GOP ACADEMIC VISIT TO SOUTH KOREA

Prof. Dr. Wan Aini Wan Ibrahim and students

The Global Outreach Program to Ajou University of South Korea was organized by Undergraduates students of Industrial Chemistry Programme from 12 March 2011 to 19 March 2011. This programme was participated by 14 students from the Final Year Industrial Chemistry Program (3 SSC)  and accompanied by an advisor, Prof. Dr. Wan Aini Wan Ibrahim.

Introduction to UTM and programme

The GOP participants had attended several activities with the members of Department of Chemistry from the School of Natural Sciences, Ajou University, South Korea which included laboratory works, lectures on instrumentation, lectures on organic chemistry and quantum mechanics, undergraduate research program presentation, and seminar.  

Research Presentation from UTM Students

Academic Activities During Programme

A cultural understanding and exchange program had been carried out by performing traditional music and dances represented by both Ajou University and also UTM. The UTM participants had gained the knowledge of academic and also Korean culture from Ajou University and introduce Malaysian’s culture at the same time.

 Cultural Performance from both Universities

TESTIMONIALS BY 3 SSC students in the GOP Ajou University, Suwon, Korea

Azzakhirah bt Md. Rashid
GOP is an outstanding and excellent program for UTM students. It is mind and eye opener for students to see the world. Korea is also a great place to visit as it is full of colours and culture.

Lee Wei Cheat
This academic trip is really amazing and it is good for all the UTM students to take part. Through this programme, we can open up our eyes to see the world and others’ country and have some communication with them. Ajou University is a nice university and I love it!

Norziyana bt Ahmat Azemi
I am having a good time in Korea especially in Ajou University. The people there are nice. This GOP program gives me an opportunity to see the other side of the world which I may not see in Malaysia.

Tan Ke Xin
I am proud of our GOP group which had brought us a chance to explore part of the world and promote ourselves globally. The generosity and warm welcoming from the Koreans had impressed us and hopefully we will be able to become a better host in one day.

Wong Wen Yee
I feel so happy that I can join this GOP program because I can know Korea culture and difference between Ajou University and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. From this trip, we can know our weakness and what should we do to improve ourselves.

Ainatul Mardiah bt Mat Rapi
It is a great time to be in Korea. 3 words that describe Korean are kind, rich and fashions. The experience there is priceless. Thank you to all GOP Korea committee for this great pleasure especially to president and Korean students.

Eng Kae Yang
It’s amazing and a memorable trip for me. First of all, thanks to Prof. WAWI, Adward and my parents to give me a chance to join this program. Ajou University is a nice university which having a good learning environment. The lectures and students of Ajou are friendly and experienced.  I LOVE AJOU.

Chin Sin Yee
I’m proud to be a member of this GOP program. I was given a chance to exchange knowledge with students in Ajou University, South Korea, at the same time, I would able to explore to the culture of a Korean. I’m so appreciate the chance given by Faculty of Science for us to visit a special country, South Korea and also the contribution of Ajou University.

Atikah Aini bt Abdullah
My dream came true. I really enjoyed this GOP trip to Korea. The students in Ajou University are very friendly, kind and helpful. I wish to go there in future.

Lai Ay Ping
Here I want to express my greatest gratitude to UTM and Ajou University because giving me a chance to fly to South Korea. Throughout this trip I have gained a wider knowledge about the Korean cultural, technologies and even about their historical buildings. I was very satisfied with this fantastic trip.

Fatin Amalina bt Ahmad Shuhaimi
Korea is very best. Hope I can stay there. Friends there are very friendly and Korea is a nice place to visit. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. Lastly, oppasaranghae! hehe

Lee Yoon Thai
The GOP in Ajou University, South Korea was interesting and memorable to me. People in Ajou are very friendly and I learnt a lot in this trip. For example, I learnt to speak a little bit of Korean language, know Korean culture and made many new Korean friends. I have got the chance to travel oversea and widen my experience and knowledge. Thank you!

Ng Mei Xiang
I am so glad that I am given a chance to join GOP to Korea and visit Ajou University. I do learn a lot from this visiting program.

Masuri Kama bt Kamaruddin Shah
I really enjoy myself during our trip in South Korea especially in Ajou University, Suwon. I have the opportunity to know the Korean culture such as their traditional food and dress. The most important thing is we can know how the campus life in Ajou University.

Signing of Letter of Intent LOI agreement

GOP ACADEMIC VISIT: BANGKOK THAILAND

Global Outreach Programme

Dr. Norazah Basar and students

The program was held for 6 days starting from 6th until 12th November 2010. In this program, three research institutes that were visited are Remediation Laboratory and Excellent Center of Waste Utilization and Management (ECoWaste) at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) and The Halal Science Center (HSC) at Chulalongkorn University. At each research institute, all students were involved in research presentation and academic discussion with postgraduates, lecturers and researchers there besides visiting the research laboratories.

Remediation laboratory at KMUTT involves research in 3 areas such as development of adsorbents from agricultural wastes for treatment of wastewater containing organic substances and heavy metals / recovery of value metals, phytoremediation of wastewater / soil contaminated with heavy metals and organic substances by local Thai plant and removal of color from food industry by local materials.
 

