UMP and Yayasan Terengganu collaborate in higher education and internationalisation

KUALA TERENGGANU, 30 May 2023 - Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Yayasan Terengganu in academic and internationalisation collaboration.

Through this agreement, both have agreed to outline several academic collaboration activities and provide advisory services for programmes such as the Foundation Programme, the Dual Bachelor’s Dual Degree Programme in Civil Engineering, and the Bachelor’s Dual Degree Program in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

Other collaborations involve the Bachelor’s Dual Degree Programmes in Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, STEM and UMP international collaboration study programmes that could impact human capital development in Terengganu.

This collaboration will also see the Confucius Institute (CI) UMP act as a Mandarin language institute that provides a syllabus for teaching and learning Mandarin with the launch of the Confucius Institute (CI) UMP teaching site at Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Yayasan Terengganu.

The ceremony witnessed the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs & Alumni), Professor Ts. Dr. Mohd Rusllim Mohamed and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International), Professor Ir. Ts. Dr. Ahmad Ziad Sulaiman sign a memorandum with the Director of Yayasan Terengganu, Dato Haji Mohd Azmi Mohamad Daham and Deputy Chairman of Shariah Implementation, Education and Higher Education Committee, Haji Maliaman Kasim, representing Dato’ Haji Satiful Baharu Mamat, Chairman of Shariah Implementation, Education and Higher Education Committee.

Present to witness this historic moment, the Education Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia, Zhao Changtao, Attaché of the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia, Zhang Tian and the Speaker of the Terengganu State Legislative Council, YB Dato Haji Yahaya Ali.

Professor Ts. Dr. Mohd Rusllim said that the growth of the manufacturing and industrial sectors in Malaysia today requires more experts and skills in various fields of technology.

He said that Technical and Vocational Training Education (TVET) is also seen to give a surge to the country’s education system.

With the establishment of this teaching site, UMP received support from Hebei University for providing Mandarin language instructors at Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz.

“In addition to the role of language teaching, CI UMP serves as a platform for cultural exchange between Malaysia and China, strengthening friendship and collaboration between the two countries,” he said, speaking on behalf of the UMP Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dato’ Ts. Dr. Yuserrie Zainuddin. 

UMP has a collaborative programme with Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) China in a dual degree programme in engineering that contributes to developing the country’s rail industry.

In addition, UMP is involved in many other collaborations with universities in China including dual degree programmes with Tianjin University (TJU) as well as collaborative programmes with Ningxia University (NXU).

Meanwhile, Zhao Changtao believed the collaboration between CI UMP and Yayasan Terengganu would strengthen good relations and benefit all parties.

The launch of the Mandarin teaching site would also strengthen the educational exchange between Pahang and Terengganu and would build a strong language and cultural exchange bridge between the Chinese and Malaysian communities.

Currently, 530 students from 22 Mandarin classes at these schools are studying Mandarin from Form 1 to Form 4 involving seven Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Yayasan Terengganu which offers Mandarin subjects according to the Chinese Language Mastery Test syllabus including Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Yayasan Terengganu Besut, Kuala Nerus, Kuala Terengganu, Marang, Kuala Berang, Dungun and Kemaman.

By: Mimi Rabita Abdul Wahit, Corporate Communications Division, Chancellery Department

Translation by: Dr.  Rozaimi  Abu  Samah, Engineering  College/Faculty   of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology