By: Noor Eszereen Juferi
Photo by: Marina Ismail
SERDANG, Nov 1 – The School of Business and Economy (SPE), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), and Menteri Besar Selangor (Incorporation) MBI have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to establish a Professorial Chair known as the Selangor Menteri Besar Chair (Selangor MB Chair).
UPM also received an endowment amounting to RM5 million from MBI.
Selangor Menteri Besar, Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari, said the establishment of the Selangor Menteri Besar Chair in SPE, UPM, is in line with the state government's aspiration to enhance higher education in Selangor.
"For the first time, the Selangor State Government has established a Professorial Chair in the fields of literacy education in business administration, entrepreneurship and economics to foster education and specialised research in the fields of economics, business, finance and entrepreneurship," he said.
He said, through the establishment of the Professorial Chair, the holder of the Chair will be appointed from renowned experts who will work with researchers in UPM to contribute to the knowledge in conducting research, supervising students and coordinating high-impact research projects with lecturers.
He said the results of high-impact research with the lecturers involved would be able to be used in implementing activities, such as scholarly discourse, academic, publications and sharing of knowledge.
UPM Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Mohd. Roslan Sulaiman, said the strategic partnership with MBI will directly help to increase the university's income generation and endowment in the long run.
“UPM always strives towards development in various fields of research and learning. This endowment is important to provide funds to promote academic activities in UPM.
"Among them is for the provision of prestigious scholarships to fund the cost of Chairholder as well as to implement high-impact academic activities through research and collaboration with renowned institutions," he said.
The memorandum was signed by Prof. Dr. Mohd Roslan and Selangor MBI Chief Executive Officer, Norita Mohd Sidek. It was witnessed by Dato’ Seri Amirudin.
MBI was established under the Selangor Menteri Besar Enactment [Enactment No: 3 1994] on September 21, 1994. Selangor MBI serves as a corporate body to administer the management of assets and investments owned by the State Government and to represent the State Government in carrying out business activities outside the jurisdiction of the state government. MBI also has the role of promoting and supporting the development efforts of the Selangor State Government in addition to fulfilling the obligation of social responsibility obligation to the community. - UPM
