PENANG, 29 May 2015 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) continues to increase its international cooperation with Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT) Japan in academic and research collaborations through the establishment of the NUT-USM Gikaku Technology Centre.

USM Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dato' Dr. Omar Osman said the joint collaboration centre will be located in the Toray USM Knowledge Transfer Centre building in USM Main Campus which is in its final phase of construction and is expected to be completed soon.

"With that, USM will join the existing NUT network established in Mexico, Spain, Vietnam and Thailand, where such concept/model has been applied successfully by NUT, and will focus on how to bring Japanese companies operating either in Malaysia or in Japan to jointly promote collaborative research in the university, besides looking at how to apply the Gikaku learning skills used by NUT in Japan," he said.

Omar added that USM has a good cooperation relationship with NUT all this while and both institutions have run together several academic programmes, including doctoral programmes by research and supervision in the field of Chemical Sciences and Materials Engineering.

"Furthermore, we also want to explore the potential of offering a double degree programme or a joint degree programme at the Master's level in physics and nuclear physics, as NUT is an internationally-renowned university in the engineering field and has the expertise and well-equipped laboratories specialising in nuclear engineering and nuclear physics.

"I am very grateful to NUT for providing funding to support many of our lecturers and graduate students to attend programmes held in NUT as well as to participate in joint research/studies using the facilities available in NUT laboratories," he said.

Omar said this when asked to share on the outcome of his recent trip to Japan where he led the USM delegation to hold collaboration meetings and discussions with NUT and also several top universities there.

He also said, both parties have agreed to establish a Joint Consultative Committee at the university level with NUT that will meet periodically, to further enhance their existing cooperation, especially in joint research and academic collaboration programmes.

NUT was founded in 1976 and is one of the only two national universities of technology in Japan (the other being Toyohashi University of Technology) that has been selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan to implement the Top Global University project aimed at enhancing the international compatibility and competitiveness of higher education in Japan. - Translation & Text: Tan Ewe Hoe