This policy brief is one in a series led by Chulalongkorn University with support from the Office of the Higher Education Commission, Ministry of Education, Thailand, in partnership with FAO. The series was initiated to support the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Work Plan on Education, 2016–2020 implementation while Thailand was Chair of ASEAN in 2019 under the theme: “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”.

The Briefs offer critical interdisciplinary perspectives on agri-food systems from social and sustainability sciences. They are fully aligned with the regional initiative on Food System Transformation and are meant to support the work engaged with ASEAN.

This brief focuses on the recent efforts that have aimed at documenting, analyzing, and supporting sustainable agri-food systems among Southeast Asian universities and colleges while achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through regional cooperation. It advocates that with greater support for institutional reforms based on five pillars – curricula, research, extension, policies, and sustainability assessments/reporting – more Higher Educational Institutions could collaborate with FAO and other agencies, regional organizations, governments, and donors to scale-up agroecology innovations and alternatives.