Faculty and Student Mobility Among ASEAN Higher Education

This paper analyzes faculty and student mobility within ASEAN higher education, examining regional opportunities and persistent exchange barriers. Through the AUN, AIMS program, and bilateral agreements, three dimensions emerge: asymmetrical talent flow reinforcing hierarchies and brain drain; institutional impediments including credit incompatibilities, qualification disparities, language barriers, and visa restrictions; and cultural dimensions shaping mobility experiences. Despite harmonization rhetoric, significant gaps between policy aspirations and implementation persist. COVID-19 exposed structural vulnerabilities while accelerating digital alternatives transforming exchange paradigms. Meaningful mobility requires policy innovation encompassing standardized credit recognition, expanded scholarships targeting underrepresented institutions, streamlined immigration, language preparation, and institutional capacity development in emerging ASEAN economies, transforming academic mobility from an elite phenomenon into an inclusive regional human capital development mechanism.