Japan announced plans to standardize student-evaluation methods with universities in China and South Korea, in a “possible first step toward a pan-Asian student-exchange program,” the Chronicle of Higher Education reported last week.

Japan's ministry of education says the plan will make it easier for students in Asia's three largest higher-education markets to study abroad.

The Chronicle also reports that the ministry wants to expand the standardization plan to cover universities in member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as a prelude to a European Erasmus-style exchange program. 

[Note: Chronicle article is accessible for subscribers only.]