KOTA SAMARAHAN: Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Sarawak is a key member of seven groups under the ERASMUS+ K2 Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE), a programme backed by the European Union (EU).
In 2015, the university joined its first ERASMUS+ project, “Blended Learning for Teacher Educators in Asia and Europe.” This project was wrapped up in 2018.
These collaborations aim to design Master’s programmes and Professional Courses that address the digital challenges in today’s economy, particularly the fourth Industrial Revolution.
“The project partnership consists of 11 members from top universities in eight countries – four from the European Union and four from Asia. They have received total funding of RM3,176,066. Other projects include Food Processing and Innovation with RM4,595,653 (2018-2022), Industry 4.0 with RM4,493,986 (2019-2023), Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics with RM4,459,868 (2019-2023), Family Business Management with RM4,849,428 (2020-2024), and Portable Video Conferencing Tools for Higher Education with RM1,710,455 (2022-2025),” said EU’s ambassador to Malaysia, Michalis Rokas, during his working visit to UiTM Sarawak today. Rokas was accompanied by Denis Baresch, representing the European Union’s Trade and Economic Relations Section.
Rokas said that this year, there’s a new project titled “Smart City ASEAN Learning Network,” which began in July. It has a budget of RM3,242,241. The total grant for all these projects amounts to RM24,876,144.
UiTM Sarawak has allocated nearly RM5 million to acquire advanced ICT equipment, aiding the launch of new Master’s courses and supporting research. Consequently, the ERASMUS+ Resource and Learning Centre was established at the Perpustakaan Tun Abdul Razak on Campus 2.
This centre acts as a conduit between the industry and national policymakers, facilitating improved dialogue between businesses and the government, ensuring that industry concerns are factored into policy discussions.
Present at the visit were Prof Dato Dr Haji Jamil Jamil Haji Hamali, the rector of UiTM Sarawak, and Prof Ts. Dr Margaret Chan Kit Yok, who heads the ERASMUS+ Projects on Capacity Building in Higher Education.