Malaysia, Russia sign eight MOUs involving higher education institutions

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Russia signed eight memoranda of understanding (MOU) involving higher education institutions of both countries to strengthen and expand cooperation in various fields.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the MOUs include establishing mirror labs; student mobility; satellite labs; double degrees; matching grants; joint academic and research programmes; enhancement of learning curricula; and training and technology transfer.

He said 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 earlier been launched.

“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

He was speaking to reporters after he and Russia’s Minister of Science and Higher Education, Valery Falkov witnessed the exchange of MOU 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 here, Thursday (Nov 9).

Mohamed Khaled said the collaboration also includes promoting the Malay language in Russia and vice versa, where the Malay language is 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.

He said the Higher Education Ministry has also agreed to recognise all degrees granted by the Russian Federation’s relevant authorities or the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science.

“The recognition of professional programmes such as in the fields of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, engineering, and architecture is subjected to acceptance by the relevant professional bodies in Malaysia,” he said.

Meanwhile, Falkov said both countries are looking forward to a further expansion of the dynamic collaboration, which promises to benefit the people and economies of Russia and Malaysia significantly.

“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