Mohd Shukri (6th left) at the recent Riphen MoU signing ceremony with MSU’s partners.
KUALA LUMPUR: Launched earlier this year at the MSU-hosted 2019 PERINTIS, Riphen (Research and Innovation of Private Higher Education Network) is an MSU initiative to stimulate a culture of research and innovation among local private higher education providers.
Riphen’s mission of sustainable research supports a vision of commercialising the innovative outputs of its collaborating members.
MSUManagement and Science University president and Riphen patron, Professor Tan Sri Dato’ Wira Dr Mohd Shukri Ab Yajid recently officiated the MoU signing ceremony, and said the higher education landscape now is a highly challenging one.
“The future is going to be even more challenging and demanding. We must move to the way of 21st century, that is collaboration. We must collaborate to move forward and be ahead in the region and the world building a future for our students, our generation, and Malaysia.
“We are ready to move with PERINTIS 2.0; a network association of common thinking and vision concerning sustainable research. It is my hope for Riphen to carry the Malaysian flag for good research as well as teaching and learning,” said Mohd Shukri.
Among those present for the Riphen MoU signing ceremony at MSU’s Performing Arts Theatre were partners of MSU including MSU vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Junainah Abd Hamid; UTP vice-chancellor and CEO Professor Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib; MMU president and CEO Professor Datuk Ts Dr Ahmad Rafi Mohamed Eshaq; IUKL vice-chancellor Professor Dr Ideris Zakaria; and Nilai University vice-chancellor Professor Dr Roslan Zainal Abidin.
A workshop on Riphen Joint Research Projects (JRPs) under the umbrella theme of Smart Sustainable Communities saw discussions on the focus groups of digital education, led by MSU; sustainable energy (UTP); intelligent energy-storage (renewable energy) (IUKL); Energy 4.0 – smart energy load supply (Nilai University); power engineering (Uniten); rail engineering, rail technology (UniKL); and future cities (MMU).
Among its objectives besides promoting a culture of research and innovation, Riphen shall be a sharing platform and providing advice to researchers. It also seeks to attract investments through collaboration with industry.
In its secretariat role, MSU is represented by the university’s Research Management Centre (RMC).
Riphen activities in the pipeline include a Riphen Journal of Sustainable Communities; a Riphen Forum on Research, Innovation, and Commercialisation; a Riphen webpage; and PERINTIS 2020.
MSU leads Riphen into a future of sustainable research universities which are institutional sources of knowledge, which they collect, disseminate, and discover through research.
Since 2007, university research generated more than RM6 billion in revenue; a 55 per cent return on the initial investment and an important contributor to the national economy.