Australia’s Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans, and Malaysian Minister for Higher Education, Dato’ Mohamed Khaled bin Nordin, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two nations at Curtin University.
The MoU strengthens a long history of engagement between the nations in education, and reflects an ongoing joint commitment to increasing collaboration and policy dialogue on higher education issues.
The MoU will support the Gillard Government’s efforts to ensure young Australians are well placed to prosper in the Asian Century, by ensuring that student mobility between the nations goes both ways. The AsiaBound program will enable Australian students to become Asian-literate by experiencing Asia first-hand.
Members of the Curtin Senior Executive (The Vice-Chanellor, DVC Academic Colin Stirling, DVC RnD Graeme Wright) hosted Minister Evans and his Australian delegation, and the Malaysian Minister For Higher Education and the international delegation during their visit to campus.
The Ministers also held a private bilateral meeting in conjunction with the signing of the MoU.
Following the morning’s formalities, the Ministers and Australian and Malaysian delegates had the opportunity to meet and talk with Curtin students from both Australia and Malaysia, including the President of the Association for Malaysian Students (AMS), Marion Devé (incoming President of the Curtin University Postgraduate Student Association) and David Farr representing the Curtin Student Guild.
Curtin University was chosen as a location for the signing and announcement due to our strong Malaysian student cohort and our relevance and presence in Asia, particularly in Malaysia.
