OFFICIAL MEDIA RELEASE 20 September 2018

PREMIER LECTURE

BY YAB TUN DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD

MJIIT JAPAN DAY & OFFICIAL LAUNCHING OF RESIDENSI UTMKL

KUALA LUMPUR, 20 September 2018 – The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, delivered the premier lecture during Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) Japan Day 2018 at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur. 

Under the topic “Look East Policy”, the lecture catered to provide aspiration and motivation for the rejuvenation of Malaysia’s Look East Policy that pointed to unique education, training and investment for greater collaborations between Malaysia and Japan. 

In 1982, Malaysia implemented the Look East Policy Program, which sends Malaysian students to Universities and training institutes in Japan. A total of approximately 15,000 Malaysian from various Universities and institutions have been dispatched to Japan over a thirty-year period to study not only academics and technical know-how but also to receive industrial or business training while simultaneously emulate labor ethics, discipline and cultural values of the Japanese people. From this number, more than 4000 students were undergraduate and postgraduate students from MJIIT involved in various outbound academic activities in Japan. In addition, the Government of Japan also funds Japanese lecturers and Professors with various engineering background to be seconded at MJIIT. 

The Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), which was established in 2010 as a Government-to-Government Project at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), is the culmination of Malaysia’s Look East Policy that manifests a unique education project between Malaysia and Japan. Japan has formed a consortium of 29 Universities and has dispatched Japanese lecturers and professors to MJIIT providing support for the Japanese-oriented engineering program for Malaysian and international students. The interaction between two countries were strengthened by sending exchange students to Japan, setting up training programs at Japanese companies and partnering with Japanese Universities through various academic cooperation. The MJIIT Project was one of the major ways to contribute towards enhancing bilateral relations between the two governments.  It is also anticipated that with the establishment of MJIIT, Malaysian has benefited from new technology introduced by Japan. 

MJIIT offers an affordable, world-class education, which aims at educating future leaders within the ASEAN countries. The Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology is expected to play an important role in terms of internationalization; acknowledgement of expertise and it will enhance the academic quality. 

MJIIT does not only focuses on Malaysian students but also welcomes students from Asian and foreign countries, aiming to be the Japanese-oriented engineering hub in Asia. Strong links with Japanese industries has helped MJIIT to sustain the Japanese-oriented engineering education until today. Collegial partnerships mushroomed between MJIIT and strong Japanese brands in Malaysia and Japan, fostering more opportunities for innovating and localising new technologies among MJIIT academia. For example, MJIIT has established strong partnership with the University of Tsukuba, selected as one of the Top Global Universities by the Japanese Government. From this collaboration, MJIIT is involved in several advanced research with the University of Tsukuba namely the sub-critical water reactor, establishment of the Disaster Preparedness & Prevention Centre and microalgae projects at Algal-Biomass Research Centre.

During Japan Day 2018, visitors will have the opportunity to participate in Japanese cultural workshops, especially Japanese yukatta, traditional Japanese games, origami art exploration and Japanese calligraphy. The Embassy of Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japanese Chamber of Trade and Industry Malaysia supported the MJIIT Japan Day 2018 program. 

The launch of Japan-ASEAN Science and Technology Innovation Platform (JASTIP) Joint Laboratory between DPPC and Kyoto University has enhanced MJIIT’s positioning in the field of disaster risk management and engineering. In recent development, MJIIT has been appointed as Host Institution for Natural Disaster under the auspices of the ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (AUN/SEED-Net). 

MJIIT has begun to chart renewed roadmap towards becoming the educational hub for ASEAN human capital development. In the second wave of the Look East Policy, MJIIT aims to develop well-established showcase laboratories in various research fields including halal certification, subcritical water reactor for waste recovery, sustainable palm oil production, robotics engineering and opportunities of higher education for international as well as Japanese students. MJIIT aims to forge innovative and collaborative projects with industry and other research institutes to become the leader for near-to-market satellite R&D activities and a reference site for market intelligence in the region. 

It is hoped that the revisited policy will benefit MJIIT in many ways towards maintaining prosperity and social sustainability. 

The Second Phase Project will establish and strengthen the following elements inclusive of laboratory-based education (LBE) at designated innovative kohza (iKohza) laboratories, sustainable collaboration with Japanese Universities in education and research as well as industry collaboration. In this Project, MJIIT aims to develop human resources and capacity who will in future contribute to the industrial sector of ASEAN countries. To date, MJIIT has received 48 ASEAN students coming from Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar under the JAIF scholarships, amounting USD 2 million. 22 students have completed their postgraduate studies, whereas 26 students are in the pipeline to graduate. By the year 2023, MJIIT aims to increase our students to 3000. 

Attended by distinguished members of the university and Japanese stakeholders from various agencies, they also witnessed the launch of the university’s business entity, the Residensi UTMKL that is poised to be the lifestyle centre at UTMKL. Residensi UTMKL boasts comprehensive offerings such as exclusive hotel accommodations, banquet hall, seminar rooms, shopping and dining outlets as well as ten pin bowling. UTM is the first local university to have such property and welcomes everyone to experience the lifestyle, which embodies and transcends the technological expertise and advancement of its distinguished professionals, whilst incorporating the ethics and traditions of the University. This property is a glimpse of the beginning of UTM’s success in property management which will see more exciting future development to come.

END