A group of delegates from Deakin University, Australia made a visit to UTAR Kampar Campus on 26 October 2022. A meeting was organised in the conference room of the Administration Block.

They were led by Deakin University Associate Dean of International and Partnerships Prof Bas Baskaran. Accompanying him were School of Engineering Associate Head (International) Prof Lloyd Chua, International Partnerships Manager Ruby Lee and Deakin International Regional Manager of Malaysia and Singapore Sharleen Tam.

Welcoming the guests were UTAR President Ir Prof Dato’ Dr Ewe Hong Tat, Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) Dean Assoc Prof Ts Dr Liew Soung Yue, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) Dean Assoc Prof Ts Dr Yap Wun She, LKC FES Deputy Dean for Student Development and Industrial Training Assoc Prof Ts Dr Lee Kim Yee, Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology (FEGT) Deputy Dean for Academic Development and Undergraduate Programmes Assoc Prof Ir Ts Dr Leong Kah Hon, FEGT Deputy Dean for Research and Development and Postgraduate Programmes Dr Lo Po Kim, FEGT Acting Head of Department of Environmental Engineering Dr Zafarullah Nizamani, FEGT Head of Department of Industrial Engineering Dr Khoo Sze Wei, FEGT Head of Department of PetroChemical Engineering Dr Mathialagan Muniyadi, FEGT Academic Ir Dr Joshua Jaya Prakash, Division of Community and International Networking (DCInterNet) Director Assoc Prof Dr Lai Soon Onn and DCInterNet Deputy Director Dr Chen, I-Chi.

With the aim of discussing potential collaborations in the engineering field and exchanging information on the engineering faculties, the meeting commenced with a brief introduction on UTAR by Prof Dato’ Ewe. He introduced UTAR’s history and its main structures, including the faculties, research centres and UTAR Hospital. To further explain both universities’ structures, introductory videos from both parties were played.

“I see many strong similarities between Deakin University and UTAR, we are a relatively young university compared to others in Australia and we have multiple campuses as well. Deakin University was named in honour of Australia’s second prime minister, Alfred Deakin, which is similar to UTAR, named in honour of Malaysia’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. We also put our focus on industrial training and real-world applications in many programmes,” enthused Prof Bas.

He shared some histories of Deakin University related to engineering programmes, structures, notable alumni and Deakin University’s approach to online education 30 years ago. He mentioned that Deakin University has successfully started up 15 companies with students as the backbone. One of them started as an undergraduate project and developed into a full-fledged company that researches and supplies carbon fibre wheels to prominent companies.

Deans and deputy deans of UTAR FICT, LKC FES and FEGT each gave a presentation on structures, programmes, research projects, awards and potential collaboration programmes of their faculties. With the opportunities presented, both universities discussed the potential collaboration plans such as student exchange programmes, talks and webinars, staff visitation, study tours, internships and joint research.

The meeting and visitation ended with a souvenir exchange, group photography session and lunch at Grand Kampar Hotel.