International Activities
July 04, 2011
Expanding Campus Co-ops in South Asia and Students/Youth Integration SAARC Regional Workshop (Mangalore, India)
On March 23-25, 2011, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Regional Workshop on “Campus Co-operatives and Youth Integration in Co-operatives” in southern Indian city of Mangalore was held. This workshop was organized in an attempt to spread the concept of campus co-operative and integration of students/youth in campus co-operatives. There were more than 70 participants (mainly students and people involved in consumer co-operatives) from India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal.
At first, the participants had a study visit to campus co-operatives. They were introduced to on-campus consumer co-operatives that sell daily necessities, credit co-operatives and on-campus banks run by students.
Representatives from Malaysia, Indonesia and also from Japan shared each country’s experience at the plenary session. The concept of university co-op in Japan gained a lot of interest from the participants, especially on its operation that targets all university members (in Asia, a lot of co-operatives are specialized for students or faculty members only), collaboration with universities and joint business in regional and national level. Some participants expressed their interest to introduce Hitokoto Card, which has been developed by Japanese university co-ops to hear voice of members.
The organizers of the workshop reported that the spreading of campus co-ops with the participation of students/youth will not only lead to the realization of a richer campus life, but also will give students entrepreneurship experience. The development of third-type enterprises, apart from state and private-owned, will also lead to economic development. In India, 70% of the population is under 35 years old and students/youth play an increasingly important role. To enrich campus life, it is important to strengthen the campus co-operative movement at the grassroots level.
At the closing session, participants from each country were given time to deliver presentation on their future goals and action plan.
Indian students asking questions to Prof. Datuk Hj Mohamad Ali Hasan, the presenter from Malaysia
Closing ceremony: Each country presenting their future action plan