How UK-Southeast Asia higher education partnerships are addressing shared global challenges
No single country can address these challenges alone and higher education is becoming one of the most effective platforms for regional cooperation.
As the ASEAN-UK Dialogue Partnership marks its fifth anniversary in 2026, UK-East Asia collaboration in higher education is gaining renewed momentum. Across ASEAN and the wider Asia Pacific region, governments and institutions are moving beyond short-term mobility towards longer-term partnerships that connect research, policy and talent development at scale.
Science and research collaboration sit at the centre of this approach. Through the UK’s Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT), which manages the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), the UK is working with partners across Southeast Asia to support research and innovation in areas where cross-border cooperation is essential.
The British Council, one of the consortia of the UK’s leading research and innovation bodies that works alongside DSIT to deliver the programme, is working with key partners in the region. The fund focuses on four priority themes – resilient planet; healthy people, animals and plants; transformative technologies; and tomorrow’s talent – which align closely with regional policy priorities such as skilling and employability of young people, climate adaptation, health security and emerging technologies.
Many of the region’s most pressing challenges are inherently global. Climate risks do not respect borders, while health and biosecurity threats demand shared research capability and rapid knowledge exchange. ISPF-backed partnerships delivered by the British Council are enabling UK and Southeast Asian universities to co-design research, share infrastructure and expertise, and translate evidence into policy-relevant insights. Region-wide, through the ISPF the British Council has delivered partnerships that have supported 66 research collaborations and engaged over 88 institutions across multiple Southeast Asian markets.
A key component of this work is investment in early career researchers. Southeast Asia’s research and innovation ecosystems are expanding rapidly, but early career researchers often face unequal access to world-class facilities, mentorship and international networks. Through ISPF fellowships and funded collaboration opportunities, early career researchers gain international research experience, build cross-border networks and develop leadership capability early in their careers. These partnerships frequently extend beyond the funding period, creating durable institutional links between the UK and the region.
Climate risks do not respect borders, while health and biosecurity threats demand shared research capability and rapid knowledge exchange
Alongside science partnerships, inclusion remains central to tackling global challenges effectively. Despite strong participation in education, women remain underrepresented in STEM fields and in senior academic and research leadership roles across much of East Asia. This represents not only an equity gap, but a constraint on the region’s overall research and innovation capacity.
The British Council’s scholarships for women in STEM directly address this challenge by enabling women in countries where we have a presence to access postgraduate study and early academic fellowships in the UK, including six countries in Southeast Asia. In 2024, with support from the UK mission to ASEAN, we expanded the reach of the scholarships to enable talented women from all 11 ASEAN member states.
The ASEAN UK Women in STEM scholarship has just opened applications for its third cohort, offering fully funded packages covering tuition, living costs, travel and visa fees. Globally, the programme has engaged 43 UK universities and awarded approximately 500 scholarships, helping build a stronger and more diverse STEM leadership pipeline.
These scholarships are complemented by the British Council’s gender equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI) work, delivered in partnership with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) Regional Institute for Higher Education and Development (RIHED). The initiative supports universities and policymakers from all 11 countries in Southeast Asia and the UK, to embed gender equity into leadership, policy and institutional practice. The initiative brings together a network of experts from 35 universities in Southeast Asia and 12 UK universities to share insights and evidence with policy makers from across the region, ensuring that progress is systemic rather than isolated.
Taken together, UK-East Asia higher education partnerships are contributing directly to the sustainable development goals, including SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 9 (innovation), SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals). They also reflect a broader shift in international education, from transactional engagement towards collaboration that strengthens systems, talent and research capability.
As ASEAN-UK cooperation enters its next phase, higher education will remain a critical bridge, connecting people, ideas and institutions to tackle shared global challenges and deliver long-term impact across the region.
About the author: Leighton Ernsberger, director of education East Asia for the British Council, brings over 20 years of experience in higher education and skills policy across the UK, South Asia, and East Asia. Since joining the British Council in 2014, he has been instrumental in implementing Skills reform programmes in India and Nepal, as well as promoting higher education in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and China.
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