The University of Nottingham featured heavily in education and trade discussions during the UK Prime Minister’s visit to Singapore and Malaysia last week.

Four members of The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) joined the UKTI (UK Trade and Investment) Northern Powerhouse delegation in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday 30 July.

Provost and CEO of UNMC, Professor Christine Ennew; Professor of Global Food Security and CEO of Crops for the Future Research Centre, Sayed Azam-Ali and Claire O’Malley, Dean for the Faculty of Science flew the flag for Nottingham and UNMC.

They were present alongside Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Sajid Javid; Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hugo Swire; Lord Francis Maude, Minister of State for Trade and Investment, as well as MP for Broxtowe and Minister for Small Business, Anna Soubry.

Activity involving UNMC included:

• Professor Ennew spoke as part of a high-level roundtable on UK/Malaysia science and innovation co-operation with Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Rt. Hon. Sajid Javid MP and Chaired by the British High Commissioner to Malaysia, Her Excellency Vicki Treadell.
• CEO of Innovate UK, Dr Ruth McKernan visited the brand new £26m Crops for the Future headquarters based at UNMC, to discuss plans for the grand opening of the iconic ‘Domes’ due to take place in September and be marked by a major international symposium on Global Food Security, featuring world leaders, Nobel laureates and senior Government officials from both UK and Malaysia.
• Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Rt. Hon. Sajid Javid MP, launched “Year of British Education in Malaysia” at an Education is GREAT reception at the British Council in Kuala Lumpur. UNMC quite literally provided the backdrop to this significant announcement (pictured above) – which follows the announcement of the Malaysian Government’s Education Blueprint earlier this year.
• Professor Ennew was interviewed by Times Higher Education last week to talk about the 15th Anniversary of UNMC and the future of branch campuses.
• UKTI announced that UNMC has secured a major new scholarships deal via its partners Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (AMIC) and Majlis Rakyat (MARA). They are to sponsor 60 students, over the next five years, to undertake aerospace research in the Asia Aerospace City Research & Technology Centre.

In another move to strengthen UK/Malaysian ties, Malaysian think tank Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (ASLI) has just announced that it is to present a lifetime achievement award to the University of Nottingham’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir David Greenaway.

The prestigious award is to be conferred by the Deputy PM of Malaysia, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. The ceremony will be held in the UK in November.