EU Asia Inter-University Network for Teaching and Research in Public Procurement Regulation
Update 18 April 2008: This page will no longer be updated as the official Asia Link Project website has been launched. Please update your bookmarks: www.cbs.dk
This is a temporary page providing information on the events relating to and developments regarding the PPRG's involvement in the new Asia Link project.
The University of Nottingham (Project leader: Professor Sue Arrowsmith, Director of the PPRG) has received an award of 450000 Euros from the European Union's Asia Link programme, as leader of a five member consortium. The award is for a project to develop a global academic research and teaching network in the area of public procurement regulation. The other consortium members are Copenhagen Business School, the Central University of Finance and Economics (Beijing), Xinjiang University, and the University of Malaya.
The award is for a three-year project to develop a sustainable capacity at university level in research and teaching in public procurement regulation, running from January 2008 to January 2011.
The project aims, first, to develop a capacity in this area in Asian universities, initially in China and Malaysia, and eventually to extend this across the whole continent. Academic capacity in public procurement education at university level is currently embryonic or non-existent in Asian developing countries, and this hinders sound policy development. This is especially the case given that in some Asian countries, including China, the academic voice is perhaps the only professional and independent public voice in government policy making. In addition, the network will promote and enhance EU teaching and research on public procurement regulation, which has only recently developed as a distinct academic discipline – a development in which the PPRG has played a prominent role. It will also enhance global trade dialogues by improving EU understanding of procurement issues affecting Asia.
Activities funded under the project include:
- Setting up a permanent global academic network of scholars working in the field of public procurement regulation - both those in law schools and those working in other discipline such as economics, politics and management
- Developing an innovative postgraduate curriculum on procurement regulation, based on international/comparative materials
- Exchange visits and workshops to support research and postgraduate teaching. Workshops will cover, for example, research methods and methodologies in the context of public procurement regulation, with a focus on comparative, international and interdisciplinary research
- Production of an extensive bibliography to support global research and teaching activities
- Production of specialist textbooks to support teaching and course development activities
- Translation of leading international academic and legal texts into Chinese
- A series of major conferences of academics, practitioners and policy makers (in Nottingham, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing)
On the 18-19 February, the official Asia Link Project Kick-Off Meeting took place at The University of Nottingham. As well as settling the contents of the partnership agreement and other formal business, the meeting gave several events of the Asia Link Project a more definite shape and discussed a timeline for launching parts of the project such as the website and PLAN (the Procurement Law Academic Network).
There was also some detailed discussion of the next key event. This will be a workshop on Legal Research Methods in Public Procurement, to be held at the University of Malaya in early September 2008. This workshop will be followed immediately by a series of seminars/lectures/discussions at the University providing an introduction to public procurement law for personnel from the participating institutions who are not yet familiar with the subject.
Workshop on Setting Up Procurement Research Centres
On the 19 February, the first Asia Link workshop was held at The University of Nottingham. The workshop dealt with the setting up and development of procurement research centres.
Sue Arrowsmith (University of Nottingham) and Nathaniel Golden (Humanities Research Center, University of Nottingham) at the speakers' table.
Front Table L-R: Steen Treumer (Copenhagen Business School), Cheong May Fong (University of Malaya), and Cao Fuguo (CUFE); Back Table L-R: Xinglin Zhang (University of Nottingham), Ama Eyo (University of Nottingham), Grith Ølykke (Copenhagen Business School), Choong Yeow Choy (University of Malaya) and Christina Tvarno (Copenhagen Business School).
Asia Link Projects: PLAN, Conferences, Bibliography, and Workshops
The PLAN - Procurement Law Academic Network is one of the main projects that will be pursued under the heading of Asia Link. It aims to be a permanent global network of academics interested in public procurement law and regulation issues.
The proposed PLAN network has grown out of an informal global network of academics interested in international/comparative public procurement law that has developed over the past 15 years, for the purpose of various research projects, conferences and law reform/training activities with international bodies (UNCITRAL, EC, WTO, OECD etc). There are now well over 100 interested academic scholars/institutions involved, covering Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, the Americas and the Caribbean.
The idea behind PLAN is to launch a public global infrastructure for this network to link everyone together on a permanent basis. The network will be open to any academic interested in the field. It will be used to publicise current research projects as well as for finding contacts for future projects and events from all over the world. It is currently intended to operate in both Chinese and English, but the possibility of including multi-language functionality is being investigated.
In addition to the PLAN network there are a number of other activities planned:
- A workshop on international/comparative teaching in public procurement. It is intended that various non-partner institutions who teach in this area will be invited to this event.
- A comprehensive bibliography on public procurement law (to be completed this year and published electronically with free access).
- Three major international conferences for academics, policy makers and the international institutions, in Beijing, in Kuala Lumpur and in Nottingham, in 2010. These will be major events and are already in the initial planning stages, and interest in contributing a paper to either of these conferences can already be registered. The project will provide funds for the expenses of speakers at these events.
Part of the Asia Link Project is the encouragement of academic exchanges between partner institutions. The University of Nottingham is already hosting one guest: Grith Ølykke from the Copenhagen Business School, who will be studying at the School of Law until May 2008.
Further, in February 2008, The University of Nottingham will be receiving Cao Fuguo from the Central University of Finance and Economics for a week-long study visit.
Disclaimer: This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of The University of Nottingham and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.