Dr Rasid and Dr Timothy exchanging MoU documents after the signing ceremony.
KOTA KINABALU: University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and the Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc. (SIL) renewed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for five years until 2022.
With the UMS Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa (PPIB) given the responsibility to administrate, oversee, coordinate and jointly participate in the collaboration between UMS and SIL, the MoU would see the university working more closely together with the non-profit organisation in further research on Sabah languages and linguistics, among other things.
According to UMS Vice Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr D Kamaruddin D Mudin, the coming years would see efforts that have been put in place for jointly examining and co-supervising postgraduate theses at both Masters and PhD levels.
He added that the renewal was also aimed at bringing together the expertise from SIL to teach both undergraduate and postgraduate courses at UMS.
“The current renewal of the MoU is undeniably another extension of the existing partnership we share. PPIB has successfully worked together with SIL by bringing together the expertise of both parties through various efforts and activities carried out throughout the years.
“It is unsurprising, then, that the UMS Board of Directors saw the timely need for the renewal and extension of the existing MoU. Notwithstanding, through the joint efforts of colleagues from the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Heritage, the friendship between PPIB and SIL has been further strengthened,” he said in his welcoming address at the MoU signing ceremony yesterday.
His remarks were delivered by Deputy Vice Chancellor (academic and international) Professor Dr Rasid Mail.
In continuing with collaborative efforts in research between UMS and SIL, Kamaruddin went on to say the publication of jointly written research articles on Sabah languages and linguistics is another important goal that has been set as a target during the course of the MoU renewal.
He recalled a joint international research collaboration, ‘Ethnologue Review of the Languages in Sabah,’ which was remarkable for bringing together many previously unknown or under-studied Sabahan ethnic languages to the forefront.
“Another research of a similarly large scale with UNICEF and PACOS Trust is next in line, which emphasises on mother tongue education among Sabahan pre-schoolers. As a matter of fact, such collaborative researches is proof that there is still so much to do in Sabah and the more experts we can get together, the better the outcome will be,” he said.
Meanwhile, SIL Malaysia director Dr Timothy C. Phillips echoed that the signing of the renewal of the MoU between UMS and SIL was significant in that it formally established the ongoing partnership.
“This is a partnership that will continue to bring fruitful research and collaboration between the two parties, a partnership that will continue to encourage indigenous communities and languages to enhance and embrace unity in diversity, or ‘university,’ in Malaysia,” he said.