A MoU to promote academic cooperation and build Hanyang University's reach into the ASEAN region has been signed with the Asia School of Business.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has announced a three-year, multi-million dollar program of higher education internationalisation initiatives as part of its New Southbound Policy.

The Australian government has expanded the New Colombo Plan, its programme to promote student mobility into Asia, and announced three new initiatives to increase opportunities for students in business.

All 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will join Australia’s New Colombo Plan, which funds undergraduates to study and do internships in the region, from 2015. The Australian government has committed AUS$100m to fund the project over the next five years, which Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says will build friendship and understanding "for generations to come".

The 3,000 assistant teachers will be sent to Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries by 2020 through a new ¥30 billion (US$296 million) 'Asia Centre' initiative, in a bid to deepen ties with the region. The centre will promote Japanese language, culture and sports, particularly in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics.

A credit transfer system similar to Europe's ERASMUS programme will be piloted this year as inter-regional mobility in the Asia swells. The Academic Credit Transfer Framework for Asia will enable students in higher education across Cambodia, China, Laos, Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, ASEAN countries, Japan and Korea to participate in student exchanges more easily.

Hungary has included educational exchange as part of its foreign policy strategy of "Opening to the East" by offering 2,000 scholarships to students in Central and East Asia. At a time of cuts to subsidised domestic education the government has argued that the scheme will pay for itself by developing trade ties for Hungary - and that the scheme could be extended to other regions.

Thailand is preparing itself to become a hub for international schools and ELT once the ASEAN Economic Community is launched in 2015, officials have said. The demand for international schools and English programmes in Thailand has increased in the past 20 years.