KOTA KINABALU: Thanks to the coordination from The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS), the East China Normal University (ECNU) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) on Thursday signed the Letter of Intent (LOI), for future cooperation.
Such future cooperation includes teachers and students exchange programmes, as well as cooperation in other sectors within the education framework.
This was unveiled during the said signing ceremony conducted in UMS, and it was witnessed by FCAS President Tan Sri T.C Goh.
In his speech, Goh described such cooperation as a new milestone in education cooperation between Malaysia and China, and especially for Sabah’s higher education sector. He also hoped such mutually beneficial cooperation can be expedited, after this.
In the said signing ceremony, representing ECNU was its Vice Chancellor Zhou Aoying while UMS was represented by its Vice Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Kasim Md Mansur.
Goh also cordially welcomed the ECNU delegation to Sabah and wished them a fruitful exchange with their UMS counterparts.
He noted that the two universities through the LOI agreed to undertake a long-term flexible education exchange programme which includes Chinese and English courses.
During the exchange session held between ECNU and UMS, both Zhou and Dr Kasim hoped that cooperation between the two universities in various aspects can be gradually implemented to benefit both the academic staff and the students of the two universities.
Among others, the LOI would facilitate cooperation in various education and research programmes, publication of academic journals and reports, to organize joint students development programmes, academic seminars, forums, targeted short-term academic training programmes, international online learning programmes, mobility scheme, community service activities, etc.
Also in attendance during the LOI signing ceremony were several senior academic staff of ECNU including Zhou Rong, the Head of the Confucius Academy, Zhang Jian-Ming, Professor at the School of International Chinese Studies, *Wu Zhiyong* Professor at the School of Mass Communication and Xu Chen, Coordinator of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange Programme, while senior academic staff from UMS included Director of Centre for International and Global Engagement, *Prof Madya Dr Wardatul Akman Din, Dean of Centre for the Promotion of knowledge and Language Learnig Prof Madya Dr Lai Yew Ming, Director of Confucius Institute Prof Dr Chong Khim Phin, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities Prof Madya Dr Asmady Idris, Senior Lecturer Biotechlogy Research Institute Prof Madya Dr Wilson Yong, Deputy Director Research and Innovation, Borneo Marine Research Institute Prof Madya Dr Faihana Ching Abdullah and Dr Nurzhafarina binti Othman of International Relation Coordinate, Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation.-pr/BNN
