Mara signs two LoCs with Turkish universities

ISTANBUL: Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) has strengthened Malaysia–Turkiye academic ties through collaborations with two Turkish universities, focusing on joint degree programmes, doctoral research and ship-design studies.

The Letters of Collaboration (LoCs) were exchanged between Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia (UPTM) with Sabancı University and Yildiz Technical University (YTU) here.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Mara chairman Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki and newly-appointed Deputy Director-General (Education) Shahrizal Mohd Saderi witnessed the exchange.

Asyraf said the collaborations were among the key initiatives Zahid had driven after Türkiye's Council of Higher Education president Prof Dr Erol Özvar visited Malaysia in April.

"Among the main focuses of this collaboration is research exchange and, most importantly, for Malaysian students to come and study here and for their students to come to our country.

"What we have proposed is a double degree, where students who secure a place at UniKL and UPTM, for example, will at the same time have the chance to study at universities in Türkiye, gaining two degrees at once," he said at a press conference today following the LoCs exchange.

Asyraf said this would also give those in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) fields wider pathways to careers and higher education, including studying abroad, particularly in Türkiye.

Under the proposed collaboration with Sabancı University, both institutions will explore joint bachelor's and master's degree programmes, including curriculum mapping and academic delivery arrangements.

The partnership will also explore doctoral co-education pathways, involving joint supervision and collaborative research.

Meanwhile, the proposed collaboration with YTU will focus on joint ship-design research and model testing, leveraging the complementary facilities available at both universities.

YTU's wave-tank facilities will support shallow-water studies, while UniKL's Malaysian Institute of Marine Engineering Technology will contribute its facilities for deep-water studies.