USM delegates with CAPSTRANS Director (A/Prof Tim Scrase; middle row,...

Universiti Sains Malaysia delegation visit CAPSTRANS

CAPSTRANS and Faculty of Arts have recently been involved in a program of collaborative activities under the LEADHER grant program with a small team from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM; which UOW have a signed MOU). LEADHER is the Leadership Development for Higher Education Reform Program, an initiative of the International Association of Universities (UNESCO).The main purpose is for each institution to develop a broad understanding of each other's internationalisation strategies and to promote research linkages, particularly between UOW's research strength CAPSTRANS (Centre for Asia-Pacific Social Transformation Studies) and USM's Social Transformation Research Platform.

The visit consisted of three days of forums and presentations by senior UOW officers and key researchers from CAPSTRANS, and the Faculty of Arts, as well as Creative Arts and Education. There was also the opportunity of brief tours of UOW facilities and of the region.

The USM delegation was: Professor Ambigapathy Pandian, Dean of SOLLAT (School of Languages, Literacies and Translation); Professor Badaruddin Mohamed, Director, Social Transformation Research Platform; Dr Aniswal, School of Humanities; and Dr Sohaimi, Deputy Dean, School of Humanities.

The meetings have been extremely productive and at the final session of the program a number of research, staff and graduate and postdoctoral exchanges and projects were proposed along with a commitment to increase undergraduate student exchange via the study abroad program.

Note: *Under this grant scheme, a UOW delegation visited USM in January. The UOW delegation was: Prof Wenche Ommundsen; Prof Kerry Dunne; A/Prof Peter Kell; A/Prof Tim Scrase; and Ms Robin Phillips from the UOW Transnational Programs office. A similar range of presentations and visits to different USM facilities and programs occurred.