 

From our visit to ECoWaste at KMUTT, we found that their researches were focused on the anaerobic microorganisms and designing and developing anaerobic reactor especially in biogas industries and technologies. It quit differ from the research conducted by BBRG where for the time being we are focusing on the aerobic bacteria and had develop aerobic pilot plant. However, at the ECoWaste research laboratory, we found that they used advanced analytical instrument especially in the microbial community study such as combination of 16S rDNA sequencing with DGGE technique.

The use of laboratory technology by The Halal Science Center to detect the Haram contamination in Halal food was initiated as a measure to protect Muslim consumer since 1996. This mission continued and provided benefits not only for Muslim consumer, but also for non-Muslim consumers as well. The Halal Science Center has undertaken the training and education for consumers and manufacturers in many provinces such as Bangkok, Samutprakarn, Songkla, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Satun, Krabi and Phuket. These activities involved provision of knowledge about Halal by university professors, lecturers and experts in variuos fields as well as the demonstration of scientific analytical techniques, exhibition and introduction about Halal by the staffs of The Halal Science Center.

From this visit, we founded that the research conducted at The Halal Science Center are more focused on the food analysis and cosmetic. Some related research identified such as development of rapid test kit. However, we could said that The Halal Science Center is fully equipped with a variety of advanced and sophisticated scientific instruments. Besides that, visiting to The Halal Science Center make us realized that as a permanent resident in a Muslim country, we should be more concerned about Halal products starting from the raw material resources, production, storage, packaging, transportation and the way those products deliver to consumer.

GOP ACADEMIC VISIT: BEIJING UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Global Outreach Programme

PM Dr. Nor Aziah Buang and students

 

 

On 9 March 2010, we visited Beijing University of Technology (BJUT).  The purpose of the visit was to see the technologies available in the university for possible future collaborations. BJUT is the key university under the administration of the Beijing municipal government, which has established a multi-disciplinary academic structure and been ranked as one of the 100 key universities for the 21st century.  The university currently has 1486 full-time teaching staff, including 296 Professors (among which 197 are supervisors for PhD candidates), 770 Associate Professor or Senior Engineers, 8 academicians，3‘Chang Jiang Scholar Program’ scholar, 5 National Outstanding Contribution specialists,36 specialists enjoying Government Special Allowance and about 21 international teachers. Currently there are 12435 undergraduate students and 4352 postgraduate students.

We visited Faculty of Material Sciences and Engineering and their staffs were very friendly and ready to answer any questions from us. The labs visited were X-ray Diffratogram  Lab, Spark Plasma Sintering Lab (SPS), Nano Rare Earth  Material preparation Lab (also having SPS system), and Scanning Microscopic Emission (SEM) Lab. At the X-Ray Diffratogram Lab, the instrument XRD that been used is MAXima-X series. The XRD instrument gives information about the crystallographic structure, chemical composition, and physical properties of materials.

The second lab is Spark Plasma Sintering Lab (SPS), which also called as field assisted sintering technique (FAST) or pulsed electric current sintering (PECS). This instrument applied a sintering technique. This laboratory usually involved with carbon material.

 

 

After that, we move to visit Nano Rare Earth Material preparation Lab (also having SPS system). In this lab, the process involved is more complicated compared to other labs.

The last lab that we visit is Scanning Microscopic Emission (SEM) Lab. This instrument gives information about the sample's surface topography, composition, and other properties such as electrical conductivity. Each lab is under the supervision of 1 lecturer and assisted by more than one staff to handle the instrument. Even the lecturers also run their sample by themselves. The situation is different in Malaysia, the instrument job handling is only done by lab technician. In BJUT, the handlings of some instrument are also allowed for post graduate student. This permission gives opportunities to their student to enhance their knowledge. These shows that, this university are preparing their student to be more independent on their own research starting from the preparation of their sample until handling the instrument to get their result. Thus, UTM should apply their style of work to prepare the students to fulfill the UTM motto towards Research University.
 

GOP ACADEMIC VISIT: TIANJIN UNIVERSITY

GLOBAL OUTREACH PROGRAMME by CHEMISTRY STUDENTS

Tianjin University (TU) was the first academic place to be visited during our Global Outreach Programme (GOP) to China. The knowledge sharing program was started by Prof Zhenhua Li who has delightly welcomed us as a first university from Malaysia to visit TU. Assoc. Prof Dr. Nor Aziah Buang gave a brief introduction about UTM and the latest research in UTM especially in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science. Three speakers from UTM students presented their research during the academic talk session.

Dr Nor Aziah and Prof Zhenhua Li TU students
The overall research in TU is very wide and strong. The university has a strong team of professional and concurrent researchers. They have five key national laboratories, one national engineering research center, two national promotion centers for scientific and technological achievements, seven engineering research and development centers and open laboratories at ministerial level. There are over 80 laboratories, 110 research institutes, 15 experimental research and engineering development centers at the university.

The university industries are characterized by bringing forth new ideas to technology, initiating high-tech enterprises, and transforming scientific and technological achievements into industries. Tiancai Co. Ltd. is the representative of the university’s industries, which takes advantage of the university’s superiority in science and technology. The university’s industries include computer information, packed towers, industrial crystallization, and opto-electronic integration and have made good economic as well as social benefits. Hence, UTM should also periodically commercialize our product and invention periodically.

One for the album University campus

Report by Chemistry students, UTM. More to come.....