KOTA KINABALU: France Ambassador to Malaysia, Axel Cruau, has expressed hopes for academic collaboration between several universities in France with universities in Malaysia, including Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

Axel said there are various aspects that can be expanded through the cooperation involving both countries.

“Through this cooperation, research can be conducted to produce better results.

“Students exchanges can also help to strengthen ties between both countries and provide opportunities to the students to learn the way of life of both countries,” he said during his courtesy call at UMS.

Present to receive him were UMS Vice Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr Kasim Mansor and Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic and International, Professor Dr Shahril Yusof.

Axel also hoped of working together on matters related to the sea.

“I hope for cooperation in the field of marine biology, marine science, fisheries with universities in Malaysia,” he said.

Axel also hoped for all universities in Malaysia to attend a conference to be held in Kuala Lumpur to discuss further the matters raised.

Kasim welcomed the proposals and said UMS is always open to any academic collaborations that would provide positive impacts for both parties.

Also present were Dean of Faculty of Computing and Informatic, Associate Professor Ts. Dr. Mohd Hanafi Ahmad Hijazi; Dean of Center for Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning, Associate Professor Dr. Lai Yew Meng; Borneo Marine Research Institute Director, Associate Professor Ts Dr Sitti Raehanah Muhamad Shaleh; and Borneo Marine Research Institute’s Research and Innovation Deputy Director, Associate Professor Dr Ching Fui Fui.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) will strengthen its collaboration in academics and technology with one of the largest dredging companies, CCCC Dredging (Group) Co. Ltd (CDC), through its Confucius Institute at UMS (CI@UMS).

UMS Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr. Kasim Hj. Mansor and the Vice President of CDC, who is also the Chairman of HK Ocean Investment Development Corporation, Huang Daojin (黄道金), had discussed various types of collaborations, including road and bridge construction, for the benefit of Sabah and UMS.

Collaboration through expertise exchange, students' industrial training, graduate employment, and the development of a simulation laboratory of engineering in UMS were also among the important agendas discussed during the 4th CI@UMS council meeting held in the CDC HQ in Beijing.

CDC was also committed to jointly carrying out environmental protection and social responsibility activities with CI@UMS, such as organising students and lecturers to visit projects and understand environment protection and measures in the construction process, such as Tianlin ship construction in Sabah.

For the record, CDC is a collaborative partner of CI@UMS together with Changsha University of Science and Technology (CSUST).

Founded in 1905 and established as a dredging group in 2015, CDC has 11000 employees with registered capital of USD 1.68 billion and total assets of over USD 14.98 billion. The turnover of CDC in 2019 was USD 5.35 billion, ranking the 1st among global dredging companies.

Some of the remarkable projects of CDC in Malaysia include the Penang Reclamation project (STP2), the land reclamation project in Port Klang, the Sepanggar Bay Cargo Port expansion, Tourism and Resort Development at Kinarut, and many others.

Meanwhile, CSUST has agreed to provide more local training for technical Mandarin teaching for UMS. The three parties had agreed to enhance collaboration in Mandarin teaching and cultural exchange between Sabah and China through CI@UMS as its platform.

Also present in the meeting were the board of directors of UMS, Datuk Vincent Pung Yee Kiong (冯裕强); Director (Malaysia) CI@UMS, Prof. Ts. Dr. Chong Khim Phin (张钦平);

Director (China) CI@UMS, Assoc. Prof. Deng Rong (邓嵘), Director of International Affairs Department CSUST, Assoc. Prof. Gan Hai Ying (甘海鹰); and delegates from the three parties.

An online international community service webinar titled ‘The Importance of Digital Portfolio’ was delivered by lecturer and coordinator of D4 Digital Office Administration Study Program, Universitas Negeri Jakarta (UNJ), Dr. Christian Wiradendi Wolor, S.E., M.M., recently.

The international community service was joined by Datu Razali Datuk Datu Hj. Eranza, and Andy Lee Chen Hiung from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), to coordinate participants from UMS. Datu Razali and Andy Lee are lecturers at the Faculty of Business, Economics, and Accountancy (FBEA), UMS, as well as the coordinators for the international mobility program.

Dr. Christian shared his experience and knowledge about the meaning of a portfolio, functions, and benefits of the portfolio itself.

“Many things and abilities could be developed and shared in social media in a very advanced era where competition was ever increasing.

“There are various social media platforms that could store and share the results of achievements, experiences, interests, and expertise to multiple parties such as clients, potential employers, and collaborators.

“Furthermore, portfolio upgrade was a very important thing to do; I hope those who listened to the presentation of the material could pay more attention to themselves and evaluate their abilities, achievements, etc., that could be shared in the portfolio or CV,” he said.

