The 2nd Trilateral Education Ministers’ Meeting was held in Tokyo, Japan on March 21, 2018. The meeting was presided by Minister Yoshimasa HAYASHI, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. Minister CHEN Baosheng of China Ministry of Education and Minister KIM Sang-kon of ROK Ministry of Education joined the meeting. From TCS, Deputy Secretary-General HAN Mei attended the meeting.
During the meeting, the ministers reviewed the progress made in line with the Seoul Declaration for Trilateral Education Cooperation from the 1st Education Ministers’ Meeting held in 2016. Building upon this discussion, the ministers agreed to (i) promote and expand student exchanges among the three countries; (ii) further cooperation in higher education through CAMPUS Asia Program and by developing a joint research project on mutual recognition of degrees, and; (iii) strengthen the network with multilateral partnerships through UNESCO, ASEAN+3, Trilateral Summit and ASEM. The meeting adopted a Joint Communiqué, which included a statement about a new CJK joint research project on higher education. TCS was designated to serve as the project’s focal point.
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TCS Deputy Secretary-General Han shared TCS activities in trilateral education cooperation that provided support to the follow-ups from the first ministerial meeting. To offer an illustration, Ms. Han described the achievements from TCS Seminar on Regional Education Cooperation: CAMPUS Asia in CJK, alumni program for CJK Children’s Story Exchange Program, and participation in CJK University Student Exchange Program as TCS’ major contributions. Regarding TCS’ future plans, she welcomed the invitations from the three ministers for TCS to serve as the focal point for the joint research on CJK higher education. In addition, Ms. Han agreed to work with CJK ministries to support other important agendas in education such as maker education, vocational education and youth sports exchanges.
Before the Ministers’ Meeting, DSG Han met with the media and briefed them about the history and the latest progress of CJK trilateral education cooperation as well as TCS’ contribution in promoting cooperation.
The 3rd Trilateral Education Ministers’ Meeting will be held in China in 2019.
