The International Office (IO), Hasanuddin University (UNHAS) was invited to participate in the forum via the British Council (BC) Indonesia based in Jakarta. There were around 4 higher education institutions invited by the BC Indonesia including Airlangga University (UNAIR), The Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), both in Surabaya, Gajah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta and Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia in Depok. The IO UNHAS was represented by Muhammad Ridwan, M.A. (Secretary of IO).
The forum was carried out to explore more about best practices in implementing the TNE by several universities around the East and Southeast Asia including Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and certainly the United Kingdom.
The organizer, BC Malaysia, began the forum with Opening and Welcoming guesses by Leighton Ernsberger (BC, Director of Education) and continued with a Keynote Speech entitled “The Role of United Kingdom (UK) TransNational Education in the Development of Higher Education” delivered by Prof. Datuk. Ir. Ts. Dr. Siti Hamisah binti Taspir from Universiti College Sedaya International (UCSI) Malaysia. It was such a great speech showing the journey of Malaysia’s higher education up to now. The forum also presented an Overview of UK Transnational Education by Alexis Brown (BC).
Towards the mid day, a panel discussion was held with the interesting topic “Earth, Wind and Fire”, which essentially discussed the best practices of educational journeys between nations, how the related parties could continue to grow partnerships amidst challenges representing those three words previously such as demographic changes (earth), changes in economic power (wind) and increasing demands of learners and employers (fire). The moderator, Ms. Jazreel Goh, MBE made the discussion active and interactive. Commonly, when doing the panel, the speakers would present his/her power points presentation. Ms. Jazreel Goh, however, proposed numbers of questions that speakers could respond to respectively. She also asked the audience to ask questions.
After the lunch break, the BC divided the audience into four breakout rooms (BO) including Student Experience in BO #1, Academic Engagement in BO #2, Industry and Government Engagement in BO #3 as well as Keeping up with the Competitor in BO #4. As directed by Andi Masyitha Irwan, Ph.D (Head of IO), Mr. Ridwan chose Student Experience in BO #1. There were around five speakers in the panel including Prof. Noorhadi Hasan from Universitas Islam International Indonesia (IIIU), Jakarta. Prof. Noorhadi shared his university’s best practice in making the students experienced with transnational education. His university obtained a grant by the BC Indonesia for university capacity building particularly in establishing cooperation with the UK universities.
In the closing plenary, BC Malaysia invited Matt Durmin presented the drivers of transnational education in rising Asia and direction of travel. He figured out the vision of East Asia prospect in developing the TNE in the future. For the official closing, the BC, Director of Education, Leghton Ernsberger extended his gratitude on the participations of all parties making the forum successfully carried out. The photo session marked the end of the forum.
Right after the closing, all the forum participants were requested to get assembled at the hotel lobby for a visit to Sunway University (SU). There were around three buses taking the participants to the site.
Another panel was held to explore more about the best practices of partnership between the University of Lancaster, UK and Sunway University, Malaysia that had been 17 years or so. The partnership indeed was a showcase of both universities.
The Vice-Chancellor of Lancster conveyed the African quote, “If you want to go fast, you go alone but if you want to go far, go together” From this quote, it could be said that working together would lead to a better future. The panel discussion about this partnership indeed gave insight to the participating parties wishing to establish and sustain their partnership. Ms. Jazreel Goh, MBE closed the visit. Thank you British Council, Malaysia.
