PAHANG, MALAYSIA – The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) at Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) and the Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA) officially solidified a crucial agreement to enhance their international academic and student mobility programs. This collaboration is dedicated to fostering high-quality education (SDG 4) through extensive internationalization and robust Global Partnerships (SDG 17) by establishing formal mechanisms for Credit Transfer and Short Course schemes. The UNNES delegation was led by the Vice Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, Zaenal Abidin, Ph.D., accompanied by the Coordinator of the Information System Study Program, Riza Arifudin, M.Cs., and the Head of FMIPA Public Relations, Yahya Nur Ifriza, M.Kom. Welcoming the UNNES team were UMPSA representatives, including Global Profiling Executive, Wan Nor Hafiffah Wan Hamad, Head of Programme Data Analytics, Dr. Adam Shariff Bin Adli Aminudiin, Deputy Dean Student and Alumni Affairs, Ts. Dr. Muhammad Hafiz Bin Mazwir, and Deputy Dean Research and Postgraduate Studies, Ts. Dr. Azizan Bin Ramli.
The agreed-upon Student Mobility framework features two primary avenues for student engagement. The first is the Credit Transfer scheme, which allows UNNES students to undertake a full semester of courses at UMPSA, ensuring that the academic credits earned abroad are fully recognized and transferred back to their home institution. This initiative aligns perfectly with the international dimension of the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) program. The second scheme involves Short Course programs, which are flexible, brief, and non-credit-based, focusing on intensive training and workshops in high-demand technological fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Analytics, primarily facilitated by UMPSA’s Faculty of Computing. Zaenal Abidin, Ph.D., emphasized that these joint schemes represent UNNES’s tangible commitment to developing graduates with a global mindset and internationally competitive skills.
Riza Arifudin, M.Cs., added that the initial focus will be on facilitating student exchange in the Computer Science and Information Systems clusters, leveraging the high relevance and expertise of the partner faculty at UMPSA. Furthermore, this partnership extends beyond student exchange to include collaborative research opportunities involving lecturers from both universities. Yahya Nur Ifriza, M.Kom., concluded by affirming that this synergy across academics, research, and mobility is a strategic move to establish both institutions as centers of technological excellence in Southeast Asia, strongly supporting FMIPA UNNES’s vision of achieving “Global Excellence.”
