By DANIEL P. TAPAOAN, JR.

A new international partnership looms as the Mariano Marcos State University and the UCSI University, the top private university in Malaysia, collaborate on exchange programs.

In an online meeting held last April 2, MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis said that the two universities have agreed to explore common areas of studies for inbound/outbound and customizable short-term program for staff and students. 

Once the current health crisis diminishes, key officials from MMSU and UCSI University will also conduct campus visits in order to share the best practices of their respective schools.

Aside from the short-term program, Dr. Agrupis shared that both universities also discussed the possibility of conducting joint research activities and scholarship grants for MMSU lecturers intending to pursue graduate studies at the UCSI University via exchange program.

Under the UCSI University’s student exchange program, inbound students are allowed to enrol at any of its nine departments in Kuala Lumpur campus: Faculty of Applied Sciences; Faculty of Business and Information Science; Faculty of Engineering, Technology and Built Environment; Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management; Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences; Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Faculty of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts; De Institute of Creative Arts and Design; and Institute of Music. The exchange program runs from one to two semesters yearly. 

To reciprocate this, Dr. Agrupis said MMSU will also share more on its flagship programs to the UCSI University to explore how both institutions can collaborate in these areas.

“Both institutions can work on the general memorandum of understanding for this purpose while we seek advice from the Commission on Higher Education on the requirements regarding G2G (Government-to-Government) matters,” she said.

When materialized, this partnership will help MMSU and UCSI University improve their Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings through the leverage on each other’s experiences. (StratCom)