Branding of Higher Education in the

region: SEAMEO Perspective

Dato’ Dr Ahamad bin SiponDirector, SEAMEO Secretariat Bangkok

Nha Trang, Vietnam10 August 2009

Background on SEAMEO

• Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization

• Established in 1965

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• Key Role – to promote cooperation

among the Southeast Asian nations

through education, science and culture

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• SEAMEO Membership

- 11 Member Countries: Brunei

Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia,

Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar,

Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,

Timor Leste and Vietnam

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– 8 Associate Members: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Spain

– Two Affiliate Members: International Council for Open and Distance Learning (ICDE) and University of Tsukuba, Japan.

SEAMEO Secretariat

executive arm

SEAMEO Council

highest policy-making body

determines strategic directions

of the Organization

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SEAMEO Councilmeets annually

SEAMEO High Officialsmeets prior to Council Meeting to

discuss - propose programmes

- finances- legal aspects

- administration- operation of organization

and provide recommendations

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• SEAMEO operates through a

network of 16 SEAMEO Regional

Centres and a SEAMEO TROPMED

Network in 8 Member Countries

SEAMEO Regional Centres

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VIETNAM

SEAMEO RETRAC • specializes in identifying and

addressing issues of educational management.

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MYANMAR

SEAMEO CHAT • promotes cooperation in the study of

history and tradition.

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THAILAND

SEAMEO RIHED• plays a crucial role in the field of

higher education

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THAILAND

SEAMEO SPAFA • cultivates awareness and appreciation

of cultural heritage; promotes and enriches archaeological and cultural activities; and furthers professional competence in the fields of archaeology and fine arts.

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THAILAND

SEAMEO TROPMED NETWORK• promotes health and prevents and

control tropical diseases and public health problems.

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SEAMEO TROPMED four sub-regional Centres

• SEAMEO TROPMED Indonesia, specializes in Community Nutrition;

• SEAMEO TROPMED Malaysia, focuses on Microbiology, Parasitology and Entomology;

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• SEAMEO TROPMED Philippines, deals with Public Health, and

• SEAMEO TROPMED Thailand, specializes in Tropical Medicine.

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MALAYSIA

SEAMEO RECSAM • deals with the development of

science, mathematics and technology education.

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SINGAPORE

SEAMEO RELC • provides training and expertise in

upgrading the skills of language specialists and educators.

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INDONESIA

SEAMEO BIOTROP • focuses on Tropical Biology

SEAMEO SEAMOLEC• specializes in Open Learning

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BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

SEAMEO VOCTECH• provides training, research and

services in Vocational and Technical Education

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PHILIPPINES

SEAMEO INNOTECH• specializes in Educational Innovation

and Technology

SEAMEO SEARCA• deals with Graduate Study and

Research in Agriculture

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• SEAMEO is expanding and venturing into new areas of specialization by establishing 4 new Centres:

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INDONESIA

SEAMEO Regional Centre for Quality Improvement of Teachers and EducationPersonnel in Science

SEAMEO Regional Centre for Quality Improvement of Teachers and EducationPersonnel in Mathematics

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SEAMEO Regional Centre for Quality Improvement of Teachers and

EducationPersonnel in Language

MALAYSIA

SEAMEO Regional Centre on SpecialEducation

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• creates learning opportunities for Ministers, High Officials and others to match shifting trends in human resource development strategies

SEAMEO

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• provides research and training as well as both higher and further learning experiences to develop human capacity through the 16 Regional Centres

SEAMEO

Insights into the Branding into the Branding of SEAMEOof SEAMEO

The concept of ‘branding’

• Quoting Wikipedia, a brand is a symbolic

construct created within the minds of

people and consists of all the information

and expectations associated with a product

or service rendered by an organization.

• Branding would bring a product or

service into wider visibility and

help keep them sustainable.

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• In the 21st century, branding is a

necessity in a company’s or

organization’s development plans for

reasons of national, regional and global

competitiveness, to improve the quality

of their products and services.

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SEAMEO underlying principles on branding of the organization

• To sustain its growth in a fast-changing world;

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• To ‘sell’ its products and services, even beyond the region, thus securing success and reputation in the marketplace in the face of scarce resources, and

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• To maintain the uniqueness of the

organization as the longest existing

human resource development

provider in Southeast Asia.

SEAMEO brandSEAMEO brand

…needs to be well-defined and

continuously relevant to the

region and beyond the region.

Contributions to the branding of SEAMEO

• Individual & joint activities by Regional Centres

• Committed Centres’ professionals & experts in various fields of education, science & culture

• Service & product performances of Centres

Current services and products of SEAMEO

• Training, seminars, conferences, workshops, and symposia in human resource development;

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• Research and Development, for example on educational technologies and policies;

• Consultancy, for example on policy recommendations, project implementation, and management mechanisms;

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• Information Dissemination and Exchange, for example, learning materials, technical reports, research reports, recommended practices in HRD programmes, publications, modules, proceedings, newsletters and press releases;

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• Facilities such as guesthouses, hotels, learning resource centres, laboratories, and equipment;

• Publications in various forms, such as journals, research and technical reports, news, and

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• Learning materials, such as courseware, VDO educational materials, CD ROM and other non-book formats of educational materials.

Living and Sustaining SEAMEO Brand

• Needs commitment and continuous effort to remain as ‘Southeast Asia’s foremost human development provider in education, science and culture’

• Strategizes through:

– Enhancing institutional visibility

– Strengthening organization of excellence

– Enhancing resource generation

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– Increasing regional and global collaboration and cooperation

– Strengthening the management and organizational capability and skills improvement

• Promotion exercises at Unit & SEAMEO levels:

– refining the positioning of the centre and the centre’s products and services, improving customer relations program and tools for customer needs assessment, and improving relations with the media and alumni, and

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– marketing ‘SEAMEO’ at the corporate level, beyond the region, with potential donors and international funding agencies, as well as providing guidelines or mechanism for the evaluation of the SEAMEO Centres’ Marketing Performance.

• Identifying needs and expectations of SEAMEO:

Customers Competitors Potential partners

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- To improve quality of services and products- To increase visibility- To remain relevant

• Collaboration at all levels:

– Consensus about SEAMEO branding to be achieved from the Council down to the Secretariat and the Centre directors.

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– Awareness and trust among all SEAMEO staff and shareholders to be increased about the positioning of SEAMEO, thus promoting its products and services.

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– Continuation of providing quality products and services to the region and beyond.

– Marketing units of all SEAMEO Centres and the Secretariat to be trained and work professionally with consistent coordination and collaboration within the organization.

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– Various forms of communication to be extended effectively and efficiently to promote cooperation, partnership, support and assistance with regional and international organizations, donors, and the public at large.

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– Capacity building and human resource development as a whole to be upgraded to increase the quality of the products and services provided. Thus, quality assurance becomes the backbone of the activities of the entire organization.

Conclusion• SEAMEO has come along way to serve

the people of the Southeast Asian region.

• SEAMEO’s relative success can be accounted to:

– awareness across the organization what SEAMEO stands for,

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– internalization of key individuals and groups across the organization of what SEAMEO aims to achieve, and

– commitment which is reflected through appropriate behaviour of its personnel reinforced over time to effect a lasting culture change.

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• Like SEAMEO, development of branding is pertinent in higher education as it reflects the relevancy of the education institutions to meet the needs, challenges and demands for intellectual and academic knowledge.

Thank YouThank You