On December 3, Dato’Vincent Tan Meng Seng, Chairman of Southern University College (SUC), led a delegation including Wong Tze Jin (Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Management and Science at University of Putra Malaysia Sarawak), Chen Yongming (Director of Pingtan Research Institute of Xiamen University), and Zhang Lida (Chairman of Yinyanjia Fuzhou Technology Co., Ltd.), to visit FAFU. Lai Hairong, Chair of the University Council, met with the guests at the Mingde Building in Cangshan Campus. The two sides held in-depth discussions on strengthening inter-university cooperation and promoting agricultural technology exchanges and talent training, jointly mapping a new blueprint for Sino-Malaysia higher education collaboration.
Lai Hairong Met with the Delegation
On behalf of FAFU, Lai Hairong extended a warm welcome to Dato’Vincent Tan Meng Seng and the delegation. He gave a brief introduction to FAFU’s latest achievements in education, disciplinary development, scientific research, innovation, and international exchanges. He also reviewed the profound historical and cultural ties between China and Malaysia, particularly the connection between FAFU and the Chinese community in Malaysia. He mentioned that during the previous visit to FAFU by a delegation led by Awang Bemee, President of the Senate of Malaysia, they were deeply impressed by the crop breeding and plant protection technologies and expressed a desire to strengthen cooperation to enhance Malaysia’s food self-sufficiency. FAFU is willing to share its mature technological solutions and practical experience, and looks forward to collaborating with Malaysian universities to promote the local application and innovative development of relevant technologies, contributing to the improvement of regional agricultural development and food security. For a long time, FAFU has actively promoted its internationalization strategy, consistently upholding the principles of openness and win-win cooperation. It has established long-term and stable cooperative relationships with world-renowned institutions, such as the University of British Columbia and Dalhousie University, and has attracted over 100 international students from 43 countries. Recently, FAFU leadership led a delegation to visit the University of Putra Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman University, University of Malaya, and Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology, aiming to strengthen cooperation and exchanges with Southeast Asian universities. He expressed hope that this visit would serve as an opportunity to deepen exchanges and cooperation with SUC. By establishing short-term research and visiting programs, full scholarships, and other means, both sides can promote exchanges of faculty and students and research collaboration, jointly writing a new chapter in Sino-Malaysia educational cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.
On behalf of SUC, Dato’Vincent Tan Meng Seng expressed gratitude for the warm reception. He introduced SUC’s history, mission of cultural inheritance, and its achievements in Chinese language education and talent education. He stated that China and Malaysia are geographical neighbors with close people-to-people ties and cultural bonds. Particularly, the Malaysian Chinese community has long served as a bridge for friendly exchanges between the two countries, bringing the people closer and strengthening bilateral connections through diverse means such as non-governmental interactions, trade, and cultural heritage. SUC highly values inheriting and promoting Chinese culture and looks forward to establishing a friendly cooperative relationship with FAFU. Also, he hoped to promote faculty exchanges and joint student education programs, contributing to deepening Sino-Malaysia people-to-people exchanges, scientific and technological advancement, and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
Translators: Chen Jun, International College
Hong Bingyu, International College