USM, PENANG, 8 September 2016 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) through School of Educational Studies is enhancing its collaboration with the Friedrich-Alexander Universitat from Erlangen Nurnberg, Germany on "Pupils' Diversity and Integration in Education" after a successful organisation of the USM-FAU Conference 2016 here at USM, held from 6-8 September 2016.

According to the Professor of Diversity Education and International Research from FAU, Dr. Anatoli Rakhkochkine who heads this project, good collaborations between both countries have been established and USM is a truly unique university, with an abundance of research capacity and also being international-oriented, and with the availability of a good platform for collaboration.“The School of Educational Studies (USM) intends to establish good relations, and we have decided to have a collaboration together with them."

"I'm glad and happy to be here, and with me, I have brought along 14 of my colleagues and their feedback also has been well-received, with the willingness to work with young researchers and graduate students from USM, to promote and open up new topics in new research areas together on sustaining this project," told Anatoli.

Anatoli said, in the end, achievements on the project goals and mutual understanding are the key areas that are being focused on and also on other things such as doing research and to gain a better understanding on the culture and the social problems in the field.

In addition, Anatoli emphasised on empowering collaborative efforts between both universities, with the resulting research outcomes all relating to the major topic on diversity in education.

Running grants for this project is estimated at Euro 170k in 2 years. This is the third year that both this project and conference are being held.

Meanwhile, former Dean, School of Educational Studies, Professor Dato' Dr. Abdul Rashid Mohamed hopes that and is confident of this project being continued, as seen from the positive outcomes of the project.

"This project has served as a good platform and also in promoting good teamwork, and I really hope that it can be sustained to be of greater benefit to the people in the future," he said in his speech during the closing ceremony of the conference.

Text: Hafiz Meah Ghouse Meah / Photo: Mohd Fairus Md Isa