A resumption of student exchanges after a three-year hiatus brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic was much anticipated by overseas students eager to experience college life in Malaysia.
Yesterday, Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) welcomed the second batch of foreign students for the September semester at its Chancellery building, which boasts in the heart of Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur.
The Deputy Director of UniKL International Office (UIO), Muhammad Nadzri Abdul Aziz said that for this semester, UniKL has sent 14 students abroad and received a total of 98 inbound mobility students with 56 at UniKL Business School (UBIS), UniKL MIIT (23), UniKL MICET (9), UniKL MIDI (6), UniKL MSI (2), and UniKL RCMP (1).
“The inbound students will be here for a period of either one or two semesters and taking up various subjects at the respective campus. The credits gained from UniKL will then be transferred to their home university.
“These students are from 33 different universities in various countries, namely France, Japan, Denmark, Germany, Poland, South Korea, Croatia, Belgium, Austria, Poland, Pakistan, Vietnam, India, Italy and Romania,” he told.
In 2020 and 2021, most mobility activities unfortunately could only be carried out online due to the closure of the Malaysian international border.
Since the nation began moving towards the endemic phase, physical mobility activities resumed in 2022 under the Full-Semester Academic Mobility mode.
“The increased record of international exchange students to UniKL not only benefits the international students but also our local students. Their presence provides our local students with the opportunity to communicate and work together with students from different countries and experience internationalization within the local context.
“This semester, UIO has officially introduced the International Buddies Programme in which all inbound students are paired with UniKL students who will become their buddies for the whole semester,” he further noted.
This initiative, Muhammad Nadzri added is in line with the current global mobility trend of creating ‘globalisation at home’ – students can still actively interact and integrate, in order to create a more connected and interdependent global community, without leaving their country.
