Universitas Muhammadiyah Riau (UMRI) keeps actualizing the internationalization of Muhammadiyah. Recently, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) set up in UMRI partnership. The discussion was initiated by UKM socialization to tenth UMRI lecturers on Thursday (06/10).

In the socialization, the Vice Rector III for Students Affairs, Islam and Muhammadiyah Studies and Cooperation, Dr. Jufrizal Syahri MSi attended in Ahmad Dahlan Building, Main Campus, Pekanbaru, Riau. Also attending the discussion, Megat Syarifudin bin Jaimin, and Mohd. Romaini Khaidir bin Baharom from UKM. It was a part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) discussion that the implementation would be held soon.

In his remarks, Jufrizal Syahri hoped that the collaboration would involve student exchange and lecturers. “We hope that the cooperation is not only with the student exchange program in UKM but also with the lecturers who have the opportunity to learn and teach there too. Moreover, we initiate collaborative programs in other beneficial aspects for both parties,” he said.

A similar collaboration had been established between UMRI and UKM in 2019. However, it ended last January 2021. The agreement focused on student exchange programs, international seminars, and scholarship programs.

“In the current agreement, we bring Miicema (Malaysia-Indonesia International Conference on Economics, Management, and Accounting) that becomes a regional partnership between Malaysia and Indonesia in Higher Education Institutions, where UMRI is the 69th university to organize the program,” Megat said.

Through this new mechanism, Megat Syarifuddin and colleagues could add another clause to develop collaboration in elevating education programs, conferences, and academic collaboration, and transfer credit program in supporting Independent Learning Independent Campus (MBKM) program. Moreover, it included programs for lecturers to pursue their doctoral degrees in UKM and collaborative research and publication.

Also attending the meeting, were several delegations from UKM, several Directors in UMRI, Deans, the Chairman of the International and Collaboration Affairs Office (KUIK), the Head of Departments, and various UMRI lecturers who intended to pursue their degree in UKM.