The ASEAN Studies Graduate Program of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) joined the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman in celebrating the 53rd founding anniversary of the Association of the South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) through a webinar on 15 August 2020 entitled the “ASEAN Centrality: Up Close and Personal” with Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso as speaker. Ambassador Buensuceso is the former Philippine Ambassador to ASEAN and is currently the Officer-in-Charge, Undersecretary for Policy, Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippines. She is a candidate for graduation for the degree of Master in ASEAN Studies at the UPOU. The lecture was based on her master’s thesis: ASEAN Centrality: An Autoethnographic Account by a Philippine Diplomat.
The UPOU’s ASEAN Studies Graduate Program, consisting of a Graduate Certificate and a Master’s Program, is the first ASEAN Studies Graduate program in the region and the first to be delivered fully online. The program’s framework and materials were collaboratively developed by five open and distance education institutions in the ASEAN member countries, dubbed OU5, namely, Indonesia’s Universitas Terbuka (UT), Open University of Malaysia (OUM), University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), Thailand’s Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU), and Vietnam’s Hanoi Open University (HOU). The program is rooted in the philosophy that the commonly shared ASEAN aspiration and dynamics could only be well understood by the ASEAN peoples themselves through a system of knowledge and body of objective research and repository of data and information on the region in its individual member nations and in its collective character as a regional entity.
Since the program’s first offering in the first semester of Academic Year 2014-2015, the program has:
- Produced 47 graduates and currently has 333 students;
- Offered Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) on “Art in the ASEAN Region” as a venue to explore and experience art in the ASEAN region as it provides glimpses of the artworks and how the artists/participants communicate in creating these artworks, taking into account the cultures of the different ASEAN countries;
- Held the ASEAN Studies Lecture Series on the following topics: ASEAN in the Meta-nation State Interface by Dr. Sylvano Mahiwo of Asian Center, UP Diliman; ASEAN Open Regionalism by Dr. Lawan Thanadsillapakul of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University; and Colonization and Decolonization of Southeast Asia by Dr. Azhar Mad Aros of Open University Malaysia , ASEAN in Southeast Asia: A Cultural Region by Dr. Joefe Santarita of Asian Center UP Diliman, Ang Pagkain bilang Larangan ng Kultura (Food as Cultural Domain) by Assoc. Prof. Joycie D. Alegre of UP Visayas Tacloban College, and ASEAN Synergistic Growth Through Science and Technology by Dr. Gisela P. Concepcion of Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines Diliman;
- Organized the International Symposium on ASEAN Studies which was aimed at bringing ideas on ASEAN studies as a field; thickening the discourse on ASEANology; and promoting the community of scholars on ASEAN;
- Co-organized ASEANnale which is a composite of activities that showcases the creative and research works of higher education students and faculty from the 10 ASEAN member countries; and
- Sustained collaborative efforts with the OU5 through the following research
- Higher Education Policies Promoting ASEAN
- Capitalizing Open Education in ASEAN
- Labor Migration in ASEAN
- Community Involvement in Cultural Heritage Management for Tourism In Four ASEAN Countries
- ASEAN Food Culture in Four ASEAN-Member Countries
Further information about the program can be found at https://fmds.upou.edu.ph/academics/post-bac/mas/
