A group of delegates from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) paid a visit to Sungai Long Campus on 25 September 2019. The visit aimed to build rapport between UTAR and CityU and discuss common grounds for future collaborations.

CityU was represented by its Head-cum-Chair Professor for Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering Prof Richard KK Yuen, Chair Professor of Civil Engineering Prof KM Liew, and Prof CW Lim. Welcoming them on behalf of UTAR were Division of Community and International Networking Director Assoc Prof Dr Lai Soon Onn, Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research Director Assoc Prof Dr Yong Thian Khok, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) Student Development and Industrial Training Deputy Dean Ir Dr Lim Jee Hock, Department of Civil Engineering Head Dr Ling Lloyd, Centre for Railway Infrastructure and Engineering Chairperson Prof Dr Andy Chit Tan and Programme Head for Master of Architecture Ar Quake Huay Tin.

During the meeting, Dr Lai presented the overview of UTAR's background and its current development in order to deepen the understanding between the two parties. According to him, the University currently has more than 370 memorandum of understanding (MoU) partners from universities and institutions, both locally and internationally. He said, “UTAR was the first university outside China that collaborated with Alibaba. We are involved in an Alibaba programme called GET programme and we plan to integrate their training materials into our syllabus.”

He also added that Huawei has setup UTAR-Huawei Networking Lab to equip students with the latest know-how in information and communications technology, and said that the Company has offered job opportunities to UTAR students, as well as scholarship. Furthermore, he explained the programmes offered by UTAR and discussed the possible collaboration that could be carried out in relation to the areas of concern.

On the other hand, Prof Richard gave an overall idea on the development of CityU, particularly the College of Science and Engineering which has been restructured to College of Engineering and College of Science this year. He shared some excellent performances achieved by the University and he pointed out the need for the University to get more international collaboration for continuous growth. He also proposed some potential areas of collaboration such as joint conference and symposium. He introduced an interesting initiative called “Integrated Building Project Development (IBPD)” and he explained that the initiative was the common core course for final year students of all disciplines in Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering to demonstrate their ability to develop a building project from the preliminary design phase to construction planning.

The discussion then ended with a souvenir presentation and a group photo session, followed by a lab tour.