In the field of higher education, Indonesia and Malaysia have signed ten memoranda of understanding (MoUs), agreements (MoAs), and collaborations (MoCs) that will involve numerous organisations, associations, and universities from the two nations.

“Today, I think we need to elevate relations to a better stage, especially in the higher education sector,” Malaysia’s Minister of Higher Education Dato Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said on the sidelines of the signing ceremony here on Tuesday.

During his first trip to Indonesia as the country’s Minister of Higher Education, Nordin attended the signing ceremony.

The purpose of the trip was to support a number of recent collaborations between Malaysian and Indonesian higher education institutions.

According to Nordin, there is nothing new about the collaboration between Malaysia and Indonesia in higher education. The ten cooperations planned are intended to strengthen ties between the two nations in that area.

The University of Technology Malaysia (UTM) and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) have a collaboration to promote research and development. The National Council of Professors (Majlis Professor Negara/MPN) and the Indonesian Professors Forum (FGBI) have a collaboration to raise awareness of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The collaboration between the National University of Malaysia (UKM) and PT Tracol Asia to establish a UKM Offshore Centre in Jakarta, the collaboration between UKM and Padjadjaran University to produce 250 medical doctoral graduates, and the collaboration between UKM and the Indonesian University of Education to produce 3,000 undergraduates and postgraduates are the following initiatives.

Additionally, agreements for collaboration in the areas of science and human resources have been signed by Northern University Malaysia (Universiti Utara Malaysia/UUM) and State Islamic University (UIN) Raden Fatah Palembang, UUM and UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, and University of Malaya (UM) and State University of Malang (UNM).