Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Penang Dr Lu Shiwei and Vice Consular of the People’s Republic of China in Penang Liang Lu visited Kampar Campus on 9 September 2020. Welcoming the delegates were UTAR President Ir Prof Dr Ewe Hong Tat, accompanied by Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong.

Extending his warm welcome to the delegates, Prof Ewe gave a brief introduction about UTAR and said, “UTAR as a not-for-profit private university provides affordable quality education and is dedicated to academic, research, international collaboration and community services.”

“The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused challenges for almost every industry across the globe in Malaysia, China and other countries, and higher education was no exception. All the higher learning institutions had to close their campuses temporarily, international exchange activities had to be suspended, and lecturers and students had to adapt to online teaching and learning, as well as the new normal under the pandemic. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Consulate General of China in Penang and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Malaysia for their timely help in donating face masks to UTAR students for prevention purposes, as well as ‘health packs’ for the Chinese international students. I also would like to thank Dr Lu for taking the time to visit Kampar Campus during the Movement Control Order (MCO) in April to understand the situation and extend regards to the students,” said Prof Ewe.  

Speaking of UTAR’s China partners and collaborations, he said, “Malaysia has always maintained friendly diplomatic ties with China and the relationship between both countries has moved a step forward under the Belt and Road Initiative in recent years. In addition, both countries have maintained close cooperation relations on higher education. UTAR included, international partners from China have been one of the most important international partners. To date, UTAR has more than 100 university and industry partners from China, including Renmin University of China, Beijing Jiaotong University, Guangxi University, Guangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Huawei, Alibaba and Meizhou Municipal People’s Government, to name a few.”

“The collaborations between UTAR and China partners included joining hands with Guangxi University of TCM to establish China-Malaysia Centre for Traditional Chinese Medicine; organising Huawei campus recruitment and providing scholarships for outstanding students, and training UTAR academics to become Malaysia’s first batch of Alibaba Global E-Commerce Talents (GET) certified trainers. In addition, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Malaysia has provided scholarships to UTAR students of all ethnic groups for several times since 2016 and also provided research fund for project related to the Belt and Road strategy. The University is very grateful to its international partners and also the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Malaysia for their support to UTAR over the years,” he added.

Visiting UTAR for the first time, Consul General Dr Lu expressed his gratitude to UTAR for the arrangement and gave a brief introduction about the Consulate General of China in Penang and its role. He said, “The Consulate General of China in Penang is an official representative office of the government of the People’s Republic of China, which has been established in Penang since 2015 and the consular districts cover Penang, Kedah, Perlis and Perak. We focus on processing matters related to culture, education, economy and trade, non-governmental and university exchanges as well as Chinese international students and citizens. My visit here was to gain an in-depth understanding about the development of UTAR and to better play the role of the Consulate General of China in Penang in promoting the educational cooperation between UTAR and higher learning institutions in China.”

“UTAR stands out for its achievements in comprehensive strength, discipline construction, academic reputation and international influence, and cultivated talents in various fields since its establishment. Most importantly, UTAR has made positive contributions to the China-Malaysia educational cooperation and has close ties with higher learning institutions in China. Besides that, there are currently more than 200 Chinese international students studying in UTAR. We are grateful to UTAR for the consistent support, care and assistance to the Chinese international students, especially during the pandemic outbreak for the consular protection work of the Chinese Consulate in Penang. The Chinese international students in UTAR were able to receive full support and cooperation from UTAR. We wish to continue to maintain this close cooperation with UTAR to create a safe, comfortable and warm study environment for the Chinese international students,” he said.

The session was followed by an introduction on FMHS’s collaboration and UTAR Kampar Hospital where Prof Cheong and Dr Te introduced the development and international collaborations of FMHS and Department of TCM respectively.  

Prof Ewe said, “For long term development and in support of better medical services for the community, UTAR has established the UTAR Hospital in Kampar not just only to provide clinical training for the FMHS MBBS, TCM and Health Science students; but also to offer services in both Western Medicine and Traditional and Complementary Medicine including Chinese and Ayurvedic Medicine. The hospital is expected to be fully operational by 2022 while the TCM Block will be on mid of 2021.”

The meeting concluded with a souvenir exchange session between UTAR and the Consulate General of China in Penang.

The delegates were then brought to several places of attractions such as the Bronze Sculptures, Dewan Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, Library and so on during a campus tour led by Prof Ewe.

Also present during the visit were UTAR Planning and Development Committee Advisor Tan Sri Dato’ Hew See Tong, UTAR Council Member Hew Fen Yee, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) Dean Emeritus Prof Dr Cheong Soon Keng, Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) Dean Assoc Prof Dr Chong Siou Wei, FMHS Deputy Dean Prof Dr Ng Teck Han, Division of Community and International Networking (DCInterNet) Deputy Director Dr Chen, I-Chi FMHS Lecturer Dr Kang Waye Hann and Department of International Student Services (Kampar Campus) Assistant Manager Choy Kar Yan.