University Putra Malaysia through its School of Graduate Studies has successfully hosted  a virtual 34^th University Consortium Executive Board Meeting (UC EBM) on 16-17 December 2021. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Dr. Zalilah Mohd Shariff, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and co-chaired by Prof. Dr. Hjh Firdaus Mukhtar, Deputy Dean of Admission and Institutional Relations, School of Graduate Studies. During the meeting, Prof. Dr. Mohd Roslan Sulaiman, Vice Chancellor of Universiti Putra Malaysia was given an honour to deliver welcoming and closing remarks.

The meeting was virtually attended by the six UC Regular Members; Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), Indonesia, Universitas Gadjah Mada, (UGM) Indonesia, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia, University of the Philippines Los Baños, (UPLB) Philippines, Kasetsart University (KU), Thailand, and Universitas Brawijaya, (UB) Indonesia including the two UC Associate Members; Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tokyo NODAI), Japan and National Taiwan University (NTU), Taiwan and one UC Affiliate Member; University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada.

This annual event was also graced by the presence of the new UC Affiliate Members, Central Luzon State University (CLSU), Philippines and Maejo University (MJU), Thailand. Throughout this 2-days event, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) was acting as the UC Secretariat.

All the UC members were given 15 minutes to present on their UC activities in 2021, followed by a discussion to finalize on the UC new grants and awards, ERASMUS+ projects and the approval of UC handbook. At the end of the meeting, the UC members have reached a consensus on the 2022 annual events whereby Maejo University (MJU), Thailand was selected to lead the Graduate Forum (UCGF) while the Faculty Forum (UCFF) will be hosted by Central Luzon State University (CLSU), Philippines. Universitas Brawijaya (UB), Indonesia will be hosting two UC events in 2022; the Summer School and the Executive Board Meeting.

One of the main objectives of the UC since its establishment in 1989 is to share resources and collaborate on students and faculty exchanges among leading agricultural universities. As UPM has been actively participated in the University Consortium activities and greatly benefited by it, all UPM members shall continue to contribute and share their expertise through various UC activities to meet the objectives of the University Consortium.

Date of Input: 17/12/2021 | Updated: 21/12/2021 | aslamiah