Details of Agreement from the Third Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities （Jeju）

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Press Release
May 18th, 2011

Overview

To further expanding cooperation and develop higher education throughout Japan, China, and Korea the members of the 3 countries concluded the following matters at the 3rd Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities (in Jeju, Korea on May 17th). This committee was established based on a proposal by former Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama at the 2nd Japan-China-Korea trilateral summit, which took place in October 2009 (See Attachment 1 for a list of participants and developments to date).

-   Final confirmation of the guideline contents for the promotion of cooperation among universities through the exchange of credits and grade assessments. 3 countries agree that their governments will announce these guidelines. (See Attachment 2 for an outline of the guidelines)

-   Based on these guidelines, a joint call for pilot program proposals will start from May 20th, 2011 in 3 countries. Following the deadline for applications set at the end of July, the applications will go through 2 stages of evaluations, each country’s autonomous evaluations (1st stage) and joint trilateral evaluation (2nd stage). The pilot program, hence, will be officially confirmed at the 4th Japan-China-Korea Committee scheduled to take place in Japan this October. (See Attachment 3 for Agreement of the 3rd Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities)

-   3 countries will take measures to actively disseminate this pilot program.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) will continue cooperating with China and Korea through the progress of deciding on the pilot program and plans to invite government officials and the members of the quality assurance agencies to the International Symposium on Exchange among Universities with Quality Assurance in East Asia Region to be held this September.

(Attachment 1)

List of Committee Participants

(Japan)

 (China)

(Korea)

*Co-chairpersons

Developments to date and upcoming schedule

-At the 2nd trilateral summit (Beijing, October 2009), then Prime Minister Hatoyama proposed holding an intergovernmental expert meeting to examine quality-assured exchanges among the three countries' universities and to convene an international symposium to discuss quality assurance in Asia. The parties agreed to this proposal.

-The 1st Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities was held (Tokyo, April 2010). The parties agreed to call this concept “Campus Asia” and to set up a Working Group on the Exchange Program and a Working Group on Quality Assurance in order to advance expert discussions.

-At the 3rd trilateral summit (Jeju Island, May 2010), the parties agreed on the early realization of “Campus Asia” - centered on Japan, Korea and China and including ASEAN members and other countries.

-The 1st meetings of the Working Group on the Exchange Program and the Working Group on Quality Assurance were held (Tokyo, August 2010).

-The 2nd Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities held on December 10th, 2010 in Beijing.

-On May 17th, 2011, the 3rd Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities was held in Jeju.

-In September 2011, the International Symposium on Exchange among Universities with Quality Assurance in East Asian Region is scheduled to be held in Japan. The Symposium aims to share the results of the Japan-China-Korea Committees with other Asian countries, and aims to discuss quality assured exchange among universities in Asia.

-In October 2011, the 4th Japan-China-Korea Committee is scheduled to be held in Japan. The pilot program will be decided at this committee.

(Attachment 2)

Guidelines for promoting exchange among Japan, China and Korea (Outline)

These guidelines were agreed to at the 2nd Japan-China-Korea Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities held in Beijing. The Final confirmation of its contents was made at the 3rd Japan-China-Korea Committee in Jeju.

* Complete Guidelines

1.  Basic figure of exchange shaped through the Guidelines

-These guidelines define where universities, governments, quality assurance agencies, industry representatives and other stakeholders should focus their efforts in order to implement credit transfer and grade evaluation to enable cooperative education. They also seek to assure the quality of academic degrees, leading to further improvements in quality assurance in higher education both domestically and internationally.

-Since the university system in each country possesses unique attributes and features, the guidelines will be formulated such that no one country is bound to another country's concept of what a university system or university education entails. Likewise, exchange among universities shall be based on each university's autonomous policies and frameworks, and the guidelines will be formulated such that no one university is bound to another university's educational style, exchange program content or method of exchange. 

2.  Important Points

- On the basis of the specific responsibilities in each country, the guidelines recommend the following necessary actions to governments, universities, quality assurance agencies and other relevant organizations, including industry. (Detailed explanations for each action are omitted.)

