by Rohani Hj Abd Hamid & Arnie PDH Ishak

Bandar Seri Begawan – A public lecture entitled “Research in University of Malaya and proposed collaboration with Universiti Brunei Darussalam” was held yesterday at the Senate Room, Chancellor Hall of Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Professor Datok Ghauth Jasmon, Vice Chancellor of University of Malaya, delivered the lecture. Attending the event were Pg Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohammad bin Pengiran Hj Abdul Rahnian, Deputy Minister of Education; Tan Sri Datuk Arshad Ayub, Chairman of the University of Malaya Board Director with the delegation; Dr Hj Zulkarnain bin Haji Hanafi, UBD Vice Chancellor; Dato Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari, High Commissioner of Malaysia in Brunei; Dr Azman bin Hj Ahmad, Assistant Vice Chancellor (Education and Internalisation) Dean of SHBIE and other UBD officials. In her welcoming remarks, Professor Dr Zohrah bte Haji Sulaiman, Assistant Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) said, “Research is very much on our university’s agenda and we can learn from their experience in research. “We would like to congratulate University of Malaya for being ranked 39th among the top 100 Asia universities and the highest ranked amongst Malaysian universities recently.

“With respect to research, we are now embarking upon a journey to nurture research culture in campus, and we have identified three priority areas of research namely biodiversity, energy and food security. “However, these areas do not only confine to science and technology but across disciplines and faculties. We no longer work in silos, and this becomes the basic of our approach in designing the new generation next degree programmes or GeNext.

“We have a major overhaul of our curriculum review, as a result, we have reduced our degree programmes to just four namely the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Health Science and Bachelor of Business. “They will be offered this August. Each of the degrees will provide a range of pathways, giving flexibility to the students’ choices of careers. They have been designed to prepare students for a competitive world, where leadership, environment, entrepreneurship and innovation have become integrated into the curriculum.

The graduate degrees will be having a makeover as well, in time for 2010 admission,” she added. Professor Datuk Ghauth Jasmon in his lecture touched on how Universiti Malaya (UM) can collaborate with Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Among the points he stressed on were staff training, joint research programmes, student exchange programmes and consultancy services.

For staff training, Datuk Ghauth spoke of the proposals of MsC and PhD candidates registering and conducting research in UM and for staff to be sent to UM for short courses and work in their centre of research in niche areas like Photonics, Nanotechnology, ICT, Molecular Sciences, Biotechnology, Oncology and Infectious Diseases. In joint research programmes, UM staff collaborating with counterparts in Brunei during their sabbatical and research leaves in UBD and engaging in joint publications was proposed. Meanwhile, for the student exchange programme, reciprocal visits were suggested for UBD students posted in Medical, Dental and Engineering faculties at UM and residential colleges and joint UM-UBD consultation services were recommended in consultancy services.

During the lecture, Professor Datuk Ghauth also spoke of the advances and achievements of UM over the years. Professor Datuk Ghauth’s current mission in UM is to transform the university into a truly world-class institution by focusing on building solid academic fundamentals within the academic and student body. While doing so, he will still at the same time be driving a higher level of entrepreneurship in the university community, establishing more active international networking and forging greater interaction between the university and industry.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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