WIDENING THE ISDEV, USM REACH IN SUMATERA UTARA

Prof. Syukri with USM Vice Chancellor Prof. Dato' Dr. Omar Osman in flight.

ISDEV Director, Prof. Muhammad Syukri Salleh was recently flown to Medan, Indonesia with some of the top management officers of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Among them were USM Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Omar Osman, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni) Professor Dato' Dr. Adnan Hussein as well as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International Affairs) Professor Dato' Dr. Ahmad Shukri Mustapa Kamal. They were there on a three-day working visit to widen the USM academic network coverage in Medan scheduled from 4 June till 6 June 2015.

Upon arrival, the delegates hosted a sumptuous dinner at Restoren Lembur Kuring, Medan specially for invited guests of honours from the Universitas Medan Area (UMA), Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara (UMSU), Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara (IAIN) as well as Universitas Pembangunan Panca Budi Medan (UNPAB). Each of these universities sent three representatives for the dinner. ISDEV Alumni members for the Medan Chapter were also among the invited guests for the dinner.

A photo session with the invited guests.

The next day saw the USM delegates attending the MoA Signing Ceremony between the School of Distance Education (PJJ), USM  and UNPAB. Amongst the contents of the sealed MoA would see USM increasing the enrolment of its offshore undergraduate students to 2,000 through collaborations with universities in North Sumatera. This is part of USM efforts to reach a target of 10,000 students registered for distance learning courses by 2020.

Taking a moment off fr a photo sesseion during the "Perjumpaan Kolaborator ISDEV, USM -Medan" 

Meanwhile, for the afternoon session, the Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni) and ISDEV Director attended the “Perjumpaan Kolaborator ISDEV, USM-Medan" (ISDEV, USM-Medan Collaborators Meeting) at Hotel Madani, Medan. In this meeting, the Rector as well as representatives from six universities collaborating with ISDEV namely UMA, USU, UMSU, Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN), Universitas Nahadlatul Ulama Sumatera Utara (UNUSU) and Universitas Pembangunan Masyarakat Indonesia (UPMI) were also present. 

Dinner with USM-Medan Alumni.

The meeting was hosted by ISDEV Director and aided by students and ISDEV Alumni members for the Medan Chapter. The main aim of the meet was to discuss further cooperation between USM and these six universities in Medan. One of the outcomes of the meet was the establishment of the Majlis Kolaborator (Perundingan) Pembangunan Berteraskan Islam (The Islamic-based Development Collaborative (Consultative) Council) which combines all the universities in North Sumatera that are collaborating with ISDEV specifically and USM in general. 

Among the main functions of the Collaborative Council is to arrange for a few programme such as lecturers and students exchange programme between USM and the Universities in Medan and joint publication whether in journal or book form that is related to Islamic-based Development. In addition, offer of academic programmes, research and alumni would also be strengthened through this Collaborative Council as a forum for the ongoing development of Islam. The Council is also willing to accept universities from other countries to collaborate with ISDEV and USM in the near future.

Not a moment to lose. The ever diligent Prof. Syukri took time to supervise his student, Kasyful Mahali.

At the end of the meet, all delegates attended a dinner with the USM Alumni members in Medan. Meanwhile, Prof. Syukri took this opportunity to meet up and had a chance to supervise his student, Kasyful Mahali before all of them were flown home to Pulau Pinang on the next day, 6 June 2015.

Below is a brief footage on the Collaborator Council established.