(Universities)

-Establishment of internal quality assurance system

-Effective implementation of exchange programs

-Good services for exchange students

(Governments)

-Establishment of a comprehensive, coherent and transparent quality assurance framework

-Encouragement for relevant universities to participate in the exchange programs

-Support for the quality assurance agency to conduct activities

(Quality Assurance Agencies)

-Maintaining clarification and visibility of procedure

-Seeking for common standards and joint evaluation

-Capacity building for the staff

(Other related entities)

-Understanding of the significance of trilateral exchange

（Attachment 3）

Agreement of the 3rd Korea-China-Japan Committee for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities

The 3rd Korea-China-Japan Committee, held in Jeju, Korea, on 17th May 2011, agreed as follows:

1. Implementation of CAMPUS Asia

1. Objectives

Based on the 『Trilateral Cooperation VISION 2020』 adopted at the Third Trilateral Summit, CAMPUS Asia aims to promote cooperation among universities and mutual understanding among students of the 3 countries through various forms of exchange programs between universities, and ultimately contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of universities and nurturing the next generation of outstanding talents of Asia.

2. Pilot Program

CAMPUS Asia shall be initiated through a pilot program, after which exchange programs of different types and levels shall be developed and the program scale will be expanded based on the experience accumulated from the pilot program,. Based on the discussions at the 2nd Korea-China-Japan Committee (’10.12, Beijing), the 3 countries’ working groups have continuously discussed and established principles for the implementation of the pilot program as follows. These principles were confirmed at the 3rd Committee.

1. Exchange Subjects : Undergraduates and Graduates of Korea, China, Japan Universities
2. Participating Unit : A consortium by the universities of the 3 countries
   * Eligibility for Participation: Domestic national, public and private universities of the three countries;
   * Application shall be made at the level of departments or colleges and submitted through the participating universities.
   * One university may participate in several consortiums or multiple universities from one country may participate in one KCJ consortium.
3. Style and field of exchange projects : To be decided by each consortium autonomously.
4. Period of exchange projects: To be decided by each consortium autonomously, but it is recommended that the exchange period for students be 1 year as the main form and no less than 3 months during the pilot stage.
5. Number of students to be exchanged : Each country will support the mobility of 100 students per year (for a 1 year exchange basis) to and from the other two countries during the pilot stage. It is recommended that each country have an equal number of exchange students, and each university shall send and receive equal number of students.
   The number of students privately funded or funded by their own university is not included in the above number (100). Each consortium can accept those students at their discretion if they are qualified enough for the program.
6. Pilot Program’s Duration :  3-5 years.
   * Joint Call for Proposals and selection of consortiums in 2011, followed by student exchange from 2012.
   * The 3 countries will evaluate jointly the progress of projects every two year.(For example, for 5 year projects, interim evaluation in 2013(fiscal year), and final evaluation in 2015(fiscal year).  Financial support may be reduced or terminated for projects with poor progress.
7. Number of consortiums to be selected : about 10 consortiums
8. Selection of the project :
   1st stage (Each country’s autonomous evaluations)
   2nd stage (Joint trilateral evaluation)
9. Language : To be decided by each consortium autonomously.
10. Support to Universities : To be decided by each government autonomously.
11. Support to Students
    a. Each student will pay tuition to his/her respective university, and tuition fee between universities forming consortium shall be mutually exempted. However, each consortium can additionally accept fee-paying students as their discretion.
    b. Government Support: It is strongly recommended that the receiving country provide maximum 100 (1 year basis) inbound students by principle with the minimum support level on par with its government-funded scholarship students.
    c. Support for airfare will be decided autonomously by the home country (student-sending country), while all other costs, including accommodation and housing, will be covered by the host countries (student-receiving country).

3. Guidelines for Exchange and Cooperation among Universities in China, Japan and Korea with Quality Assurance

These guidelines clearly stipulate the functions and responsibilities of all parties involved in CAMPUS Asia such as governments, universities, quality assurance agencies, industries, etc, to be used by each party from the pilot program stage. The 3 countries should actively disseminate these guidelines to each party.

2. Upcoming Korea-China-Japan Committee

The 4th Korea-China-Japan Committee will be held in Japan, in October 2011 and the results for the selection of consortiums of the pilot program will be reported.

※ Attachment List
<Attachment1>  Participants of the 3rd Korea-China-Japan Committee
<Attachment2>  Selection procedure and schedule of the pilot program
Attachment2-a. Sample Application Form

（These attachments above are omitted.）

17th May 2011

The 3rd Korea-China-Japan Committee
for Promoting Exchange and Cooperation among Universities

Jeju, Korea