This presentation is based on a personal professional experience in SEA as a Medical Doctor, holding various positions in various organizations, including private sector. None of the views exposed will reflect the official positions of these organizations. Looking backward, I think I have got the necessary distance to get insights on how this collaboration between SEA and Europe has the potential power to boost higher learning in both of these parts of the world, to the benefit of all, taking the example of the higher learning in Health. I will first expose few case studies in SEA countries, about networks and organizations involved in human development, namely the ADB and the ASEAN. I will further provide personal comments on the shift of paradigm, in successful higher learning cooperation between SEA and Europe, and on how a fruitful future could be shaped together under a humanist perspective.

1. A Humanist perspective on
Higher Learning collaboration
between South-East Asia and
Europe: the example of Health
sector.
ASAIHL International Conference, Montpellier (France), 10 to
13 June 2014
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
1
Dr. Jean-Jacques BERNATAS, MD,
MScPH

2. Introduction
 The views exposed do not reflect in any way the official
positions of any of the organizations or institutions cited
in this presentation.
 It is based on a personal experience alternatively as an
actor and as on observer during 8 years spent in
South-East Asia
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
2

3. Case studies (I): cooperation in
Health sector in Vietnam
 Post-graduate training for physicians: from non-
graduating program to PG diplomas. FFI to “DU”
and DFMS/DFMSA (1)
 Hoa Sen Lotus Program (2): Hubert Curien
Partnership (PHC) in Vietnam. To promote
scientific partnerships in funding students mobility
in both ways.
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
3

4. Case studies (II-1): an example of
network: Institut Pasteur
International
Network (IPIN)
The IPIN (3): 32 partners around the world. Research/Training/Public Health.
 Creation of the Pasteur Institute of Paris in 1888
 In Asia:
 1891: Pasteur Institute of Saigon - now Ho Chi Minh City – by Albert CALMETTE (1863-
1933);
 1895: Laboratory created by Alexandre YERSIN (1863-1943), an became the Institut Pasteur
of Nha Trang in 1905;
 1923: Pasteur Institute of Hanoi, now National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE),
 1996: convention between IP and HKU,
 2003: Pasteur Institute in Seoul,
 2009/2010: Pasteur Institute of Laos.
 All are independent and are national-owned institutions, under the direction of their
respective MoH +/- MoEd.
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
4

5. Case studies (II-2): an example of
network: Institut Pasteur
International
Network and SISEA Project (3)
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
5
Type of disbursement Amount (€) %
Equipment ### 12
Personnel & Training ### 38
Goods and services ### 34
Monitoring and evaluation ### 3
Other ### 6
Management fees ### 7

6. ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
6
International Short Course in Biostatistics - REDI centre -
Singapore, November 9-13, 2009.
Capacity
strengthening
• 24 trainees/12 from
SISEA/Lao PDR, Cambodia,
Vietnam, Indonesia,
Singapore, China.
• New ties with professionals
coming from Indonesia, and
Singapore.
• High quality of the
collaboration with REDI and
NUS, who are willing to
develop further collaborations
in training at the regional
level.

7. Case studies (III-1): Higher education and
development, from MDGs to post-2015
agenda
 MDGs: “Achieve universal primary education”. From 82% in 1999 to 90%
in 2010. Still 57 millions children of primary school age are out-of-school
(4)
 Post-2015: Education and skills for inclusive and sustainable
development (5);
 ↗ access to primary education → ↗ demand in secondary education → ↗
demand in HE
 Inadequate access to HE →knowledge divide, including “e-literacy” gap → ↗
inequality (esp. gender-wise)
 HE is to be included in post-2015 development agenda: education as a
continuum, from primary to HE.
 The British Council’s Director of Education and Society, Jo Beall
emphasizes on the key role played by higher education in the post 2015-
agenda (http://bit.ly/1tVwuYt )
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
7

8. Case studies (III-2): ADB, a regional
partner in Education and
Development
 The Asian Development Bank (ADB, www.adb.org ) analysis
(6) about higher education states that:
 HE faces 4 challenges in Asia:
 Maintaining/improving quality,
 Relevance of curriculum, to be aligned with local labor market,
 increasing and better utilizing the financial resources
 Continued expansion of access vs. equity and quality.
 Need for:
 Enhanced capacity of university leaders
 more effective national and institutional-level policies
 greater attention to partnerships, including those with the private
sector, to improve quality and ensure sustainable financing of
higher education.
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
8

9. Case studies (III-3): ASEAN, a
strategic regional support to Higher
Learning
(7) Human Development/Advancing and prioritizing
education:
 To develop an exchange program for teaching staff to
improve the quality and adaptability of education,
 Education networking for teaching and research with the
Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization
(SEAMEO) and the ASEAN University Network (AUN);
 Courses on ASEAN studies, including at higher education
levels;
 Promote the options of university placements in an institution
of higher learning in a second ASEAN Member State
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
9

