UNAIR NEWS – Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) officially signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hadhramout University, Yemen. The signing session took place in the Plenary Meeting Room, Balairua, Management Office, MERR-C UNAIR Campus on Monday, May 29, 2023.
In the meeting, UNAIR Vice Rector for Research, Innovation and Community Development, Prof. Dr. Ni Nyoman Tri Puspaningsih, MSi and staff, Iman Harymawan PhD as Director of Airlangga Global Engagement (AGE), and Prof. Dr. Mahammad Saeed Khanbash, President of Hadhramout University were attending.
Prof. Nyoman said that UNAIR has a strong commitment to realizing the welfare of local and global communities through education, research, and development. For this reason, UNAIR needs to collaborate with various institutions on a national and international scale.
Strengthening academic collaboration
The signing of the MoU, said Prof. Nyoman, established a strong academic collaboration between UNAIR and Hadhramout University. Prof. Nyoman hoped that both parties could carry out various collaborations in the form of research, conferences, symposiums, and student and academic exchanges to improve the quality of education between the two.
“This MoU is expected to strengthen academic collaboration, research, student and staff exchanges to bring each university to a better direction in the future,” said Prof. Nyoman.
On the other hand, Prof. Dr. Mahammad Saeed Khanbash welcomed the initiation of cooperation between the two parties. “It is an honor for me to meet UNAIR who warmly welcomed us to sign a collaboration agreement,” he said.
Prof. Khanbash explained that Hadhramout University is a public university in Yemen that was established 30 years ago. Similar to UNAIR, this university has many advantages, especially in the fields of health, medicine, and technology. Therefore, he hoped the cooperation plan would go well thanks to these similarities.
Six collaboration points
In the MoU, there were at least six points of collaborative projects between the two parties. First, publications and joint research grants to improve ranking and quality in the academic field. Second, increasing student mobility. Third, staff exchange between the two sides.
Increasing student mobility and staff exchanges can provide learning experiences with a different culture for UNAIR and Hadhramout University students. Moreover, UNAIR has also accepted some students from Yemen.
“UNAIR have received some students from Yemen. This indicates that Indonesia, and especially UNAIR is known to be comfortable for students from the Middle East to study,” said the Director of AGE, Iman Harymawan, PhD.
In addition, several collaborations that are expected to take place include the provision of online courses, involvement of supervision for the master and doctor of philosophy (PhD) programs of both universities and collaboration in holding international conferences and symposiums in the near future. (*)
Author: Yulia Rohmawati
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh
