ASEAN Committee in Canberra met with the Group of Eight

On 26 May 2021, HE Ms Busadee Santipitaks, Ambassador of Thailand and Chair of the ASEAN Committee in Canberra, led the ASEAN Committee in Canberra in meeting with Professor Margaret Gardner, Chair of the Group of Eight and President and Vice-Chancellor of Monash University and its board members, which comprise Australia’s leading research-intensive universities including the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University, the University of Sydney, the University of Queensland, the University of Western Australia, the University of Adelaide, Monash University and UNSW Sydney.  Both sides discussed the importance of the role of education in Australia especially in promoting people-to-people ties with international partners such as ASEAN.  As ASEAN students are the third largest student cohort in Australia, they concurred that it is vital to cooperate to find ways in bringing back ASEAN students to continue their studies in Australia.  They also agreed to strengthen research collaboration to support post-COVID-19 economic recovery.