KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Russia have signed eight memoranda of understanding (MOU) focused on strengthening and expanding cooperation in various fields between higher education institutions of both countries.
Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, the Higher Education Minister, stated that the MOUs cover a range of areas, including establishing mirror labs, student mobility, satellite labs, double degrees, matching grants, joint academic and research programmes, improvement of learning curricula, and training and technology transfer.
He also mentioned that a mirror lab between the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in St Petersburg and the Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS) at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) had been launched earlier.
“We now have a Mirror Lab between AHIBS, UTM and the Laboratory for Reputation Management in Education (RepLab), HSE, which involves studying and developing social entrepreneurship in two countries (Malaysia and Russia) through a cross-country analysis,” he said.
This announcement was made as Mohamed Khaled spoke to reporters after the exchange of MOUs between various higher education institutes in Malaysia and Russia at the 2nd Meeting of the Joint Russia-Malaysia Commission for Economic, Scientific, Technical, and Cultural Cooperation on November 9.
Mohamed Khaled also mentioned that the collaboration will involve promoting the Malay language in Russia and vice versa, where the Malay language will be used as the medium of communication in several conferences and seminars in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
“This cooperation in education will expand educational opportunities and promote cultural exchange and language learning, promoting the Russian language in Malaysia and the Malay language in Russia,” he said.
Additionally, the Higher Education Ministry has agreed to recognize all degrees granted by the Russian Federation’s relevant authorities or the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science.
“The recognition of professional programs such as in the fields of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, engineering, and architecture is subject to acceptance by the relevant professional bodies in Malaysia,” he added.
Valery Falkov, Russia’s Minister of Science and Higher Education, expressed optimism about the ongoing collaboration, stating that it promises to bring significant benefits to the people and economies of both Russia and Malaysia.
“I hope this cooperation will have a major impact, create opportunities for our business communities, and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and technology,” he said. – Bernama
