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2020-08-13
Launching of NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia

2020-08-13

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the world, life has slowed down and this has been described as the new normal. Despite this challenging period, the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Taiwan continues to fulfil its planned agenda to foster and strengthen collaboration with its overseas partner universities.  

On August 13th, NCKU witnessed the launching of its NCKU Overseas Hub, as one of its outreach and partnership strategies in Malaysia. Universiti Malaya (UM), the oldest university in Malaysia, was selected to host this Overseas Hub.  This Hub is one of the results of NCKU’s deep commitment and unflinching support to accelerate cross-border collaboration projects, said Prof. Dr. Hsiao-Wen Wang, NCKU Vice President for International Affairs who launched the event together with UM Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Prof. Dr. Noorsaadah Abd. Rahman.

According to the Hub’s Director, Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty Abu Kasim, the NCKU Overseas Hub aims to facilitate stronger academic and industrial alliances between Taiwan and Malaysian universities, foundations, companies, as well as multinational corporations in both countries. Also wearing the hat as the Dean of Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), she is confident that this new model to foster more effective collaborations between universities and industries in two different countries to drive more impactful innovation and create values for society. She will be leading the Hub with Dr. Ivy Chung, an Associate Professor and Deputy Dean of Health & Wellbeing Research Cluster in UM.

In conjunction with the launching event, an inaugural forum webinar was held to discuss the various aspects of international research collaboration. Under the theme of “Crossing Boundaries with Impactful Research”, Prof. Dr. Noor Hayaty led the discussion with four distinguished panelists – an academic administrative Prof. Dr. Charles Lin from NCKU Taiwan, a funding body representative Ms. Maithili Vasudevan from British Council Malaysia, an industry representative Dr. Nor Azmi Alias from Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology Center (CREST), and a researcher representative Prof. Dr. Saad Mekhilef who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, UM. The forum discussed on the importance of the international collaboration, opportunities and challenges in conducting impactful research among Asian countries.

Prof. Dr. Charles Lin shared his thoughts on why having the Overseas Hub in Malaysia is important. He said that now is the time when things such as the governmental regulation, environment and the main thinking of Malaysians change very rapidly. Thus, by having a Hub in Malaysia helps NCKU to be updated on what are the problems and important issues in Malaysia, to share their knowledge, and to help the society on how to solve the problems together using cutting edge technology.

Ms. Maithili Vasudevan said that international collaboration is crucial to ensuring success and meaningful outcome in period such as the pandemic that we are experiencing right now. Ms. Maithili mentioned that Malaysia is very desirable as a research partner according to the Malaysian academia’s excellent track record working with universities and private research institutions.

Dr. Nor Azmi Alias shared on how CREST helps to foster collaboration between academia and industry in Malaysia. CREST started off with a roadshow to search for researchers who are willing to work and to solve specific problem for the company. CREST acts as a catalyst to get the collaboration to kick start and facilitate to co-fund the project. Now there are more than 80 companies and more than 20 universities are collaborating with CREST. The ultimate goal for CREST is to foster the collaboration and sustain the collaboration.

Prof. Dr. Saad Mekhilef mentioned that 25% of UM Faculty of Engineering’s publications in 2019 were co-authored with international collaboration. These international collaboration publications were shown to attract more citations, and has positively influenced the faculty’s researchers to be more open to apply for international grants. He added that transnational collaboration needs researchers to understand the culture of how their counterpart work, to put high standards on ethics, to be very professional, transparent and flexible with collaborators, and one must be ready to give and take.

At the end of the one-hour forum, the panels concurred that transnational research collaboration opens doors and facilitates access to new solutions to global challenges and problems and most importantly nurtures lasting relationships among researchers.

The event was held at the NCKU-UM Hub on August 13, 2020 and also streamed live on the NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia’s Facebook page. Among the online guests include representatives from NCKU Taiwan, NCKU Overseas Hub in Vietnam, UM, UKM, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), MAHSA University, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Universitas Airlangga Indonesia, and MIT Innovation Sdn Bhd. The Facebook Live event successfully reached 316 people with 35 engagements and 129 views.

Find the current news and activities of NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia by following the Facebook of NCKU Overseas Hub in Malaysia (https://www.facebook.com/NCKUOHinMalaysia/), or contact the Overseas Hub at malaysiahub@ncku.edu.tw for any related inquiries.

 

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