Looking Back
SEAMEO RIHED is grateful to the national governments, regional and international organisations, higher education institutions, colleagues and friends who have worked with us and enhanced our efforts. For more than 60 years, RIHED's focus on higher education and development has remained steady. Learn more about several highlights in our history, including when we began as a Regional Institute, how we have evolved as a Regional Centre under SEAMEO and where we are today as your partner in higher education.
1959
The establishment of RIHED in Singapore
The Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development (RIHED) is conceived jointly by UNESCO and the International Association of Universities (IAU) in collaboration with the Ford Foundation and established in Singapore with seven Member Countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
According to RIHED's founding documents, an institute was needed in Southeast Asia in order to stimulate and facilitate cooperation among the universities and governments of the region and to enhance the role of higher education for regional development.
1985
Serving 11 Member Countries under SEAMEO
A decision is reached by RIHED's Governing Board Members to reconstitute RIHED under the umbrella of SEAMEO and move its temporary offices to Bangkok, Thailand, where it would be hosted and funded by the Royal Thai Government.
By 1993, at the 26th SEAMEO Council Conference, RIHED was officially instituted as the SEAMEO Regional Centre specialising in higher education and development, serving the 11 Member Countries of SEAMEO including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam.
2005
The Road to a Common Space
in Higher Education
SEAMEO RIHED introduces a new policy platform with the scope to meet the evolving needs of the region and contribute to the harmonisation and creation of a common space in higher education for the region. By bringing together the region's national authorities and policy makers in higher education, SEAMEO RIHED initiated the first Meeting of Directors General, Secretary-General and Commissioner of Higher Education in Southeast Asia in Kuala Lumpur, in December 2005.
Through this platform and the work of SEAMEO RIHED, broad consensus was raised regarding the development of a common space in Southeast Asian higher education and the promotion of regional academic mobility, raising quality and increasing employment opportunities. SEAMEO RIHED's own proposal for a 'Structured Framework for Regional Integration in Higher Education in Southeast Asia: the Road towards a Common Space' was endorsed by the 43rd SEAMEO Council Meeting in March 2008.
2019
Celebrating 60 Years of
RIHED
2019 marked the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development (RIHED). To celebrate this important milestone as well as the 10th Anniversary of our flagship mobility scheme, the Asian International Mobility for Students (AIMS) Programme, we organised a special Southeast Asian Higher Education (SEA-HiEd) Week from 11-15 November 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand.
With 5 days of compelling events, engaging experiences, presentations of original research, competitions, exhibitions, networking and so much more, the SEA-HiEd Week brought together a diverse community of inspired and forward-thinking stakeholders in higher education with shared goals of celebrating progress and drawing new interest for the future of higher education for the region of Southeast Asia and beyond.
Looking Ahead
Today, SEAMEO RIHED continues to work with all Member Countries and partners throughout the world to strengthen and expand our regional engagement through the promotion of understanding, cooperation and synergy in higher education for regional development. In this context, SEAMEO RIHED is redirecting its mission to better cope with the increasing uncertainties, complexities, and challenges of the world and initiating a shift towards enhancing higher education for the sustainable future of the Southeast Asian region and continuing its role as the region's partner in higher education.