By Lee Woo-young

Higher education degrees will be recognized in Asia-Pacific countries including Korea, Japan, China, Australia and Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, the Education Ministry said Sunday.

The UNESCO ministerial-level meeting on Nov. 25-26 with delegations from 28 countries attending in Tokyo has adopted the revised legal agreement of the UNESCO’s convention on the recognition of qualification in higher education in Asia-Pacific regions.

The revised agreement aims to make academic degree standards and quality more comparable and compatible throughout Asia to help students continue studies in different institutions and promote academic exchanges in the region, according to education officials.

The revised agreement is expected to take effect a month after it is submitted to UNESCO.

The Korean government plans to prevent reckless issuance of degrees by some poor-performing universities in the country to foreign students in cooperation with the member countries of the agreement and further promote higher education, said education officials.

The agreement benchmarked by the Bologna Process, the academic qualification recognition mechanism in Europe, is expected to provide ground for Asia-Pacific countries to lead global exchanges in higher education, education officials said.

In order to facilitate the agreement, National Information Center will be established to provide official information on academic recognition, consulting service regarding the process and cooperate with other member countries, said education officials.

(wylee@heraldcorp.com)