Passage to ASEAN (P2A) is a non-profit Network that was established in 2012 by five Institutes of Higher Education during the First Assembly of Representatives hosted by Rangsit University in Thailand and Duy Tan University in Vietnam. During this time, the concepts of P2A were established, which were based on the vision of the ASEAN Charter: “One Vision, One Identity” and creating “one caring and sharing community”. Passage to ASEAN is driven by the need for regional solidarity and a shared responsibility towards people and society as a whole. P2A was initiated with the principle that higher education should be a leader in the development of society. Together, they created a new model for affordable mobility with a clear objective and a measurable learning outcome that is consistent with the mission of developing Knowledge, Experience and Understanding amongst the ASEAN youth. Simultaneously a wide spectrum of related activities developed including, P2A Internships Programs, Community Service Learning, Workshops and Conventions, all in addition to conventional academic collaboration and student and staff exchanges. Today, Passage to ASEAN is uniquely positioned in that membership is open to any ASEAN Institute of Higher Education, thereby redirecting the focus from institutions and administrators to students. It is the open non-discriminatory membership policy that differentiates P2A from organizations such as the ASEAN University Network (AUN) and the ASEAN-EU initiative SHARE, as P2A enables every student to engage in ASEAN. Passage to ASEAN Association represents a network of 80 universities and colleges from 9 ASEAN countries and consists of more than 1.2 million students. In early 2016, the network officially became the P2A Association and registered its head office in Bangkok, Thailand. On 6th January 2020, the application of P2A to be an entity associated with ASEAN has been approved. P2A will be listed in Annex 2 of the ASEAN Charter under the category of “Think Tanks and Academic Institutions”.
