Today a delegation of research leaders from Innovative Research Universities (IRU) – a network of seven leading comprehensive Australian universities – begins a week long visit to Malaysia. The delegation will meet with government officials and academic leaders from Malaysian Universities, to strengthen research links.

The IRU delegation recognises that research and innovation lie at the heart of the successful development of countries across the world. To access the international world of research effectively, both Australia and Malaysia need to link researchers across the world to the benefit of all involved.

“We wish to lay the basis for research linkages and partnerships between IRU members and Malaysian universities. In this we align with Australian Government objectives and with the objectives of Malaysia’s Higher Education Strategic Plan which seeks to encourage collaboration with foreign universities to support joint research and development. The creation of such linkages will act to strengthen the research capacity of both our countries.” Professor O’Connor said.

“We are delighted to have this opportunity to visit our counterparts in Malaysia. IRU members are all research intensive universities with world class research strengths in a range of disciplines. We have many existing relationships with Malaysian Universities so we welcome the opportunity to strengthen these ties and to create new partnerships” he said.

The IRU delegation will meeting with officials from the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). One highlight of the program is “The Australia-Malaysia Research and Innovation Forum”, hosted by the Australian High Commission on Tuesday 12 June. Participants from a wide range of Malaysian universities will explore developments in research in Australia and Malaysia.

The IRU delegation will also visit the five Malaysian research universities – Universiti Malaya (UM) (UM), National Universiti Kebangsaan (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), to identify potential research links for future development between our respective universities.

This timely visit follows the signing of the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement by Mustapa Mohamed, Minister for International Trade and Industry, and the Hon Craig Emerson, Minister for Trade and Competitiveness, in Kuala Lumpur on 22 May 2012.

The IRU comprises Charles Darwin University, Flinders University, Griffith University, James Cook University, La Trobe University, Murdoch University, and The University of Newcastle. Five of the IRU are among the world top 500 research universities as listed in the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

The seven IRU universities will be represented by a delegation of 20, lead by

• IRU Chair, Professor Ian O’Connor, Vice-Chancellor and President – Griffith University,
• IRU Research Group Chair Professor Mike Calford, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research – The University of Newcastle; and
• IRU International Group Chair, Professor John Rosenberg, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor – La Trobe University.