PHNOM PENH ― Leading media academic institutions from five Asian countries have reached an agreement to forge a regional collaboration on media education that will prepare Asia for a new era.

The five are the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism at Philippines’ Ateneo de Manila University, the Statesman Print Journalism School from India, Nation University’s Faculty of Communication Arts from Thailand, Royal University of Phnom Penh’s Department of Media and Communication from Cambodia and National Management College in Yangon, Myanmar.

They will work together to synergize their media courses so as to allow students to study across the five countries, exchange teachers, and introduce a new pan-Asian knowledge curriculum.

The network members founded what is to be known as the “Alliance of Asian Media Schools.”

The five met at the Asian J-School Summit in Phnom Penh earlier this month organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s Media Program Asia. Also participating were the Asian News Network, an alliance of 22 media organizations in 19 Asian countries, and the Rural Media Network from Pakistan.

“Any of the five journalism schools is the best in the country it represents,” said the director of KAS Media Program Asia, Torben Stephan. “The time has come to join and work on a new regional perspective of journalism education.”