LONDON – Malaysia and the United Kingdom, through their respective ministries and education departments, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) today to strengthen cooperation in the higher education sector of both countries.
The MoU will see, among others, strategic cooperation in scientific research and talent training between higher education institutions of the two countries.
It will also see the exchange of academic staff, educators, experts and students on programmes that will benefit both parties, as well as the provision of training platforms for education administrators and educators, including those involved in in-service training.
It will also see the offering of tertiary education scholarships at any recognised institutions in the two countries, the implementation of bilateral programmes among higher education institutions, and collaboration in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), infomation and communication technology (ICT), technical and vocational education and training (TVET), innovation, online education, life-long learning and entrepreneurship.
The MoU was inked by Malaysian Higher Education Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Abdul Razak Jaafar and the UK’s Permanent Secretary at the Education Department, Susan Acland-Hood.
The signing ceremony held at the department here was witnessed by the Malaysian ambassador to the UK, Datuk Zakri Jaafar.
Also present were Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Md Amin Md Taff and Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) vice-chancellor Prof Fadzli Adam.
Razak is here on a working visit until May 12.
During the visit, he also attended an Asean ministerial breakfast meeting in which they discussed planning and development of the Southeast Asian education sector, and related topics including climate change, gender equality, TVET, as well as adaptation and transformation of digital technology.
He also spent some time meeting with over 300 Malaysian students in the UK at an Aidilfitri event here.
In an event at the University of London earlier, Razak also witnessed the signing of an MoU between UPSI and UniSZA and the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) to promote Bahasa Malaysia in Europe in an effort to expand Malay language studies to the world stage.
Through the MoU, UPSI will focus on sharing Malay culture, values and ethics while UniSZA will spearhead the digitisation of Islamic and Malay manuscripts in the SOAS collection. – Bernama, May 10, 2023
