Asia Pacific Academics Conference (APAC)

First Announcement



Asia Pacific Academics Conference (APAC)
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
9-11 July 2012


Co-organized by
Malaysian Academics Movement (MOVE/GERAK)
University of Malaya Academic Staff Association (PKAUM).



Introduction


Meetings among higher education staff unions and associations in the Asia Pacific region are very rare. The last meeting being the Education International (EI) 5th International Higher Education and Research Conference held in Melbourne, Australia in December 2005. Even on an international scale, we only have the Caucus on Higher Education and Research during EI Congresses. The last EI congress was held in 2010 at Cape Town, South Africa.


Due to this factor, collaborations and networking among the unions has been rather weak. In order to change this situation, this conference was organized as a meeting among academic staff organizations in the Asia Pacific region.


The University of Malaya Academic Staff Association will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of its formation on 3 March 2012. It is the oldest academic union in Malaysia. This conference is to be part of this celebration.


This conference is co-organized by the Malaysian Academics Movement (MOVE / GERAK) and the University of Malaya Academic Staff Association (PKAUM).

Objectives


To disseminate information on academic rights and increase the awareness and understanding of such rights.
To formulate a plan of action for national and international responses to breach of academic rights
To discuss about the current situation in the various countries and university campuses and provide solution for the problems.
To discuss problems of mutual interest
To buildup a network among academics in the Asia Pacific Region

Call for participation


Participation is open to academic and tertiary staff unions and associations. Individual academics, researchers, students, administrators and university officials are also welcome to participate.


Call for papers


The programmed will cover topics of interest to the academics. These include:


Academics rights
Trade union rights
Academic Advocacy and strategy
Country and campus reports
Organization reports
Academic assessment
University ranking
Teaching and learning
and others.


Participants are welcome to give a presentation to the conference on topics of interest to the participants. A proceeding of the conference is planned to be published.


Registration


Participants are encouraged to register as early as possible, especially those with intention to present a paper. Please register by submitting name, affiliation address, email and title of paper, if any to the address below.


The registration fees are as follows:


Normal participants RM400 (USD140)
Members of academic organizations RM300 (USD100)
Members of academic organizations from developing countries RM200 (USD70)


Accommodations


Accommodations are available at the University Guesthouse, University of Malaya and nearby hotels in Petaling Jaya. Arrangement will be made for morning pickup and evening drop-off. Further detail on the accommodations will be given in the second announcement.


Further information


For further information and preliminary registration, please contact:


Rosli H Mahat
General Secretary
Malaysian Academic Movement


c/o Physics Department, University of Malaya
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
akademikmalaysia@gmail.com
+60 16 6205242


Additional information will be given in the second announcement which will be mailed out in April 2012.