PENANG, 16 May 2013 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is ready to take on the responsibility to realise the idea of forming an ASEAN community at the higher education level.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs and Development, Prof. Adnan Hussein said the idea of an Asean community provides many benefits to students of higher education especially in facilitating Asean cross-border student mobility.

He said, with that idea, students will be able to move from one university to another university and from one country to another in the Asean community to exchange experiences and ideas for the development of knowledge.

“Malaysia appeared quite backward compared to other countries such as Thailand and Indonesia in realising this, and we hope that with the formation of the new cabinet announced by the Prime Minister yesterday, efforts to push for the success of this idea can be expedited.

“USM is ready to take on the responsibility for the success of this objective and at this moment we also have begun to disseminate the benefits of these ideas and the work that can be taken to make it happen,” he said.

He said this at a press conference after opening the IMPACT Week, an annual event of the School of Communication (PPK) to provide an opportunity for the final year students who took a unique ‘one-package’ which combines theory and practical elements of a course where students cover three main areas of specialisation: persuasion, film and broadcast journalism.

Summarising the efforts of the Asean community, he added that as far as Malaysia is concerned, this idea is still at discussion level by the ministry and to date there is no instruction being given to any university.

At the same ceremony, USM expanded its collaboration when it signed three memoranda of agreement (MOA) involving National News Agency (BERNAMA), Malaysian Association of Creativity & Innovation (MACRI) and theUniversitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia.

The three MoA are to further strengthen the achievements of PPK in maximising the employability of graduates, especially in communication, training development, and innovation as well as improving the quality of research and publications of its academic staff. - Text: Marziana Mohamed Alias/Photo: Mohd. Fairus Md. Isa/Translation: Yong Check Yoon