KUCHING – Members of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU) recently toured Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus and participated at a seminar on transnational education.
The visit brought together senior academics and officials from the ECIU and Swinburne Sarawak as well as the latter’s home campus in Melbourne.
“Membership of Swinburne in the European Consortium of Innovative Universities is an extremely important strategy for Swinburne globally. Visits such as this give us a great fillip in establishing ourselves internationally,” said Professor Helmut Lueckenhausen, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne Sarawak.
Giving the visitors an overview of Swinburne was Professor Ian Young, Vice-Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology, presented on “Swinburne in Malaysia” while Professor Dale Murphy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, spoke on quality assurance.
Professor Lueckenhausen briefed the visitors on “Running the Sarawak Campus”.
Dr Anne Flierman, President of the University of Twente in The Netherlands, and Alan Olsen, Director of Strategy Policy and Research Limited, presented at a subsequent seminar on transnational education.
Both the seminars were attended by staff of Swinburne Sarawak.
From Kuching, the ECIU representatives travelled to Swinburne’s campuses in Melbourne to form steering committees on staff and student mobility, the ECIU Graduate School and industry interaction.
The ECIU, established in 1997, has 11 European members and three international associate partners, including Swinburne. It is a consortium of relatively young universities that have been identified as entrepreneurial and committed to innovation.
The total number of students and staff within the Consortium is 370,000 and 50,000 respectively.