PENANG, June 2016 – The success of the recently concluded International Conference of Computer, Environment, Social Science and Technology (ICEST 2016) jointly organised for the first time by University of Sumatera Utara (USU), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Centre for Alumni Liaison (PPA) and Ikatan Alumni Sumatera Utara has paved the way for more such activities to be organised at the international level in the near future.

The Director-General of Education and Student Affairs, Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of Indonesia, Professor Intan Ahmad in his officiating speech said that in facing the Midwest Economics Association (MEA), the existing potential must be maximised mainly through the fields of education, research and scientific publications to ensure that Indonesia is at par with its ASEAN neighbours such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

“Conferences such as these are important to improve the quality of research and technology for the country’s development as evidenced from the research findings presented based on the conference theme ‘Exploiting ASEAN Economic Cummunity Potential Through Research of Computer, Environment, Social Science, Engineering and Technology’,” added Intan Ahmad.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Mayor of Medan, Ir. Akhyar Nasution hoped that such programmes can also act as a catalyst to motivate and inspire more academicians and students to publish high quality papers to improve the quality of human resource development through education.

USM’s Registrar, Professor Dato’ Dr. Abd. Aziz Tajuddin was given the honour as one of the three invited speakers to present a paper on behalf of the USM Vice-Chancellor.

He shared on the role of USM as one of the Malaysian research universities embarking on a mission in achieving a global university status through APEX 2020 Agenda beginning 2016.

“We always welcome academic collaborations from Indonesia especially in terms of mobility of its students to USM to pursue their studies at the undergraduate and postgraduate level,” he added.

The other speaker from USM was the Director of Centre for Islamic Development Management Studies (ISDEV), Professor Dr. Muhammad Syukri Salleh, who addressed the participants on the topic ‘Islamic Development and Research for ASEAN Economic Community’.

The conference which was held at the Gelanggang Mahasiswa, University of Sumatera Utara (USU) and RAZ Hotel, Medan drew a crowd of 150 participants, mainly comprising of academicians, researchers and tertiary students from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore.

During the three-day conference (23-25 May 2016), 65 papers were presented – 20 papers in the field of Engineering, Environment and Technology, 24 papers on Social Sciences, and 21 papers on Computer.

Also present were the Head of Ikatan Alumni USM Sumatera Utara, Professor Nawawiy Lubis; the Consul-General Malaysia in Medan, Datuk Amizal Fadzli Rajali; Delegation Head of ICEST 2016, Professor Lusianna Andriani Lubis; and USM PPA Director, Associate Professor Dr. Wan Ahmad Jaafar.

Translation: Tan Ewe Hoe

Text: Siti Faizah Abd Halim / Photo: Mohamad Kasyfi Mohamad Taufik