The SUNI-SEA project aims to validate effective scaling-up strategies of evidence-based diabetes and hypertension prevention and management programmes, and to enhance sustainable action for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, based on experiences in South-East Asia. The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as hypertension and diabetes, is increasing in low- and middle-income countries. Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam have national or large-scale evidence-based programmes to prevent diabetes and hypertension, detect people at risk and treat patients. By creating synergies in financing (health insurance and public funding), use of international standards (WHO-PEN protocols and local guidelines), community involvement (individuals and groups) and use of ICT (different apps), the three countries link NCD prevention and control to poverty alleviation and social security. Within these excellent living labs, the consortium will apply a comparative effectiveness research with a participatory approach – research with people, not on people. The project will define the critical success factors for scaling-up hypertension and diabetes prevention and management measures by validating a) the contextual factors for effective and efficient implementation; b) the core components of community-based and health facility-based interventions; c) the most cost-effective and sustainable scaling-up strategies. The project will create training and learning materials, draw lessons learned from these three countries and provide a cost-effective implementation and scaling-up model for worldwide implementation of NCD interventions. Through engaging all stakeholders, SUNI-SEA will contribute to the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases evidence base that can be used to implement strategies for improving global health.

This project targets the largest archipelago in the world, Indonesia, and gathers four European (University of Limoges (France), Bangor University (United-Kingdom), the University of Rome III (Italy) and the Technological University of Crete (Greece)) and six Indonesian (Universitas Sriwijaya, Syiah Kuala University, Universitas Tanjungpura, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Universitas Sebelas Maret and Institut Teknologi Bandung) universities as well as associated partners from governmental bodies and the civil society (Indonesian Central Bank, Indonesian Deposit Insurance Corporation, Indonesian Finance Association…) with the aim of integrating and enhancing research capacities and PhD programs in the field of Banking and Finance. According to the European Report on Development 2015 “Indonesia Country Illustration”, there is a strong need to strengthen the financial sector and financial stability in Indonesia which cannot be achieved without improving the quality of research in the area of banking and finance. The beneficiaries of the project are the faculty members, the PhD students and the graduate and undergraduate students of the 6 Indonesian partner universities but the project's outputs will also serve financially excluded households, microenterprises as well as the banking industry, the central bank, regulatory bodies and policy makers. The project involves some associated partners which are banking regulators and official bodies in addition to universities. The project’s outputs will strengthen the link between universities and the banking and financial sector with a broader dissemination to the society as a whole by targeting community services on financial inclusion and financial literacy to contribute to higher standard of living for a large portion of the population.

Teacher-centred teaching and learning has strong roots in Indonesian education and conventional learning methods are still prevalent in most of Indonesian Universities. In Thailand, higher education organizations can’t attract new students in proportion to their existing structures and resources. Higher education is the efficiency enhancer and acknowledged prerequisite for the economic success of a country. Therefore, it is obvious that Indonesian and Thai higher education should meet better the international standards and needs of the society.In modern business-to-business (B2B) environment, companies are not competing against each other’s but instead the competition is done in between of different supply chains and value networks. Higher education graduates can’t rely on old business models; they must be armed with the mindset and competences needed in modern international businesses. B2B sales is a growth accelerator but it has not been given the appreciation it deserves as a profession, neither a stable position as in higher education.The main aim of the SEASAC project is to strengthen South-East Asian Universities’ capability to provide highly skilled B2B Sales professionals for the emerging international markets. In the project, we will utilize existing European knowledge and experiences in developing a pedagogically rich concept for the cooperation of Universities and companies in the sales education. Best practices from Europe will be matched with Asian sales cultures.A concrete tangible output will be a South-East Asian Sales Competition concept, consisting of International B2B Sales Course and South-East Asian Sales Competition Finals event. These novelties engage companies to the University level Sales education in its all phases: planning, implementation and assessment of students’ performance. In addition to core partner countries, concept will attract Universities from other South-East Asian countries during the implementation of the project.