This policy brief is one in a series led by Chulalongkorn University (CU) with support from the Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC), Ministry of Education, Thailand, in partnership with FAO. The series was initiated to support the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Work-Plan on Education - AWPE, 2016-2020 implementation while Thailand was Chair of ASEAN in 2019 under the theme: “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability.”

The briefs offer critical interdisciplinary perspectives on agri-food systems from social and sustainability sciences. They are fully aligned with the regional initiative on Food System Transformation and are meant to support the work engaged with ASEAN. 

The first brief focuses on the potential of Higher Education Institutions in South East Asia to contribute to more sustainable agri-food systems. It highlights the need for better documentation and evaluations of tertiary agricultural education, research and extension data and impacts to properly monitor and assess Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) progress. It advocates for strengthened universities encouraging critical thinking, teaching and multi-disciplinary research on Sustainable Agriculture concepts, practices and SDGs helping students, government decision-makers and farmers to make practical choices based on reliable evidence.