MEDAN, NORTH SUMATERA (INDONESIA), 6 June 2015 - University students were urged to explore and be involved in a wide range of activities made available to them through empowerment including entrepreneurship-related educational and engagement activities.

The Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Professor Dato' Dr. Omar Osman said, empowerment efforts must be continued and supported by encouraging the students to be more focused and work together for the development of the country.

In USM, this is carried out on an ongoing basis through numerous students’ initiated activities such as the Students Consultative Council (Student Parliament) which allows the students to voice out their opinions and concerns on various issues, for example the latest being the Rohingya issue,” said Omar when launching the ASEAN Student Entrepreneurship Network (ASENet) at the Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) campus here today.

About 150 students from Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), Universitas Negeri Medan, Institut Teknologi Medan, Universiti Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara (UMSU) and Universitas Pembangunan Panca Budi attended the launching ceremony.

Also present were Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni) Professor Dato' Dr. Adnan Hussein, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International Affairs) Professor Dato' Dr. Ahmad Shukri Mustapa Kamal, representative of Rector III (Undergraduates) Dr. Raja Bongsu and USM Student Representative Council President Mohamad Shafiq Kamaruddin.

ASENet was established as part of a working network among ASEAN university students as an ASEAN economic development initiative to promote and strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit and effort among students from universities in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia and the Philippines.

“This network will act as a platform to foster networking and share best practices amongst student entrepreneurs in the region in implementing joint entrepreneurial activities without neglecting on-going efforts at individual universities,” said Omar.

Among the upcoming events are the memorandum of understanding signing ceremony between the USM Students Representative Council and the ASEAN university student organisation on 18 September 2015 in USM Penang, and the Conference on ASEAN Student Entrepreneurship Network (USMNet) scheduled to be held in November 2015. - Translation: Tan Ewe Hoe/Text: Mohamad bin Abdullah