TOKYO, 2nd June – Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) delegations attended the 25th Japanese University Consortium (JUC) meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tokyo Japan. The main goal of the JUC meeting was to discuss planning for the Malaysia-Japan Linkage (MJL) Office project in cooperation with JICA.
YB Dato’ Dr. Haji Megat Sany bin Megat Ahmad Supian, Deputy Secretary-General (Policy) of the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) who led the delegation highlighted that the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia is supporting this MJL Office initiative to make MJIIT a gateway for Japanese partners to ASEAN in his opening remark.
The government of Malaysia really appreciate the strong support given by the government of Japan especially from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan, JICA and JUC throughout the years.
As the meeting was continued, Prof. Dr. Ali Selamat (MJIIT Dean) briefings on the track records of MJIIT and how MJIIT intends to move forward in the next 5 years through (MJL) Office project. According to Prof Ali, UTM MJIIT is expected to become a prominent Japanese Industrial and Education Hub between ASEAN and Japan.
In other words, MJL is strengthened as a sustainable platform for collaboration with Japanese universities and industries UTM MJIIT hope that more JUC members to come and establish their satellite office or branch campus through the MJL. By 2030, UTM MJIIT plans to increase the number of student enrolments from 1500 to 3000 at the Japanese Village @ Edupolis Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.
UTM MJIIT has proven to be very successful in achieving its objectives to provide Japanese-oriented engineering education and research. Within more than 10 years of progress, MJIIT has proudly demonstrated its capabilities and has gained success stories in many areas.
Up until today, 13 academic programs are offered by UTM MJIIT with 1,500 students enrolment. All undergraduate programs of UTM MJIIT are fully accredited by Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) Malaysia.
Nearly 2000 students have graduated since 2014, with the latest graduate employability rate of 100%. More than 10% of its alumni are currently working in various companies in Japan, and many others are employed by Japanese companies in Malaysia.
In this program, UTM MJIIT visited SIX Japanese universities; Tokyo City University, Tokai University, Meiji University, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Sophia University and Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology.
The discussion focused on benchmarking the existing Bachelor of Mechanical Precision Engineering (MPE) dan Bachelor of Electronic Systems Engineering (ESE) Programs to comply with the Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) and lab visit.
Much information exchange relevant to academic matters took place during the visit, such as identifying student and staff exchange programmes and exploring research collaboration opportunities among the established universities.
Meanwhile, UTM MJIIT aimed to improve links and also seek potential for future collaboration with industrial partners. UTM MJIIT had the opportunity to visit Japanese industries and agencies; STT INC., Azbil Azbil Corporation, NSK LTD, Yokohama City Hall and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).
The objective of an industrial visit is to understand more about the internship programme, future employment opportunities and expanding collaboration in academia and research. In this session, we have a chance to meet MJIIT alumni who are currently working in those companies.
Currently, there are more than 30 MJIIT alumni working in the Japanese Industry in Japan.