ASEM pursues balance across Asia and Europe. However, huge educational gaps can be found between regions and countries. There are areas where problems of illiteracy represent an imperative social issue, while other countries enjoy high rates of graduation for their universities. This situation highlights inequality in education among ASEM partners and inequable accessibility to education systems is one of the reasons behind this problem.
MOOC systems are expected to serve as a solution to educational imbalance across the ASEM region. Free online courses containing high-quality lectures and materials can improve the possibility for many citizens to earn a chance at gaining education.
The ASEM Network of MOOCs Initiative hopes for educational opportunities to be given to all people who might not otherwise find the means to access high-quality education. For this purpose, forums and communities are formed for sharing resources and ideas regarding MOOC platforms. In addition, surveys are conducted to present best practices and guidelines for MOOC progress in order to help partners develop their own systems.

Co-relation in education among ASEM partners makes them more generally connected, not only in education but also in economics and politics. While citizens utilize courses from overseas MOOC systems and officials co-develop MOOC educational content in ASEM, people can understand the cultures and societies of other countries.
MOOCs, massive open online courses, are especially anticipated to leap over the barriers of geographical mobility and limitations of time. As digital connectivity is one of the important factors in developing connectivity in ASEM, we hope that the ASEM Network of MOOC Initiative can take on a significant role for joint education in the ASEM community.
Through Stakeholders’ Forums with the cooperation of each government and educational organization, the network of education in ASEM can become more densely assembled, while the guidelines for MOOC platforms allow online lecture content to be shared much more easily. This educational network would be helpful to overall connectivity across ASEM.