Regarding Portfolio making itself, Dr. Christian showed the participants how to create a Portfolio and CV by utilizing applications that Canva and Google had provided.

In addition, he conveyed an understanding of social media that enabled users to see everything they wanted at universities or outside the nation.

“Users could see and find information about large companies through Google, and all were accessible through social media.

“Social media was the right bridge so that recruiters and job applicants could easily find information without meeting in person,” he added.

The presenter mentioned many applications he could use to share documentation and stories of his achievements on platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and blogs.

He said the LinkedIn application influenced finding a job or looking for employees. Therefore, he strongly recommended sharing your background, education, employment, abilities, and desired positions on LinkedIn so that later recruiters could read in detail and understand what type of job position you want.

In this webinar, Dr. Christian advised the participants not to be left behind by the increasingly advanced times and equate solutions such as: Increasing the spirit of competition within oneself, Improve Soft Skills oneself, always taking up existing opportunities, always looking up for scholarship opportunities and internships at various organizations.

The session ended with his advice to the participants to expand their networks because it would help in facilitating every move in one’s career.

FBEA UMS expressed gratitude to Dr. Christian and UNJ Indonesia, for including staff and students from UMS to co-organize and participate in international community service. Both UNJ and UMS look forward to more collaborations soon.

Duta Besar Romania ke Malaysia dan Brunei Darussalam, Nineta Barbulescu berhasrat untuk meneroka potensi jalinan hubungan dua hala antara Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) dan universiti-universiti di Romania.

Katanya, beliau optimis bahawa kolaborasi antara universiti di Malaysia khususnya UMS bersama universiti yang terdapat di Romania mampu direalisasikan dengan mengambil kira wujud beberapa persamaan yang boleh dijadikan sebagai permulaan kepada hubungan yang bakal dibina.

“Sebagai contoh, di Romania kita ada sejenis skaf yang dipanggil batik, dan secara kebetulan, di Malaysia juga skaf ini diperbuat dari kain batik.

“Persamaan ini sungguh unik apabila saya pertama kali sampai ke Malaysia dan saya membeli dan memegang sendiri kain batik yang memang ada persamaannya,” katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian sempena sesi kunjungan Duta Besar Romania ke UMS. Nineta yang ditemani oleh suaminya, Dan Barbulescu disambut oleh Timbalan Naib Canselor Akademik dan Antarabangsa, Profesor Dr Shahril Yusof bersama-sama Dekan-Dekan Fakulti dan Pengarah-Pengarah Pusat UMS.

Nineta yang dilantik sebagai Duta Besar Romania pada bulan Mac 2021 turut memaklumkan bahawa UMS adalah universiti awam yang ke 16 dilawatinya.

“Ini merupakan lawatan kali kedua saya ke negeri Sabah, dan kali pertama ke UMS.

“Kesemua universiti awam di Malaysia yang saya lawati sememangnya mempersona dan memiliki keunikan yang tersendiri, termasuk UMS yang mempunyai kelainan yang ketara kerana merupakan satu-satunya universiti awam yang berpusat di Sabah,” katanya.

Beliau menambah, keindahan flora dan fauna, biodiversiti yang masih kukuh terpelihara dan sumber marinnya yang sangat kaya dan belum terusik menyebabkan beliau berminat untuk memadankan UMS dengan universiti-universiti di Romania.

“Bahasa Romania dan Bahasa Melayu juga dari segi linguistiknya adalah memiliki fonetik atau selok-belok bunyi bahasa yang hampir serupa, kerana bahasa Romania berasal dari rumpun bahasa Romawi.

“Terdapat beberapa lagi persamaan lain yang jika diteroka dengan lebih mendalam akan mewujudkan peluang yang baik untuk diselidik dengan lebih terperinci menerusi kolaborasi antara universiti yang bakal berlangsung kelak,” katanya.

Nineta turut menyatakan keyakinannya bahawa kolaborasi yang bakal dirintis itu juga akan membuka peluang kepada lebih ramai penyelidik tempatan khususnya dalam kalangan pelajar pascasiswazah untuk menimba ilmu merentasi benua Eropah.

“Antara aktiviti yang diusulkan adalah seperti mobiliti pertukaran pelajar, kajian penyelidikan, gabungan kepakaran antara UMS dan universiti di Romania, program pembelajaran secara atas talian dan lain-lain lagi,” ujar beliau.

Pada sesi kunjungan tersebut, Nineta diberikan taklimat ringkas berkenaan UMS yang disampaikan oleh Shahril, serta turut juga dibawa melawat sekitar UMS bagi menyaksikan sendiri keindahan panorama kampus UMS.