October 21, 2014, by Graham Kendall

Malaysian Entrepreneurial and Research Delegation to China – A-LEAD Leadership Exploration

Last week (13-17 Oct 2014), the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) led a high level delegation to China, visiting both Shanghai and our campus in Ningbo.

Pictures from the delegation can be seen here.

This high level delegation provided opportunities for learning from the experiences of leading Chinese Universities as they have transformed themselves. It also offered opportunities for networking and for enhanced understanding of University-business engagement.

Aims of the Programme

1. Enable Malaysia’s public Universities Vice Chancellors to visit China, attending a structured program that enables them to be introduced to the way China’s entrepreneurship and research activity operates. This would involve public Universities, government agencies and businesses.
2.  To visit the University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus. The University of Nottingham will be able to present how our other international campus operates, and also draw out the opportunities and challenges that it faces and how it integrates with other institutions and the wider business community.

Key Aspects of the Programme

1. The programme will focus on presentations in two core areas; research and business engagement, focusing on how China has addressed these two key aspects in recent years.
2. To engage with business leaders to ascertain how they engage with universities and how they see that this benefits their businesses.
3. To engage with government officials in order for them to share their views and vision on higher education in China and their aspirations for the future.
4. To share how University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus interacts with the local business community.
5. The Nottingham business engagement team (inclusive of the Asia Business Centre, which is based in the UK) will present how the University of Nottingham engages with industry, given its global position.
6. To hold an interactive session, which will investigate how public/private universities can work together to achieve their medium/long term ambitions. We would envisage a concrete set of recommendations from this workshop that we can take back to Malaysia and progress through the relevant authorities.

Locations Visited

1. East China University of Science and Technology
2. Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics
3. Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility
4. Fudan University
5. Ningbo National High-tech Industrial Development Zone
6. Ningbo Port
7. University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus

Presentations

These delegation was supported by a number of presentations and networking dinners. The following presentations were amongt the highlights:

1. Welcoming remarks by Professor Christine Ennew (Provost, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus)
2. Welcome by Vice President Tu Shan-Tung and Professor Mu Bo Zhong, East China University of Science & Technology (“Success stories on technology transfer and triple-helix collaboration“)
3. A visit, and presentations, to ECUST research laboratories.
4. Presentation by Professor Zhang Zhentang on researches undertaken by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics
5. Welcome speech by Vice-President of Fudan University
6. Presentations at Fudan University (Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Institute of Developmental Biology & Molecular Medicine and Intelligent Information Processing Laboratory)
7. Presentation by Bureau of Education (“Overview Education Framework of China“)
8. Presentation by Mr. Jason Feehily, Director of Asia Business Centre University of Nottingham UK (“An Overview of Research and Business Engagement in Asia“)
9. Professor Sam Shen (UNNC Vice Provost International Relation) (“International Relations“)
10. Ian Dwyer (Head of Business Engagement and Innovation Services, UNNC) (“Innovative models of research initiatives and partnerships“)
11. Professor Graham Kendall (Vice Provost of Research and Knowledge Transfer, UNMC) (“Business Engagement in UNMC“)
12. Case study: Marine Economy (a large initiative supported by the Chinese government and other key partners) by Professor Mike George, Vice Provost of Research
13. Closing remarks by Professor Nicholas Miles (PVC of University of Nottingham and Provost of University of Nottingham Ningbo Campus)

 Delegates

The following people made up the delegation

1.  Prof. Madya Dr. Mohd Fadzil bin Mohd Idris, AKEPT
2. Prof. Dato’ Dr. Omar bin Osman, Universiti Sains Malaysia
3. Prof. Dato’ Dr. Zakaria Kasa, Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris
4. Prof. Dato’ Dr. Daing Mohd Nasir bin Daing Ibrahim, Universiti Malaysia Pahang
5. Dato’ Prof. Dr. Zul Azhar bin Zahid Jamal, Universiti Malaysia Perlis
6. Prof. Dr. Mohamed Ridza bin Wahiddin, University International Islamic Malaysia
7. Prof Dato Dr. Abdul Razak bin Hj. Omar, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn
8. Prof. Mohd Fadzil Abd Rahman, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

… and from the University of Nottingham

1. Professor Graham Kendall, Vice-Provost (Research and Knowledge Transfer, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and CEO, MyResearch Sdn Bhd
2. Professor Christine Ennew, Provost and CEO, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
3. Dr Angelina Yee, Operations Director (MyResearch Sdn BhD) and Head of Business Engagement and Innovation Services, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
4. Mr Jason Feehily, Head of Asia Business Centre, University of Nottingham
5. Mr De Yan Yong, Business Development Officer, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

 

Thank you

There are a great many people/organisations to thank for making this delegation possibe, and for making it the success it was.

1. We thank all their delegates for making the time available in their very busy diaries.
2. We are very grateful to all the companies and institutions that hosted us. We were very impressed with the facilities we saw, and the reception that we received.
3. The presentations that we received were very informative, and prefessionally delivered. We would like to express our gratitude to all those involved.
4. The Business Engagement teams at Ningbo were extremely supportive and helpful and the visits could not have happened without their help in both Shanghai and Ningbo.
5. We would also like to thank the Asia Business Centre who were also very supportive in this initiative.
6. I’d like to thank my Malaysia based colleagues who worked tirelessly in planning and running the visit.
7. Finally, our thanks go to AKEPT who we worked with in planning this visit and who also provided the finance to make it possible.

 ….. and don’t forget to take a look at the pictures.

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