Asean Can Be Centre Of Education And Employment, Says Qi Group

KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 (Bernama) -- Asean member states have been urged to harness their strengths in education and employment as an important strategy to enhance regional competitiveness and community building. QI Group Executive Chairman Vijay Eswaran said the grouping had high quality educational resources and job opportunities to offer its citizens. "Hence, we need a common Asean education standard where students can continue their studies by transferring credits to a fellow Asean-based university and not look towards the west for high quality education. "This is the way forward for the grouping," he said in a statement Sunday. "Our Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, in his address at the 9th Asean Leadership Forum held in Phnom Penh, aptly argued that knowledge is the connecting thread between us and deserves the greatest impetus. "Thus education has to be our priority, and I urge member states to initiate concrete steps to enhance educational opportunities. "We can begin by identifying our existing educational resources in Asean and cooperate bilaterally and regionally to develop it further," Vijay said. The Leadership Forum was held for three days from April 4. "Being an Asean beneficiary myself, my contribution to this initiative is the Quest International University Perak, which the QI Group had set up in cooperation with the Perak state government in Malaysia," said Vijay. On employment, he pointed out that the internet was one of the last frontiers, noting that the QI Group’s online foray was a case in point. "One of our subsidiaries has built a six million strong global customer base solely on the internet platform. This is a classic example of an Asean company with offices in five Asean countries. "Business has brought us together," he said. Following the Leadership Forum, Vijay delivered a keynote address at the Asean Young Leaders Dialogue on "Being at the Forefront of Asean Integration, Think Business’. The Asean Young Leaders Dialogue united young thinkers and emerging leaders from government, business, academic and research institutions, think tanks and non-govermental organisations to discuss the future of Asean. -- BERNAMA