The instrumental role of universities in socio-economic development is today widely recognised. Enhancing links and cross-fertilisation between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and their business environment in the interest of graduates' employability, improved competitiveness and growth is high on the agenda of policy makers and HEIs around the globe.The benefits of university-business cooperation are however as widely recognised as the difficulties that still exist in this field. Lack of integrated approaches and strategic management, inability to bring the different motivations closer, bureaucracy, and need to provide staff and students with the right skills are some of the obstacles generally identified.Challenges increase in countries with complex environments, like Indonesia. In addition to intricate institutional and regulatory frameworks and regional disparity in university capacity, evidence shows a generalised lack of understanding and trust, and little or no involvement of business stakeholders in HEIs’ strategies, what hampers productive university-business interaction. To bring the two sectors together, it is critical to create opportunities for structured vision and common work.SMART proposes a set of focused and complementary activities for enhanced university-business cooperation at Indonesian HEIs to help them identify opportunities for development, generate research-based knowledge, and contribute to the on-going education in the field. The project will facilitate the transfer of good practices from the EU to the PC HEIs; the set-up of professional units (Business Engagement Centres) at 7 PC HEIs and training to their staff to let them accompany students and researchers in making their business ventures a reality. The creation of a University-Business Network, as a platform for dialogue and exchange of experiences, and the Start-Up Nights and other stakeholders' events will also contribute to inspiring nation-wide change.

Knowledge-based societies are underpinned by solid capacities in Intellectual Property (IP), research and innovation (R&I). These three pillars are closely interrelated, being sound IP practice instrumental in managing R&I effectively. The increased sophistication of research and global demand for competitive R&I conform challenging scenarios for HEIs, particularly in regions with unsteady IP systems, such as the ASEAN, where IP legislation and performance differs from country to country. The endeavours made at the regional level to align IP practice with international standards need to be supplemented with institutional actions of different nature if HEIs genuinely aspire to become active components in the innovation chain.Against this background, SPIRE’s overall objective is contributing to the effectiveness of R&I management at the PC HEIs by enhancing IP capacities at three complementary levels, thereby addressing major difficulties identified in the target ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand): ➢ Knowledge & kills of staff and students, by transferring good practices from EU HEIs, and implementing the Capacity Building Programme (on-site/online) for professional development;➢ Infrastructure & policy, by setting up IP Management Units (IPMUs) at HEIs to provide comprehensive and centralised IP assistance, and formulating/upgrading institutional IP policies; and ➢ Regional cooperation, by promoting regional-wide initiatives, such as a functional IP Network for HEIs, able to pass on experiences from more advanced countries to less developed ones and boost improvement.

Tuning Asia-South East project brings together 7 South East Asia nations and 6 EU Member States giving the opportunity for 30 higher education institutions to engage in policy dialogues, work on key issues related to harmonising competences, and enhance mutual recognition of higher education qualifications. In order to contribute to and support the harmonisation process within the South East Asia region through building of a framework of comparable, compatible and transparent degree programmes, project aims to apply the Tuning methodology in the South East Asia universities in three subject areas – Civil Engineering, Medicine and Teacher Education, develop Tuning Meta-Profiles in three subject areas; develop, implement, monitor and improve degree programmes, and promote regional and international cooperation between the South East Asia and EU universities. The project main results are ensured by using a multi-stakeholder bottom-up approach while taking European and world Tuning experiences in collaboration with key stakeholders at national, regional and international levels. They include: a well-established group of trained academics and managers (65 academic staff and 40 management staff); Reference Points for the Design and Delivery of Degree Programmes in Civil Engineering, Medicine and Teacher Education; 4 BA Degree Programme Profiles and 1 Master’s Degree Profile; 2 Regional Dissemination Seminars; 2 International Dissemination Conferences; 2 High Level International Policy Forums; 1 Public interactive website. The outcomes of the project are of relevance for all higher education institutions in South East Asia.

Internationalisation is one of the pressing issues for South-East Asian HEIs: Mission & Vision statements, as well as Strategic Plans confirm the strong will of the HEIs in the Region to strive for Internationalisation for the sake of students & graduates. Ministerial & Regional policy documents, too, advocate Internationalisation as priority for individual countries & the Region.What HEIs & policymakers lack are the core Recognition Mechanisms:- RM1 Regional Subject-Specific Qualifications & Assessment Reference Frameworks,- RM2 Measuring Full Volume of Student Workload as part of Programme Planning, &- RM3 Authentic Assessment of Programme Learning Outcomes.To address this gap, CALOHEA brings together 26 HEIs from 8 SEA Countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand & Vietnam), AUN-ACTS Network, AUN & 5 EU partners highly experienced in creating & helping HEIs adopt the 3 core RMs. University of Groningen & ASEAN University Network act as Project Coordinators &, together with all the Partners, will work to achieve the following:- create & install RM1-3 in 3 pilot areas – Civil Engineering (a door to the Engineering sector), Medicine (a door to the Health sector) & Teacher Education (a door to Social Sciences)- train Teams of Champions for Recognition & Internationalisation in 26 SEA HEIs- reach out to all ASEAN & many more SEA HEIs to encourage regional adoption of the 3 RMs &, thus, help any SEA HEI in Internationalisation efforts.Students & graduates will be direct beneficiaries, since RM1-3 will considerably facilitate mobility & employment. HEIs & their academic & administrative staff will be equipped with the tools to achieve higher level of Internationalisation. Policymakers, &the Region as a whole, will obtain the foundational tools and the Champions necessary to make a serious step forward in articulating a common HE Space and increase mobility among the SEA countries, as well as between SEA and other world regions

Currently, both maritime and aviation sectors are lacking a systematic approach to collect and assess Human Factors information in normal and emergency conditions. There is also a lack of agreed methodology to assess human-related risks with the aim of influencing design and operation of aircraft and ships. Therefore, the research question being addressed in this project is “How to fully capture human elements and their interaction with the other system elements to enhance safety in maritime and aviation operations?” It is important to address Human Factors aspects in relation to risk-based design of system and operations in a measurable manner by taking the variation in human behaviour over time and the non-flexibility of machines into consideration. The main aim of SAFEMODE project is to develop a novel HUman Risk Informed Design (HURID) framework in order to identify, collect and assess Human Factors data to inform risk-based design of systems and operation. These aims have not been achieved previously at a desirable level due to the unavailability of systematically collected data and lack of cooperation between different transport modes. The focus will be to reduce risks for safety critical situations, (e.g. mid-air collisions, grounding, evacuation, runway excursions etc.) through the enhancement of human performance. This will be achieved through investigation of past accidents, incidents, near-misses, reports, data from everyday operations, including previously unknown uncertainties such as increasing levels of automation and increased number of drones in transportation. This information will be incorporated the HURID framework and tools and into SHIELD, the open data repository and the living database, that will be maintained and continuously updated.