LONDON: Malaysia and the United Kingdom (UK), through their respective ministry and department of education, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday to strengthen cooperation in the higher education sector of both countries.
The MoU will see, among other, strategic cooperation in the field of scientific research and talent training between higher education institutions of the two countries; the exchange of academic staff, educators, experts and students on programmes that will benefit both parties; and the provision of training platforms for education administrators and educators, including those involved in in-service training.
It will also see the offering of scholarships for students to pursue their tertiary education at any recognised institutions in the two countries; the implementation of bilateral programmes among higher education institutions; and collaboration in the fields of 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 Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) secretary-general Datuk Seri Abdul Razak Jaafar and the UK’s Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education (DfE) Susan Acland-Hood.
The signing ceremony held at the DfE 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 Dr Fadzli Adam.
Abdul 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, Abdul 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 Melayu in Europe, hence expanding the 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
