ASIA: South Korea backs ASEAN cyber university

The South Korean government last week announced a US$1.8 million grant to Vietnam to establish the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Cyber University for e-learning by July 2012.

As part of the project the Hanoi Science and Technology University will develop an e-learning and training facility.

The funding from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), a development aid body, will initially include Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam and will later be expanded to other ASEAN members, a Korean official said.

ASEAN also includes Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei.

In meetings earlier this year the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in collaboration with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam drew up a road map for establishing the university which includes developing e-learning infrastructure and running pilot programmes during the next year, and establishing the university by July 2012. There is also a long-term plan to develop it into a 'hub university of ASEAN'.

On 27 May KOICA also signed an agreement with Cambodia to establish an e-learning centre at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia, to develop IT skills. Korea will be providing technical assistance and hardware for the projects.

The project, agreed at the 2009 ASEAN summit, is designed to help the four countries acquire the technology and knowledge related to e-learning systems, to help students in remoter areas access higher education.

Vietnam, which has the most advanced IT and technology infrastructure of the four countries, will also provide support to other nations within the technology hub.

South Korea launched its first cyber university in 2001. Today some 90,000 Koreans are enrolled at 19 cyber universities in the country.

"The advantage of cyber education is that it provides the opportunity for economically disadvantaged countries in Asia to enjoy high levels of education at low cost," said Lee Young Sae, President of Korea's Daegu Cyber University, which is participating in the ASEAN project.