10. Change of paradigm in
cooperation (and) in Higher
Education
 From vertical to flat management: paternalistic vs.
collaborative model.
 From arborescence to network: the best comes out from
teamwork and sharing – not distilling –knowledge. Feedback
will guarantee continuous improvement.
 From local to global: the world is our classroom, as well as
our village and our laboratory.
 From “for a few” to “for all”: Confucius vs. MOOC
 From face-to-face to distance-based
 From quality to quantity …? And back to quality again.
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
10

11. Conditionality for success
 To accept the unavoidable changes
 HE can only grow on a solid secondary and primary
education
 HE makes sense only if in line with the local and the
regional labor market
 Exchange of experience, knowledge sharing: networking
and cooperation (regional and global)
 Budget: funding must be secured first and foremost.
 No place for corruption
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
11

12. What makes South-East
Asia/Europe partnership in HE so
special?
 The long-lasting shared history, sometimes conflicting,
may be the ground of a bright shared future, fruitful for
each partner.
 We may face issues that the other partners faced
already, and for which experience has been gained and
could be shared (infectious/chronic diseases)
 Different cultural backgrounds will bring different views
on questions of research.
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
12

13. Expected outcomes of SEA/EU
collaboration in HE
 Sustainable development of LIC and MIC in SEA
 New markets for both SEA and European
countries
 Mutual fostering in research and education
 HE is aiming at fostering imagination, creativity,
open-mindedness, citizenship
 Strong options given to SEA university besides
North America and Australia
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
13

14. Tracks for the future
 Developing regional networks and connecting them at a
“meta-network” level
 Facilitating by all mean the mobility of the students and
of the teachers:
 legal framework for supporting visa requests and for
facilitating travels for teachers and students;
 Administrative support to manage mobility;
 Sustainability  funding
 Public-Private Partnerships
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
14

15. Conclusion (I): “L’un vers
l’Autre”
 Victor Segalen and F. Cheng (8):
 Two poets, 60 years apart having had a journey one from
Europe to Asia, and one from Asia to Europe;
 A cross-view on the best of both traditions will enrich our vision
of the world.
 “exote”, the traveler who immerses himself in another culture,
while keeping his origin, to the best of both cultures.
 Giáo sư Bác sĩ Tôn Thất Tùng, who developed an
innovative technique of liver surgery (9) (10), in the 60’s, and
taught it to the French surgeons.
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
15

16. Conclusion (II): Humanist vision of
the goal of Education
F. Rabelais in his “Gargantua” (11):
“In all their rule and strictest tie of their order there was but
this one clause to be observed,
Do What Thou Wilt
because men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and
conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct
and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and
withdraws them from vice, which is called honour.”
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
16

17. It is also about investing in the
future …
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
17

18. Acknowledgements
 University of Montpellier 2, with a special mention to Dr.
Roger Frutos;
 Institut Pasteur International Network and its Asian
members: NIHE, IPHCMC, IPNT, IPC, IPL;
 The Embassy of France in Vietnam and the French Ministry
of Foreign Affairs;
 All my colleagues in Vietnam, Lao PDR, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines (ADB);
 The ADB, especially the members of the Health Community
of Practice.
 To my Master, Pr. René Baylet
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
18

19. References
 (1) : Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche. Bulletin Officiel N° 48 DU 24 DÉCEMBRE 2009. Circulaire
n° 2009-1035 du 30-11-2009.
 (2): http://www.campusfrance.org/fr/lotus, accessed on 04 June 2014.
 (3): J.-J. Bernatas: "Surveillance and capacity building in South-East Asia: SISEA project and the International Pasteur
Institutes Network“. International Congress of the Société de Pathologie Exotique, Vientiane, Lao PDR, 25-28 janvier 2010.
 (4): http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education.shtml accessed on 04 June 2014.
 (5): UNESCO: Education and skills for inclusive and sustainable development beyond 2015. Thematic Think Piece, May
2012.
 (6) Higher education across Asia: an overview of issues and strategies. Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Asian Development
Bank, 2011.
 (7) ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint. Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat, June 2009
 (8): F. Cheng: L’un Vers l’Autre. Albin Michel, 2008. ISBN 978-2-226-18853-3
 (9) Ton That Tung, Nguyen Duong Quang. A new technique for operating the liver. Lancet Jan 26, 1963; 281:192-193
 (10) Tung TT, Les résections majeures du foie, Paris : Masson, 1979
 (11): F. Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel, Book I. Five Books Of The Lives, Heroic Deeds And Sayings Of Gargantua
And His Son Pantagruel. Chap. 57. Gutenberg Project, accessible online at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8166/8166-
h/8166-h.htm#2HCH0057
ASAIHL Conference 2014, Montpellier
19