News

In the digital era, universities serve not only as centres of training but also as hubs of research, innovation, and knowledge transfer—intimately connected with businesses, local communities, and regional ecosystems. To enable Vietnamese universities to contribute more significantly to national progress in science, technology and innovation, the National Assembly of Vietnam discussed amendments to the Higher Education Law on 22 October 2025.

From October 16-18, 2025, the School of Political and Social Science (SPSS) at the University of Phayao and Hanns Seidel Foundation Thailand brought together twenty young leaders from across the country for the 11th Youth Camp: Glocalizing Democracy. The camp was held at the University of Phayao and Phayao Gateway Hotel in Phayao, Thailand.

A half-day Community-Based Dialogue (CBD) on Human Rights Legislation by Local Government Units was successfully conducted in the Province of Rizal, bringing together more than 55 participants composed of vice mayors, councilors, legal officers, municipal staff, and representatives from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region IV-A.

A one-day Community-Based Dialogue (CBD) on the Just Energy Transition (JET) was successfully held in Iloilo City on Oct. 2, 2025, bringing together representatives from government agencies, security sectors, local government units, civil society organizations, and academic and faith-based institutions. The activity was jointly organized by the Commission on Human Rights–Region VI (CHR-VI) and PROCESS Foundation–Panay, with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF).

The draft Law on E-commerce, submitted to Vietnam’s 15th National Assembly for the October 2025 session, aims to establish a clear, modern legal framework for online trade. Its objectives are to boost competitiveness, curb fraud, and streamline state management. In order to strengthen the capacity of the National Assembly by providing evidence, reference material and policy recommendations to support discussion of the draft Law on E-commerce, the Parliament Information Brief Vol. 3 (2025) has been published in October 2025.

The Philippines is the only majority-Catholic country in the Southeast Asian Region, with Muslims making up to 9% of the population, and mostly in the southern island of Mindanao. The decades-long, conflict-affected, and neglect of government and economic services to Muslim communities, have resulted to migration of Muslim groups from their original places of residence to other areas where there may be access to better peace and order, economic, and educational opportunities. These migrants have formed the core of marginalized communities living within or as part of a predominantly Christian environment. To strengthen said Muslim communities, the Hanns Seidel Foundation Philippines promotes the potential for good governance through strengthening the conflict mediation and general governance skills of emerging Muslim youth leaders.

As an important aspect of international cooperation, parliamentary diplomacy, whether through state visits or international events, opens new channels for dialogue and strengthens the work of parliaments. The Office of the National Assembly (ONA), in cooperation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF), organised a workshop on this topic in Ha Long City on 23–24 August 2025.

Senior police officials from across Southeast Asia convened in Manila for a regional conference tackling one of today’s most urgent law enforcement challenges: maintaining community trust while combating increasingly sophisticated forms of cyber-crime.

From 17-21 August 2025, the Hanns Seidel Foundation Thailand proudly supported two representative officers from the Royal Thai Police in attending the Regional Police Training Conference on the Conduct of Community-Oriented Policing "Responding to Emerging Cyber-Technologies and other Threats to Policing" in Manila, Philippines, supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation Philippines, with participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Science, technology, and innovation are widely recognized as crucial drivers of economic growth, national competitiveness, and improvements in human resources and quality of life. In the digital era, it has become essential to revise the Science and Technology Law adopted by the National Assembly of Vietnam on June 18, 2013. A stronger legal framework is needed to ensure that science, technology, and innovation can fully serve as key engines of socio-economic development.