The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sees that education is the best investment for young people to run the upcoming world. A grant to be allocated for education has been distributed for young Southeast Asians through an MBA master’s programme, namely the ASEAN Master in Sustainability Management. The program is fully supported and funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Embassy of Norway for ASEAN and ASEAN University Network (AUN) have signed the grant. The program is designed so that students will attend a state-of-the-art master program while enjoying a close contact with business and government organizations through guest lectures, internships and master thesis research. The first batch of the program was in 2021 and has been attended by around 20 students from the 8 ASEAN Member States (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) excluding Brunei Darussalam and Singapore.

Coordinator of the program and professor of economics from the University of Agder, Prof Stein Oluf Kristiansen with the three students of the programme, Diwangkara Bagus Nungraha, Sek Chanbora and Dwi Riyan have visited ACE’s office and discussed with ACCEPT2 project representatives. During the visit, the Professor expressed his gratitude to ACE and the ACCEPT2 project for the chance on a collaboration with the master’s programme. In advance, he also explained about the program which is fully supported by the Norwegian Embassy, and about the excellent first batch of the program participated by students from the eight ASEAN Member States.

Mr Beni Suryadi, the Program Manager of ASEAN Climate Change and Energy Project (ACCEPT 2) and Mr Muhammad Shidiq, Senior Research Analyst of ACCEPT 2 welcomed the programme representative along with the students and are delighted to have a partnership with the programme. Shortly, Mr Beni explained that ACE is an intergovernmental organization that plays a central role in and represents the interests of the 10 ASEAN Member States in energy sector. In addition, ACCEPT2 which has been funded by the Norwegian – ASEAN Regional Integration Programme (NARIP) and is being implemented by the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) works to integrate the climate perspective in the regional blueprint of the energy cooperation namely the ASEAN Plan of Action for the Energy Cooperation (APAEC). ACCEPT2 aims to help move ASEAN’s energy transition to low carbon energy systems and thereby contribute toward global carbon neutrality in the coming years.

Lastly, the meeting focused on research presentations delivered by the students, followed by a discussion between the programme representative and the ACCEPT2 project representatives. Three research proposals were discussed, namely 1) Challenges on small-scale hydropower development in Indonesia, 2) A market transformation for sustainable biofuel production in Indonesia, and 3) Energy transition for telecom industry in Southeast Asia. The research topics are strongly related to the ACCEPT2 project. In addition, the three research topics touch on the use of clean energy research to combat climate change and its impacts which relates to SDGs 7 and 13. These two SDGs are the main targets that ACCEPT’s project aim to achieve. As a result, a cooperation through joint research between the programme and the project can be initiated, built and implemented to strengthen energy and climate research within ASEAN generated by young energy enthusiasts, since the research is touching base on energy and climate topic in the region.

Detailed information on the profile of the ASEAN Master in Sustainability Management can be found at https://www.asean-sustainability.mba/

We welcome opportunities for collaboration. Please feel free to contact Muhammad Shidiq at: [email protected]