Lyna Mohamad
The signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in higher education between Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) and Yunus Emre Institute (YEI) is set to establish a partnership framework for long-term cooperation between the education institutions in the two countries.
The event took place at the main conference room of UTB yesterday with signatories, UTB Vice-Chancellor Datin Paduka Professor Dr Hajah Zohrah binti Haji Sulaiman and Ambassador of Türkiye to Brunei Darussalam Professor Dr Hamit Ersoy on behalf of the YEI.
UTB Registrar and Secretary Lim Chui Hua was present as the witness for UTB.
“As the second Bruneian higher education institution this year to sign such a memorandum, I believe it will generate further interest and potential for future cooperation with more institutions,” said the ambassador.
He added that they are investing in innovation through empowering scholars and the MoU will benefit the institutions and their students and academics by paving the way for greater shared training, research and best practices.
The MoU signing signals the commitment that Türkiye has towards its ‘Asia Anew’ foreign policy initiatives where ‘strengthening academic cooperation’ and ‘development of interaction between societies’ are two of the main four pillars of the policy.
UTB will offer a Turkish language course as part of the recent collaboration and is expected to commence next year, which is in addition to the classes conducted at the embassy and Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA).
The YEI promotes the Turkish language and culture and has 63 cultural centres around the world. The Turkish institute is now eyeing further cooperation on language courses with the Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE).
The partnership between the two higher learning institutions will facilitate cooperation in teaching and research as well as the exchange of students and scholars for one to two semesters, with credits that will be mutually agreed between the participating institutions.
Through such institutional collaboration initiatives, academics and students of both countries will be given more opportunities to cooperate in various fields, from art to linguistics, history and culture.
Given the MoU’s expansive potential for cooperation in almost any field of study, the collaborative projects can become catalysts for further joint activities such as conferences, seminars and cultural performances by Turks and Bruneians.
Yesterday’s event commenced with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah and Doa Selamat, followed by video presentation of an introduction to both UTB and YEI.
It then proceeded with remarks from the vice-chancellor and the ambassador.
Through the MoU, UTB’s students and academics, together with scholars and students of 209 universities in Türkiye, will have access to more opportunities for development and exposure.
Scopes of cooperation under the MoU include exchange of academic for both staff and students to assist in training, coaching, and learning between both UTB and YEI; exchange of academics for teaching and research; and joint supervision.
