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Mekong Curriculum

The Mekong River Basin and the Mekong Region have increasingly become the focus for a number of regional initiatives and development agendas. However, lecturers and students in the six countries of the Mekong have relatively few opportunities for interaction, and the tertiary level curricula in each country make use of relatively little material from regional Mekong neighbours. Vietnamese, Lao, Cambodian, Thai and Chinese students studying history, geography or other social and environmental science subjects are much more likely to make use of examples from North America or Europe than from each other's respective countries, in particular from the Mekong section of those countries. A consequence is that the new generation of professionals and intellectuals have only a very limited collective sense of being "Mekong citizens", despite the trans-boundary implications of current developments in the region and the potentials of comparative and collaborative work in fields such as natural resource management. Indeed, to the extent that regional work is being carried out, it tends to be by university researchers and teachers from outside the region altogether. Likewise, the emergence of a "regional civil society" is significantly curtailed by the continued fragmentation of the regional intelligentsia.

There is great potential for academic institutes to be supported in reviewing and building knowledge from within the region, and to responding creatively and in a progressive, pro-active manner to development challenges faced in the context of rapid social and environmental change. Support can be achieved by fostering collaboration between a group of Mekong academics in compiling resources and materials relating to the Mekong Basin; sharing resources and experiences; expanding curricula to make them more regionally and river-basin relevant; and conducting relevant research together. In principle, this could occur in a host of subjects that rely on empirical knowledge, including history, geography, literature, agriculture, forestry, environmental science, languages and so on. Initially, though, the priority is in the field where there are essential linkages not only in a comparative knowledge sense but also in terms of systemic inter-relationships - that is, in the environmental sciences, with a focus on the environmental management/social science side of the relevant disciplines. These are also strategic areas for development of relevant civil society networks and knowledge bases. While we envisage early collaborative activity producing key curriculum resources, it is very much up to each member then to use this resource and develop it further, and to build on collaborations with regional partners for research, cross visits or other activity.

Duration: 2003 - 2005

Partners:
Yunnan University (China)
National University of Laos (Lao PDR)
Chiang Mai University (Thailand)
Khon Kaen University (Thailand)
Ubon Ratchathani University (Thailand)
Royal University of Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
Can Tho University (Vietnam)
Tay Nguyen (Vietnam)

Funding bodies: Oxfam America (Mekong Learning Initiative), Open Society Institute

© 2005 Australian Mekong Resource Centre