FRIDAY, 23 AUGUST - Borneo Tourism Research Centre, under the Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Faculty of Business and Management, Quest International University Perak (QIUP), signed a letter of intent recently to strengthen cooperation, coordination and mobility in the field Tourism and Sustainability during the Sustainability Seminar 2019 at QIUP, Ipoh, Perak.

Prof. Dr. Jennifer Chan Kim Lian, Director of Borneo Tourism Research Centre and Mr. Nicholas Goh, Chief Operating Officer, Quest International University Perak, signed the Letter of Intent at QIUP Auditorium.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Awangku Hassanal Bahar Pengiran Bagul, representing Assoc. Prof. Dr. Raman Noordin, the Dean for the Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy, UMS and Prof. Dr. Loke Siew-Phaik, the Dean for the Faculty of Business and Management, QIUP, witnessed the signing.

The Letter of Intent outlines ways for the two institutions to cooperate in the exchange of students or staffs, collaboration in educational projects and academic activities such as trainings, seminars, workshops and conferences.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Goh mentions that it is important for both institutions to work in the field of tourism and sustainability to ensure the widest influence and benefits.

“I welcome this collaboration as there are many things that both institutions can learn from each other especially from both own unique experience on tourism development and sustainability,“ he said.

The LOI signing was followed by Sustainability Seminar 2019, chaired by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sofiah Kadar Khan of QIUP with the theme of Towards Sustainable Tourism in Malaysia and involved speakers from UMS, QIUP and Universiti Teknologi Petronas.

FRIDAY, 2 AUGUST - The third edition of the Accounting Research Seminar was successfully organised by Accounting Centre, Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy (FBEA), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) at MBA Seminar Room recently.

With the objective to provide an avenue for UMS academic staff in the accounting field to present output from completed and on-going research, the seminar involved presenters and participants from a few local institutions of higher learning including Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Sabah,

With a total of 20 participants include the participation from FBEA Postgraduate students, twelve academic working papers presentation were made by academic staff and postgraduate students

In addition to the presentations, seminar participants also took the opportunity to exchange ideas as well as to network within the accounting research field.

Also present were FBEA Dean, Associate Professor Dr. Raman Noordin and Director of Accounting Centre, Jainurin Justine.

Malaysia became one of the first countries in the world to advocate the development of inclusive open educational resources with the launching of a workshop for the development of a policy for inclusive open educational resources under the aegis of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Ensuring quality education is one of the key aims of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030. SDG4 highlights the need for the development of inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong opportunities for all.

The workshop was organized by Professor Dr. Fong Soon Fook, Country Consultant, UNESCO who is the Director of the Center for E-learning at Universiti Malaysia Sabah in association with UNESCO, the Ministry of Education, Malaysian Center for e-Learning (MyCEL), Malaysian e-Learning Council for Public Universities (MEIPTA), Higher Educational Institutions from across the nation, representatives from the Malaysian Association for the Blind, Department of Social Welfare, “Wacana Austisme” and the Malaysian Federation for the Deaf. The workshop on the development of the draft policy was organized with the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett foundation.

Mr. Joe Hironaka, Program Specialist, UNESCO, highlighted the fact that Malaysia was one of the first countries to develop a draft policy on inclusive open educational resources. Almost half a million individuals in Malaysia are currently registered as disabled. Disabled or differently-abled individuals may be challenged with visual, auditory, speech, physical or cognitive limitations which in turn hinder their ability to lead a productive life in society. Inclusive education aims to overcome this limitation by ensuring the higher educational institutions work in collaboration with the department of social welfare, and NGOs to ensure that all educational material is freely available to differently-abled individual in a format which is adapted for their use.

For instance, visually challenged individuals may require text to be converted into audio files and braille, alternatively, individuals with a hearing loss may require that video lectures be close captioned with subtitles as text in order to read content online. The redevelopment of educational content in a format which is accessible to all is a challenge to educators as well as the formats are distinct and the method for assessment of learning is unique to the specific challenge. The workshop was also attended by Dr. Ferdinand Pitagan, UNESCO, and Philippines who provided an insight into the development of open educational resources in his country.

The policy on inclusive open educational resources will have a significant impact on the availability of educational resources to learners with disabilities given the fact that  it will enable higher educational institutions to extend the scope of their teaching and learning material to a new community of learners, it will serve as an avenue to reiterate the need for the inclusion of all kinds of learners into Malaysian society by addressing their own unique capabilities to develop a truly inclusive society.

WEDNESDAY, 17 JULY - Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) through Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences are actively engaging stakeholders for collaboration in research on Malaria.

Recently, Dr Jenarun Jelip from the Disease Control Division of Ministry of Health, Putrajaya, joined a meeting where he shared with the faculty the current situation of malaria in Malaysia.

According to Dr. Jenarun, Malaria, a disease caused by plasmodium parasites which spread through mosquitoes infected with the parasite, is one of the major public-health problems, with over 40% of the world’s population are at risk for malaria infection.

“According to Ministry of Health Malaysia, the incidence rate in Malaysia has declined to less than 1 per 1,000 population since 1998 and it is together observed with the reduction in the mortality figures, while the mortality rate due to malaria has been around 0.001 per 1,000 population since 2006,” said Dr Jenarun Jelip.

He added that the current threat is the zoonotic malaria, with rising numbers.

“Infections with this parasite can be fatal in the absence of prompt recognition of the disease.

Besides that, resistance of parasites to antimalarial agents has led to increasing difficulties for the provision of adequate disease management,” he added.

Various topics from research gaps in malaria, future collaboration, ideas on attachment programs and many more were discussed during the meeting that chaired by the Dean of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Professor Dr Mohammad Saffree Bin Jeffree.

Meanwhile, Professor Dr Mohammad Saffree said UMS through Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences is committed to bring impactful research in public health to benefit the stakeholders including the local community.

“The university also wants to ensure our students especially from Masters in Public Health and Doctor of Public Health are engaged in translational research that they could apply to the needs of the state and country.

“The plan now is for Malaysia to have an elimination status for malaria by the year 2020 and currently we are on a good track to achieve it,” said Professor Dr Mohammad Saffree.

Also joined the meeting faculty’s Head of Community and Family Medicine Department Datuk Dr Mohd Yusof Ibrahim, Director of Borneo Medical and Health Research Centre, Professor Dr Kamruddin Ahmed and along with other members of the faculty.