KUALA LUMPUR: Educational sponsorships for refugees and students from conflict-affected countries were among issues discussed during a working visit by the Higher Education Ministry (MoHE) to Doha, Qatar.
Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the two-day visit, which ended on Tuesday, involved discussions with leaders from three educational foundations in the middle eastern country.
The first meeting involved the Qatar Foundation (QF), which was represented by its president Fracisco J. Marmolejo and the Education Above All Foundation chief executive officer Fahad Hamad Hasan Al Sulaiti.
The subsequent meeting took place with the Thani Abdullah Foundation for Humanity chief executive officer Dr. Ayedh Dabsan Al-Qahtani.
Representatives from Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) were also in attendance.
"During these meetings, we also discussed joint efforts to address prejudice and Islamophobia stigma.
"The discussions touched on exploring opportunities for cooperation in strengthening Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs in both countries," he said in a statement today.
He added that they also shared Malaysia's experiences with Qatar to help develop and enhance endowment instruments in the higher education sector.
At the same time, he said that MoHE expressed its readiness to welcome more sponsored students, researchers, lecturers and academic staff from both organisations to Malaysian higher education institutions.
The MoHE delegation was led by Khaled, accompanied by the Malaysian Ambassador to Qatar, Zamshari Shaharan.
During the working visit, the MoHE delegation also paid a courtesy visit to Qatar Education and Higher Education Minister Buthaina Ali Al-Nuaimi, along with senior officials from her ministry.
He said that the meeting discussed various new initiatives and strategic cooperation between the two ministries.
"This includes establishing research collaboration, particularly in the areas of climate change impact, food security and managing technological disruptions.
"MoHE also informed the Qatar Education and Higher Education Ministry about the offshore programme offered by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) at its Doha campus," he said.
During the visit, discussions were also held regarding the allocation of funds from the Qatar Fund for Development for educational purposes and cooperation between the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) with Qatar University.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony was also held between the Aljazeera Media Institute and IIUM.
Through this MoU, students from the communication department at IIUM will have the opportunity to receive field training and participate in courses and programmes provided by Aljazeera.
"In addition, along with the MoHE delegation, EMGS and UKM, I visited the site and inspected the progress of the establishment of UKM's branch campus in Doha, Qatar.
"By the end of this year, UKM's branch campus in Doha, Qatar, will start offering four undergraduate and postgraduate programmes offshore," he said.
The visit concluded with a dinner reception with the Malaysian diaspora in Qatar.