CHINA, November 2013 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) through the Regenerative Medicine Cluster (RMC), Advanced Medical and Dental Institute (AMDI) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Xinxiang Medical University (XXMU), China, to strengthen cooperation in the student exchange programme and partnership in the supervision of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students.

According to Head of KPR-cum-programme coordinator, Dr Badrul Hisham Yahaya, XXMU is the largest public university hospital in China. According to him, the MoA’s main focus is research and supervision of PhD students, particularly in the field of stem cell research.

“In the desire to bring the development of the field of stem cells to the next level, the collaboration between XXMU and AMDI is a strategic step in the internationalisation of AMDI,” said Dr. Badrul.

This would provide USM AMDI the advantage, especially in increasing the number of international students to be accepted as PhD candidates and the advantage to the students is that they will carry out their research in XXMU for a period of time in which they will certainly receive extensive exposure.

The MoA agreement was signed by the Director AMDI, Professor Dr Abdul Aziz Tajuddin who represented the Vice-Chancellor. Also present were XXMU Deputy President Professor Dr Zhikun Goa; XXMU Science and Technology Department Director Professor Dr Wuling Zhu; Director of Communications and International Department Professor Zhen Chen; Director of Graduate Studies Department, Professor Huigen Feng; and College of Life Sciences and Technology Deputy Director, Professor Dr Juntang Lin.

According to Abdul Aziz , the measures taken are very strategic in which each student enrolled in this programme who is either a PhD candidate from China or Malaysia will be registered at AMDI where a USM lecturer at AMDI will be the main supervisor and a lecturer at XXMU will be the co-supervisor.

Coordinator of the programme at XXMU, Professor Juntang said that XXMU felt deeply honoured to receive the request and cooperation with AMDI and the view of USM as a highly reputable university in China.

“USM is listed as the best university in Asia and USM is the first university in Asia that we signed a MoA with, and this gives XXMU the advantage to explore more in the collaboration with USM in a wider field,” said Professor Dr Zhikun.

The delegation members visited the laboratories and facilities at XXMU and Touren Medical, a medical device manufacturer.

The result of this visit will create opportunities for AMDI and USM innovation experts to turn their innovative ideas into products for the market of which the plant is able to manufacture as medical equipment according to international standards at a much cheaper price. - Text: AMDI/Translation: Yong Check Yoon