LET’S SHAKE ON IT: SJT-Uni director and SUPP deputy secretary general Matthew Chen (second left) shakes hands with SJTU assistant president Yan Liang Yu after the signing of the MoU while Chin (third left), Wu (second right) and others look on.
KUCHING: Sarawak may soon see the establishment of one of the top world-ranking universities here provided that the government gives it the green light.
“If the green light is given, we will set up a branch of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) of China in the state that will push forward the educational relationship between Malaysia and China,” says Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Datuk Seri Peter Chin.
He told reporters this after witnessing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the university and SJT-Uni (M) Sdn Bhd, a sub-division of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), here yesterday.
“Through the MoU, SJT-Uni and SJTU have agreed to work for the long term benefits of education that is practised by SJTU. The long term objective is to set up an SJTU branch in Sarawak,” he said.
However, to make this initiative work, Chin said that the Malaysian and China governments would have to approve the deal first.
“We will work very hard to get this government approval and bearing in mind that there are 146 universities in China that are recognised by the Ministry of Education. SJTU is one of them.”
Asked why Sarawak was chosen as SJTU’s first collaboration in Malaysia, Chin, who is also SUPP president, said: “SJTU happens to be a university I know very well due to my previous post as Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities where we had collaboration with the university’s research unit and during a recent visit to SJTU, we have also established another collaboration between my current ministry and the university.”
“However, despite our collaboration, we have yet to venture into the education field. We are now going to take a step forward in that direction.
“As SUPP president, I would like to see Sarawak as the first choice for this initiative. At this point in time though, I do not know if the university will be sited in Kuching or elsewhere in the state,” Chin added.
Meanwhile, SJTU vice-president Wu Dan said he was looking forward to the collaboration between SJTU and his university.
He hoped that the branch of the university would be set up here soon.