KUALA LUMPUR, 1 April 2019 – “It is my hope to see more and more students from Spain choosing to enrol for the exchange programme at USM in Malaysia, to expand their network and fulfill themselves with experiences to last a lifetime and vice-versa,” said Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail during her speech at the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between USM and Universidad Politechnica De Madrid (UPM), Spain here recently. 

She also hoped that the relationship between Malaysia and Spain will continue to flourish and grow as both nations pledge to strengthen their bilateral cooperation in education and research.

“It is such a pleasure on my part to stand before you today, honouring the international relations that these two countries have built, in the face of so much trials and tribulations, and being witnessed by two important figures in education in Malaysia and Spain, namely the Director-General, Higher Education Department, Ministry of Education Malaysia, Datin Paduka Ir. Dr. Siti Hamisah Tapsir and the Ambassador of Spain to Malaysia, His Excellency Jose Miguel Corvinos,” she added. 

According to the Vice-Rector of UPM, Professor Jose Miguel Atienza, this collaboration does not only relate to the exchange exercise of experts and students, but they are also trying to be more ambitious and aiming to develop a double degree programme, with regard to having an academic collaboration and conducting a joint research, probably in engineering and technology, in the long term. 

The signing ceremony was held in conjunction with the 14th Asia-Pacific Association for International Education Conference and Exhibition (APAIE 2019), with a theme stressing on ‘Diversity and Inclusivity of Higher Education in Asia-Pacific’, held here and attended by some 2,500 participants and 1,111 institutions from 60 countries. 

Three agreements were signed, which consisted of renewing the MoU, the signing of the seeding grant as well as the signing of the ERASMUS+ mobility programme. 

USM started establishing ties with the institution in Spain in 2007, when a PhD student was sent to the Technical University of Madrid (UPM). It was since then, that the relationship between both the universities developed, grew and progressed to the extent of having many agreements that we currently have.

Also present were the USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic and International, Professor Dr. Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah; Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation, Professor Ir. Dr. Abdul Rahman Mohamed; Director of International Mobility and Collaboration Centre (IMCC), Dr. Muhizam Mustafa and IMCC Deputy Director, Dr. Syeheerah Lebai Lutfi.

Text: Nor Rafizah Md Zain/Editing: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin/Photo: Ebrahim Abdul Manan