Wuyi University famous for high speed train expertise – Susan
KOTA KINABALU: The United Sabah Sze Yip Association president Datuk Susan Wong Siew Guen has proposed an exchange programme to enable Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) students to learn the advanced technology of high speed train maintenance skills from Wuyi University in China.
This followed the signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) for collaboration between the two universities here yesterday.
Susan said Wuyi University, established in 1985, was an engineering-oriented university located in Jiangmen city, Guangdong province.
The university has 17 faculties, including science and engineering.
“The College of Rail Transit is one of the famous faculties in Wuyi University.”
In order to make the collaboration a fruitful one, Susan suggested an exchange programme whereby UMS students learn high speed train maintenance skills from Wuyi University.
“This is because the Malaysian government has appointed China construction firm to build high speed rail roads in West Malaysia in line with the Belt and Road policy. This will create job opportunities for those who possess maintenance skills for high speed trains in the future.”
In return, Susan suggested Wuyi University to send their students to learn marine ecology from UMS.
She said the Borneo Marine Research Institute in UMS was famous for promoting education, research and training in aquaculture, marine conservation and sustainable development of marine resources. She believed that the knowledge gained by the Chinese students would benefit the development of the marine and fisheries industry in China, especially Jiangmen city.
The LOI between Wuyi University and UMS is to establish mutual cooperation and collaboration in various academic expertise with the aim of encouraging and nurturing the long-term development of both institutions.
Earlier, Susan said a LOI on promoting friendly exchanges between Kota Kinabalu and Jiangmen had been sealed and signed by former Kota Kinabalu Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir and former Jiangmen Mayor Pang Guomei during the World Jiangmen Youth Conference in 2012.
Since then, she said the interaction between Sabah and Jiangmen in tourism, culture and business had been actively expanded.
Susan said the signing of LOI between Wuyi University and UMS would further strengthen the friendly relationship between Malaysia and China.
Meanwhile, Wuyi University Chancellor Prof Zhang Kun said the university was an engineering oriented institution with 17 schools covering seven discipline fields of engineering, science, economics, management, humanities, law and arts. There are 18,000 full time undergraduates and graduates enrolled at the university.
He said the establishment and development of Wuyi University had always been cared for and supported by Wuyi overseas countrymen.
Zhang said the United Sabah Sze Yip Association and Wuyi University had established good friendship a long time ago.
In fact, he said both Susan and Datuk Wong Yit Ming from the association were members of Wuyi University Board of Trustees.
“They are very concerned about the development of the school and brought us into contact with UMS. We are very grateful to them for that.”
Zhang said both UMS and Wuyi University shared similar goals in education and nurture of talents.
He said the disciplines and courses offered by both universities have commonality and complement each other, therefore providing a good foundation for cooperation.
“The signing of the LOI today is a solid step and good beginning for our future exchanges and collaboration,” he added.