KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Australia have agreed to set up a joint higher education working group, which will include cooperating on technical and vocational skills training.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, through a Facebook post on Thursday (March 6), said the agreement was reached in a courtesy call to him from Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Danielle Heinecke at Parliament.

“We discussed various collaborations that can be done between higher education institutions in Malaysia and Australia, including in the field of technical and vocational education and training or TVET.

“It is hoped that this meeting will form closer collaboration between the two countries in higher education and other fields such as skills and TVET, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of higher education last year,” he said.

Given that Australia is among the leading countries in higher education, Zambry said Malaysia has also proposed that the country be directly involved in the ministry’s programmes, such as the Festival of Ideas, women’s capacity and leadership development programmes as well as student sponsorship under the Colombo Plan. – Bernama