The “Dialogue Session and Educational Visit by The India-Malaysia Youth Exchange and Study Programme Delegates 2023” was held on 12 July 2023 at UTAR Kampar Campus.

The delegates consisted of 40 students from various higher educational institutions in India. They were led by Asia Regional Coordinator Royal Commonwealth Society Dhanesh Basil and Head of Delegation India Malaysia Youth Exchange Programme Dinesh Gajendran, and accompanied by Programme Coordinators Anuradha Arthanari and Saju Balakrishnan. 

Present to welcome the delegates was Division of Community and International Networking Deputy Director Dr Chen I-Chi, representing Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong, along with staff from the Department of Soft Skills Competency (DSSC) Kampar, Department of Student Affairs Kampar (DSA), and Division of Programme Promotion (DPP), namely Fong Kah Hoong, Ong Sheau Ling and Chai Wei See, respectively.

In her opening remark, Dr Chen extended a warm welcome to the delegates. She also said UTAR is honoured to have the delegates, and thanked them for giving the University the privilege to host all of them. She hoped that the visit and dialogue session will spark meaningful conversations and also look into ways to enhance student exchange programmes, thus making these programmes more inclusive, accessible and impactful. She then continued with an introduction to UTAR, which saw the delegates learning about the University’s history, achievements, progresses and latest development.

Dinesh also commented, “This is an initiative that we have been executing through the Commonwealth Asia Region and we have been doing collaborative initiatives with countries in Asia. This is our annual commitment, where we partner with different Malaysian states. We have a strong university network in India and we have conducted a lot of community-related programmes. Going forward, we would also like to collaborate with UTAR. We are very much interested in the mobility programmes. We look forward to hosting UTAR in the future.” 

Followed after was the briefing session; the first to start was Chai. She enlightened the delegates about the programmes offered at UTAR, particularly the postgraduate programmes. Next was Ong, who explained the services and assistance offered to help students adapt to their university life. The last presenter was Fong, who shared on the various community-related projects, especially on UTAR New Village Community Project.

The visit then ended with a campus tour.