USM PENANG, 19 December 2022 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) via the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with University of Aizu, Japan today at the USM main campus here.

Signing on behalf of USM was Professor Dato’ Gs. Dr. Narimah Samat, who currently exercises the function of the USM Vice-Chancellor, and on behalf of University of Aizu was its President, Professor Dr. Toshiaki Miyazaki.

"USM is honoured to have University of Aizu as one of our educational partners in offering support for the betterment of USM students and research technologies, especially in the field of electrical and electronics (E&E)," said Narimah.

"Through the mutual exchange of students, this transformative initiative will support the international mobility of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, as this programme will provide the students with an early exposure to international thoughts and intercultural skills in preparing them to transcend barriers," Narimah added.

"This programme will also provide the opportunity for the academic researchers from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering to implement high impact, high technology collaborative research, especially at the forefront of scientific, technological and industrial advances that are aligned with 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution)," she said further.

The international collaboration also includes the establishment of joint laboratories in robotics and biomedical engineering, whereby these laboratories will provide the needed space for the students to do their R&D projects, for meetings between the students and their field supervisors from University of Aizu, as well as their project supervisors from USM.

Also present were Professor Dato’ Dr. Nor Azazi Zakaria (Director of USM Engineering Campus); Professor Ir. Ts. Dr. Shahrel Azmin Sundi @ Suandi (Dean of USM School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering); Professor Dr. Abderazek Ben Abdallah (Dean of University of Aizu School of Computer Science and Engineering); Aizat Hisham Ahmad (Director of USM International Mobility and Collaboration Centre); and representatives of both Universities.

Malaysia’s E&E sector is expected to contribute RM120 billion to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and generate RM495 billion in export earnings by 2025, as Malaysia continues to attract high-quality investments and is expected to uphold its growth trajectory.

Text: Nur Farrah Ezlin Mohd Suhaimi/Photo: Mohd Fairus Md Isa