Curtin Malaysia and UniMAP benchmark and share ideas

Miri – 20 October 2017 – The environmental engineering academics of Curtin University, Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) and University Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) had the opportunity to benchmark each other’s performance, standards and practices, as well as share ideas, when two academics representing the Department of Environmental Engineering of Curtin Malaysia’s Faculty of Engineering and Science visited UniMAP in Arau, Perlis recently.

They were Head of the Department of Civil & Construction Associate Professor Muhammad Ekhlasur Rahman, and Environmental Engineering Programme Coordinator Dr. John Lau Sie Yon.

Associate Professor Ekhlasur and Dr. Lau were warmly received by Deputy Dean of Academic and Research of UniMAP’s School of Environmental Engineering, Dr. Che Zulzikrami Azner bin Abidin, and members of the school’s teaching staff.

“We were very honoured to be able to have our first benchmarking meeting with UniMAP, an institution with tremendous experience in establishing their environmental engineering course,” said Associate Professor Ekhlasur.

“We will continue to seek their input and feedback to continuously enhance our own course to provide an excellent learning and teaching experience for our students,” he added.

Associate Professor Ekhlasur said benchmarking is widely practised in the education industry and academic and professional staff of Curtin Malaysia regularly make benchmarking visits to other institutions to learn how Curtin Malaysia’s performance, standards and practices compare to theirs. In turn, the university receives numerous visits from other universities.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lau said it was a meaningful and fruitful visit as the ideas and suggestions generated from the visit will be crucial to enhancing the Curtin environmental engineering course.

“We can now benchmark our performance, identify gaps, and seek new approaches to enhance learning and teaching and research collaborations,” he commented.

Curtin University’s 4-year Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental Engineering) course, which was developed at Curtin Malaysia, equips students with an integrated knowledge of multiple engineering fields such as chemical and civil and construction engineering to provide an innovative and creative environmental engineering experience. It provides a good balance of theoretical background and practical experience throughout the four years of study.

Exchange of souvenirs between Associate Professor Ekhlasur (left) and Dr. Che Zulzikrami.

Group photo with staff of UniMAP’s School of Environmental Engineering.