Educational cooperation in Asia is expected to get a boost with the launch of a continental educational forum in Beijing. 

The education forum, which is expected to be launched in the Chinese capital in August 2004, is likely to establish an Asian Business School, an Asian Development Research Centre, an Asian Scholarship Fund and an Asian Fund for Training and Research Development.

Asian countries are facing challenges including inconsistent levels of economic and educational development and cultural diversity, which have resulted in poor educational standards, said United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) official Sheldom Shaeffer.

"I believe the Education Forum for Asia will improve access to basic education and raise the quality of higher education, and lead to the development of lifelong learning opportunities for Asian people to adjust to the rapid changing work environment," Shaeffer told China Daily.

Asia's recent unprecedented economic growth has brought a drastic rise in the need for highly trained experts, Fidel Ramos, former president of the Philippines and chairman of the board of directors of Boao Forum for Asia, said over the weekend in Beijing.

"The lack of highly trained people is further exacerbated by the huge population and inequalities in Asia's education systems," Ramos said at a preparing meeting for the education forum.

"An education-oriented cooperation and communication platform need to be established."

Co-hosted by the Boao Forum for Asia, UNESCO and the China Scholarship Council, the preparatory meeting attracted more than 70 delegates from government education departments, international organizations, universities and companies from nine countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific area.

Meeting with the participants, which include former Premier of South Korea Lee Soo-sung, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and former Nepalese Prime Minister Kirti Bista, Chinese State Councilor and former Education Minister Chen Zhili said the education forum for Asia is crucially important in bringing about smoother educational communications and human resource mobility among Asian countries.

(China Daily December 12, 2003)