The Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) virtually conducted its 34th Executive Board Meeting on 16-17 December 2021 hosted by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. The meeting was attended by representatives from its six (6) regular members, two (2) associate members, four (4) affiliate members, and its Secretariat.
The Consortium welcomed its newly appointed officials from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) and Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tokyo NODAI). These are Prof. Budi Guntoro, S.Pt., M.Sc., PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Animal Science, and Dr. Hatma Suryatmojo, S.Hut., M.Si, Head, Center of Academic Innovation and Studies, as UC Executive Officer and UC Coordinator, respectively for UGM; while for Tokyo NODAI, we have Prof. Dr. Machito Mihara and Ms. Naho Goto, Director and Chief Officer, respectively, of the Center for Global Initiatives, as UC Executive Officer and UC Coordinator.
During the meeting, the Secretariat presented the list of applicants from the member universities of the State Universities and Colleges - Association of Colleges of Agriculture in the Philippines, Inc. (SUC-ACAP) for mobility to the UC, as part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the UC members and SUC-ACAP. This Mobility Program is a component of the project Leveling Up Philippine Higher Education Institutions in Agriculture, Fisheries, and Natural Resources (LevelUPHEI AFaR), funded by the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) through SEARCA and the mobility will commence in early 2022.
The UC Executive Board also agreed to submit another ERASMUS+ project proposal taking off from the successful 2016-2019 ERASMUS+ Capacity Building for Higher Education program on the Joint Master of Science in Food Security and Climate Change (MS FSCC) degree.
The meeting also planned for its activities and grants program for 2022. UC member constituents may anticipate the conduct of the 2022 UC Summer School to be hosted by Universitas Brawijaya (UB) in Malang, Indonesia in partnership with Montpellier SupAgro of France. This Summer School will be held back-to-back with the 35th UC Executive Board Meeting, with UB as host.
The 2022 Graduate Forum shall be hosted by Maejo University in Thailand while the 2022 Faculty Forum shall be organized by Central Luzon State University in the Philippines. Both events will be the first UC annual activities that these new Affiliate members shall organize.
The UC members represented in the meeting are the regular members, Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Kasetsart University (KU), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), and Universitas Brawijaya (UB); the UC Associate Members, Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tokyo NODAI) and National Taiwan University (NTU); University of British Columbia (UBC) of Canada, Maejo University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Visayas State University, and Central Luzon State University, both from the Philippines, as Affiliate Members; and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), the Secretariat of the UC.
For more information about the UC and its annual activities, grants, and scholarships, visit https://uc.searca.org/.