USM PENANG, 3 December 2019 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) continues to strengthen relationship with Pakistan as part of the university’s internationalisation agenda.

USM Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan said that Pakistan was one of the countries that contributed a large number of international students enrolling in the university.

“The latest enrolment of Pakistani students in USM was 198, of which 134 are studying in our main campus, 43 in the Health Campus and 21 in the Engineering Campus,” said the Vice-Chancellor during the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between USM and the National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS), Lahore, Pakistan.

He also said that several schools in USM had also formed collaborations with their partners in Pakistan.

“For example, the School of Medical Sciences has a joint academic programme with a university in Lahore while the School of Dental Sciences is collaborating with the CMH Medical College and Institute of Dentistry, Lahore,” he added.

The MoU was signed between Faisal Rafiq and NUMS Vice-Chancellor Professor Lt. Gen. Syed Muhammad Imran Majeed, and witnessed by the USM Health Campus Deputy Director, Professor Dr. Adam Hussein and the NUMS Director of Research, Aisha Mohiyuddin.

Meanwhile, Adam said that the MoU would lead to further cooperation and collaboration with NUMS in terms of joint academic programmes and research.

“NUMS is one of the largest healthcare providers in Pakistan in terms of trajectory and patient volume as the university was backed up by an extensive network of 45 military hospitals, 12 single specialty institutes, 10 medical colleges and four nursing colleges.

“We believe this MoU will open up more opportunities between the two institutions in sharing respective strengths in various fields which will definitely benefit both sides,” he added.

Text: Tan Ewe Hoe