32 Academic Staff From Chittagong University Joins UniMAP-Organised Workshop

Kangar, April 23 – A total of 32 academic staff from Bangladesh came to Perlis to participate in the Teaching and Research Methodology Learning Workshop for seven days and six nights organised by Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) recently.

The delegation was headed by the Chittagong University (CU) Head of Institute of Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) Prof Jahangir Alam.

UniMAP Vice Chancellor Dato' Prof. Dr. Zul Azhar Zahid Jamal said UniMAP has a close relationship with Bangladesh over the years.

"I believe UniMAP has organised nearly 20 visits to Bangladesh in the last two years.

"UniMAP even has Bangladeshi students and lecturers and also receives visits from honoured Bangladeshi guests from time to time at different capacities," he said during the opening of the workshop at the PFI 2 Seminar Room at UniMAP Pauh Putra Main Campus.

He added that the latest collaboration involving UniMAP and the country was in Bangladesh's quality assurance through the University Grant Commission (UGC) and World Bank initiatives.

"Besides learning the latest techniques of teaching, learning and research, the delegation was also introduced to the basic concepts of academic leadership, including planning and charting one's academic career based on their academic interests and aptitudes.

"A number of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturers were also invited to share knowledge in their teaching and learning techniques," he said.

On the last day of the workshop held at UniMAP Kuala Lumpur, Vice Chancellor of Chittagong University Prof. Atiuddin Chowdry also attended the programme.

In a discussion between the Vice Chancellors of both universities, the plan to strengthen cooperation between the two universities was achieved, which includes further discussions on short courses, mobility programmes and seminars.

In addition, CU is keen to offer Bahasa Malaysia studies on campus and UniMAP will take the initiative to collaborate with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) to actualise CU's intentions.

CU is among the four major public universities in Bangladesh. The other three universities are Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University and Rajshahi University.

For the record, UniMAP's amicable relations with CU was established when the university aided the Bangladesh government's efforts to raise the quality standards of their country's higher education institutions.