TEHRAN – Iran’s scientific counselor in East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, Alireza Pourtavakol, held a meeting with the managers of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) to discuss ways to foster scientific and academic cooperation between the two countries.

On Saturday, Pourtavakol met with Nur Azaliah Abu Bakar, the head of UTM department for international affairs; Nor Ruwaida Jamian, the head of Malaysia–Japan International Institute of Technology; Hafiza Binti Abas, the head of UTM department for artificial intelligence, and Basheer Al-haimi, a senior lecturer at the Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS), ISNA reported.

During the meeting, the two sides explored the potential for enhancing international collaborations and expanding interactions between universities of the two countries.

Highlighting the significance of conducting joint scientific and research projects, Pourtavakol proposed to develop relations via establishing a collaborative research center, exchanging students and professors, granting reciprocal scholarships, publishing joint scientific articles, holding short-term professional scientific courses, industrializing products of knowledge-based companies, cooperating with technology parks, and providing sabbatical leaves.

AI, robotics, smart automation, renewable energies, and nanotechnology were among other discussed issues.

Iran, Malaysia universities enhance co-op

In  2024, the Iranian-Malaysian universities fall camp was held from November 3-11 by Malaya University, Kuala Lumpur. A total of 50 Iranian students and professors took part in the third joint international school run by Iranian and Malaysian universities (fall camp).

Following the agreement signed between the University of Isfahan and the UM University of Malaysia on the sidelines of the D-8 meeting in October 2023, the third joint Iran-Malaysia school was held with the theme of ‘training young global scientists and leaders to address modern international challenges’.

The course included comprehensive collective programs in line with student-scientific diplomacy, IRNA reported.

The course focused on six main topics, including the impact of artificial intelligence on security and privacy, integrated water resources management, artistic heritage and Islamic civilization, sustainable governance in climate change and crisis management, and the balance of faith and reason in lifestyle.

In October 2024, in an effort to develop academic cooperation, Sharif University branch of Academic Center for Education, Culture & Research (ACECR) and Khajeh Nasir (K.N.) Toosi University of Technology signed memorandums of understanding with University of Malaysia and Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU), respectively.

Conducting an online meeting, Mohsen Mardani from Sharif University branch of ACECR and Mohammad Yusuf from the University of Malaysia signed an MOU, highlighting the expansion of cooperation in conducting international collaborative research activities, as well as sharing technology, IRNA reported.

The officials also emphasized the need to create a suitable platform to plan and develop joint businesses in technical engineering, agriculture, and health sectors.

Moreover, they decided to establish specialized working groups in the aforementioned fields to develop a short-term, medium-term, and long-term plan.

Yusef, for his part, announced Malaysia’s readiness to lay the ground for expanding knowledge-based activities and expressed optimism that the ongoing cooperation would serve as a preliminary step to implementing future joint activities based on innovation and creativity.

The second MOU was signed during a meeting held on October 3rd, between the president of K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Amir-Reza Shahani, and the vice-chancellor of  APU university of Malaysia, Ho Chin Kuan, Mehr news agency reported.

The officials underscored expanding cooperation between the two universities and launching a joint MS course in Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as Cyber Security.

MT/MG