Tow-paged Brochure of the ASEM-DUO Fellowship

Purpose of the ASEM-DUO Fellowship

In a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation among ASEM member countries, the ASEM-DUO Fellowship Programme provides financial supports to university students and teachers engaged in two-way educational exchanges between Asian and European institutions. It aims to contribute to better enhance reciprocal academic exchanges between the students and the teachers of the European Union and Asian member states of the ASEM, but it differs from traditional scholarship programs in that it supports only two-way exchange of people between the two educational institutions (Asia to Europe and Europe to Asia).

Secretariat for ASEM-DUO Fellowship
During the 3rd ASEM, France, Korea and Singapore proposed this ASEM-DUO Fellowship program, the ASEM III Summit endorsed the program. In April 2001, the first International Expert meeting was held to establish the detailed implementation plan for the ASEM-DUO Fellowship Program. Educational experts and government specialists from 16 ASEM member countries agreed on the implementation structure of the program, including the establishment of and mandate for the Secretariat for the ASEM-DUO Fellowship Program. The Secretariat for ASEM-DUO Fellowship was established in October 2001 in Seoul, Korea. It functions as a focal point for the implementation of the ASEM-DUO program, and also generally administers the program, including the receipt of applications, transfer of fellowship fund.

Structure of the ASEM-DUO Fellowship Program
ASEM-DUO Fellowship Program is basically an umbrella program, and actual fellowship is provided by individual programs. At present, there are three such individual programs, and they are respectively called DUO-France, DUO-Korea and DUO-Singapore, reflecting the contributing members. All these individual programs are governed by a set of Core Principles and the rest of the specific details of the programs are to be prescribed by the contributing members. Each contributing member has the flexibility to introduce specific criteria to reflect their individual needs in establishing the programs.

Simple Core Principles
Core Principles, which govern all individual fellowship programs, are very simple and consist of three principles. The first one stipulates that only a pair of students or teachers between the two educational institutions, one in Asia and the other in Europe. The second is on the standardized duration of financial support. In the case of student exchange, financial support is given in terms of units, not in terms of months or years. One unit comprises of six month. In the case of teacher exchange, one unit is one month. The amount of financial support is also standardized in the third principle. It is 12,000 euros for a pair of students for 1 unit (total of 12,000 euros for two students for six months), and 6,000 euros for a pair of teachers for 1 unit (total of 6,000 euros for two teachers for one month). Each individual program may specify the maximum amount of units for support.

Individual DUO Programs as of August 2002

1) DUO-France
Under DUO-France, one end of the exchange is anchored at the French institutions, and priority is given to the creation of new cooperation arrangements. Latest selection of applications was made in June 2002. The selection was made for 16 exchange projects, which involve institutions in France, and 8 Asian members (Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, China, Philippines, and Malaysia. Actual implementation of exchanges will take place from the later half of year 2002.

2) DUO-Korea
As DUO-France, DUO-Korea requires that one end of exchange is anchored at the Korean Institutions. This program supports exchanges between primary or secondary teachers also. Under DUO-Korea, cooperation agreements between the two institutions are required. In 2001, 16 applications, including 8 pairs of students and 8 pairs of professors, were selected in December. Among those selected, two professors have already successfully completed exchanges and fourteen students are engaged in exchanges starting from January 2002. This year, DUO-Korea 2002 received applications in May-June and selected 2 pairs of high school teachers, 14 pairs of professors and 19 pairs of students on July 16, involving European educational institutions from 9 (Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the U.K.) European member states.

3) DUO-Singapore
Under this program, one end of exchange is anchored at the Singaporean universities, but ASEAN students in Singapore are also eligible for exchange. Announced in November 2001, DUO-Singapore invites applications for the academic year 2002/2003, twice in 2002. The first batch of exchanges, 14 pairs of students, was selected in May and will be dispatched from August 2002. The first batch involves all three Singaporean universities, and European educational institutions from 6(France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and the U.K.) European member states.

Information and Submission of Applications for the Fellowship
Students and teachers of 25 ASEM member countries, who wish to go abroad for further study, research, or joint lecture, can participate in ASEM-DUO Fellowship under individual programs if they plan to undertake academic activities abroad based on bi-directional, people-to-people exchanges between two institutions, one in Asia and the other in Europe. Please, visit ASEM-DUO website at http://www.asemduo.org for further information for filing applications. Address and phone numbers are as follows:
Secretariat for ASEM-DUO Fellowship
KPO Box 603, SEOUL 110-606, KOREA
Tel: 82-2-720-6712, 6713 Fax: 82-2-720-6715
E-mail: admin2@asemduo.org