DELEGATES from the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (MoECRT) and two Indonesia-hosted Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) centers visited the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) for benchmarking on July 22, 2024.
Hosted by MoECRT, SEAMEO's Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (Biotrop) and the SEAMEO Regional Open Learning Center (SEAMOLEC) visit was to benchmark the center's institutional and financial management best practices and broach potential collaborative programs.
SEARCA, Biotrop and SEAMOLEC are among the 26 SEAMEO regional centers and one network in 11 Southeast Asian countries.
While Biotrop focuses on sustainable biodiversity management in Southeast Asia, providing trainings and educational programs in tropical biology and biotechnology that support regional and economic development, SEAMOLEC specializes in open and distance learning in the region.
The delegates were led by Prof. Tjitjik Sri Tjahjandarie, PhD, secretary to the directorate general of Higher Education, Research and Technology, MoECRT and country representative of Indonesia to the SEARCA governing board; Aldrin Darilag, PhD, commissioner of the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and chairman of the Biotrop Governing Board; and Yaya Sutaryo, PhD, SEAMOLEC deputy director for administration. Biotrop director Zulhamsyah Imran, PhD, joined the meeting remotely.
Highlighting the significance of the meeting among the three SEAMEO Centers, the MoECRT and the CHEd, Darilag said "this collaboration aims to improve communication, management, and fund development among the SEAMEO centers and the higher education institutions."
According to SEARCA, headed by director Glenn Gregorio, PhD, the benchmarking activity comprised presentations by the Indonesia-hosted SEAMEO centers on their accomplishments, flagship programs and institutional and financial management processes.
Associate Prof. Joselito Florendo, SEARCA deputy director for administration, provided an overview of the center's programs, offerings, and financial management practices.
Due to government regulations, Tjitjik noted that some of SEARCA's financial management best practices might not apply to SEAMEO centers in Indonesia.
Sharon Malaiba, SEARCA Partnerships Unit head, also explained the center's collaborative engagement with various academic and research organizations, industry, and government and development entities within and beyond the region.
Keen to explore potential collaborations, Biotrop invited SEARCA experts to contribute articles to its publications or serve as reviewers and potential editorial board members for the Scopus-indexed Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Biology (Biotropia) and BioDivers magazine.
In addition to Biotropia and Biodivers, it also wants to promote its BioSphere special publication with SEARCA experts.
In their discussion of potential co-publication projects, SEARCA also invited Biotrop experts to submit articles to its Asian Journal for Agriculture and Development or Ajad and other SEARCA-managed publications.
While noting SEARCA's priority areas, Tijtjik also proposed partnerships on internships and mobility programs for Indonesian students and faculty.
With this, Florendo also suggested reinvigorating the staff exchange program among SEAMEO centers, a proposal supported by Tenni Wahyuni, Biotrop human resources manager.
Wahyuni noted that the staff exchange program has been planned to be discussed further with SEARCA's Human Resources Management Unit.
To cap the meeting, the visitors toured the SEARCA Hub for Agriculture and Rural Innovation for the Next Generation AgriMuseum followed by a rolling tour of the International Rice Research Institute and the University of the Philippines Los Baños campus.