA continues to conduct institutional assessments across governance, teaching and learning, research, student support, community engagement, and internal quality assurance.
Rethinking future-ready qualifications
Qualifications reform is another major pillar of AUN’s work. In collaboration with Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation Regional Centre for Higher Education and Development (SEAMEO RIHED), AUN developed the AUN Qualifications Excellence (AUN-QEx) initiative to help universities design “future-ready and internationally comparable degree programs”.
AUN-QEx focuses on aligning three core elements of higher education: program learning outcomes, authentic assessment, and student workload.
Since its launch in 2016, the initiative has drawn on expertise from European partners including the International Tuning Academy, the University of Groningen, and the University of Deusto.
More recently, AUN has introduced an AUN-led QEx Masterclass, aimed at academic staff and curriculum designers seeking to ensure programs are responsive to labour-market needs and global expectations.
Building EMI capacity
As ASEAN institutions look to expand their global engagement, AUN is also prioritising English Medium Instruction.
“English is still the common language used across borders in connecting people. For ASEAN institutions aiming to internationalise, building strong EMI capacity is necessary to engage confidently in global academic spaces,” said Laiprakobsup.
One way AUN is advancing EMI is through partnerships with Australian institutions, including Macquarie University. Current initiatives include a series of EMI-focused webinars, alongside plans for onsite training programs delivered with support from experts at Macquarie’s EMI Centre.
Supporting universities through digital change
Digital capability is another key priority for AUN, with AUN Digital Transformation (AUN Dx) one of its thematic networks.
It is built around an integrative “one platform, one protocol” model developed in 2022 by Prince of Songkla University (PSU) through the Office of Digital Innovation and Intelligent Systems (DIIS), in collaboration with ISEM and the AUN secretariat.
“The framework helps institutions improve multiple areas of digital and ICT management such as governance, service delivery, product development, and information security, while also aligning with widely used international standards,” explained Laiprakobsup
To support its implementation, AUN-Dx continues to build regional capacity through activities such as the inaugural AUN-Dx Assessor Workshop hosted by PSU in April 2025, which introduced assessment guidelines and provided practical training for internal assessors.
Why partnerships matter for ASEAN HE
Speaking with The PIE, Laiprakobsup described how external partnerships complement ASEAN higher education by providing expertise, resources, and platforms that “help universities strengthen their capacity and engage more confidently in global academic environments”.
“Many external partners support ASEAN universities through mobility programs, leadership training, and capacity-building workshops that strengthen teaching, research communication, digital transformation, and curriculum development. Such activities help institutions raise their institutional maturity and align more closely with global expectations.
Joint research, particularly in areas related to the SDGs, further strengthens ASEAN’s ability to address regional challenges through shared knowledge, said Laiprakobsup.
The executive director stressed that partnerships “must remain aligned with ASEAN priorities”.
“Differences in capacity, policy environments, or external expectations can sometimes create pressure or complexity. However, when managed well, external collaborations reinforce ASEAN’s goal of a more integrated regional education space by expanding opportunities, improving processes, and supporting institutions in their journey toward internationalisation.”
The PIE recently highlighted the growing attention that Southeast Asian countries are receiving from governments and institutions in Australia and the UK – engagement that AUN welcomes and views as encouraging.
What AUN values most are sustained, trust-based partnerships that go beyond one-off events
Thanapan Laiprakobsup, AUN
“The increased interest is an opportunity to enrich regional higher education through capacity building, knowledge exchange, and long-term collaboration,” said Laiprakobsup, noting how the association’s engagement particularly with Australia has grown steadily in recent years.
A key milestone is the recent Memorandum of Understanding signed between AUN and Universities Australia, which sets out a shared commitment to deepen cooperation in academic initiatives, research collaboration, institutional partnerships, and mobility programs.
“What AUN values most are sustained, trust-based partnerships that go beyond one-off events, for instance, long-term joint research, curriculum collaboration, shared platforms for teaching or innovation, capacity-building initiatives, and inter-institutional communities of practice,” explained Laiprakobsup.
“These kinds of engagement create continuity and allow institutions to grow together over time, rather than simply exchanging information once.”
