UMS-STIE MoU comes to fruition
KOTA KINABALU: The memorandum of understanding (MoU) on research and development between the Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Ekonomi (STIE) Bulungan Tarakan, North Kalimantan, Indonesia has been realized and fulfilled.
It was signed three years ago, led by Professor Dr Rasid Mail of UMS and Dr R. Philipus of STIE Bulungan.
Within the three years period, both institutions had co-organized two international conferences to discuss the research findings related to various issues on socioeconomics. The first was held last year on 16 October 2017 in Kota Kinabalu. The conference was attended by lecturers of STIE from Tarakan, who presented many research working papers with the team from UMS.
The second seminar was organized in Tarakan from August 13-16.
In the opening remarks, the founder of Yayasan Pembangunan Pendidikan, Anang stated the output from the research collaboration should be translated into public policy for both nations and should be communicated to the general public.
Meanwhile, the chief of delegation from UMS, Prof Dr Rasid Mail who is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics and Internationalization) in his speech emphasized the need for exploring niche research area in order to secure funding from various sources.
The head of STIE, Dr Philipus in his welcoming remark, traced the history of STIE in almost three decades when STIE has grown from a humble beginning in providing affordable education opportunity to the people of Kalimantan Utara.
Today, STIE stands proud to be the premier economic and business school in north Kalimantan. The collaboration with UMS is the first of its kind, a landmark achievement for an institution with so many staff.
STIE embarked on this collaboration to stimulate and energize research ambition among its teaching staff. It is part of their plan to be the researchbased teaching institution.
The dean of the faculty said the conference held was not final for the MoU which is valid until 2021. This is just the beginning between the two learning institutions. The other two components of the MoU are the exchange of teaching staff and mobility of students.
Part of the plan is to send two lecturers from the faculty as visiting scholars to STIE next year.