Malaysia, Australia to set up higher education joint working group

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Australia have agreed to the establishment of a Joint Working Group (JWG) as a move to strengthen cooperation in the field of higher education.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, through a post on his Facebook today, said the agreement was reached when he received a courtesy call from Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Danielle Heinecke at Parliament.

"We discussed various collaborations that can be done between higher education institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia and Australia, including in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

"It is hoped that this meeting will form closer collaboration between the two countries in higher education and other fields such as skills and TVET, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of higher education last year," he said.

Given that Australia is among the leading countries in higher education, Zambry said Malaysia has also proposed that the country be directly involved in the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) programmes.

The programmes include the Festival of Ideas (FOI), women's capacity and leadership development programmes as well as student sponsorship under the Colombo Plan.

-- BERNAMA