News Desk
SHAH ALAM: Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and Tourism Malaysia have signed a Memorandum of Collaboration (MOC) in Hotel UiTM Shah Alam yesterday with the primary objective to strengthen cooperation between the university and the nation’s tourism promotion agency. The signing ceremony was fulfilled by UiTM’s Vice Chancellor, Emeritus Professor Datuk Ir. Dr. Mohd Azraai Kassim and Tourism Malaysia’s Director General, Datuk Musa Yusof, and witnessed by the Dean of the Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, Professor Dr Hj Mohd Salehuddin Mohd Zahari and Tourism Malaysia’s Director of Human Resource, Datin Rafidah Idris.
The MoC between UiTM and Tourism Malaysia marks a new milestone in the formalization of a long and well-established networking relationship between these two institutions. Through this MOC, the cooperation will form a synergy that can be very productive for both parties, particularly in addressing knowledge and skills gap between industry and academia.
“This strategic relationship is necessary to strengthen the tourism and hospitality academia and industry linkage and to ensure UiTM remains competitive by acquiring and sharing current knowledge as the tourism industry progresses, as well as towards the realization of UiTM’s strategic planning, to be a Globally Renowned University by 2025” said Emeritus Professor Datuk Ir. Dr. Mohd Azraai Kassim in his welcoming speech. He expressed his gratitude to see the UiTM and Tourism Malaysia partnership formalized and looks forward to assisting Tourism Malaysia in terms of sharing knowledge, skills, research and labour provision.
Datuk Musa Yusof said it is imperative for the national tourism organization (NTO) like Tourism Malaysia to collaborate with industry including higher education institution to formulate new strategies to ensure the sustainability of the tourism industry, which also faces challenges in marketing digitalization to cater for the targeted market segmentation.
“This collaboration is not only able to produce a more skilled workforce, but will also benefit the development of the organization for both parties as well as forging the best practices of learning organizations,” said Datuk Musa Yusof.
The MoC coverage focuses on the following matters including the exchange of expertise pertaining to the tourism industry, to create opportunities for future joint or allied funding activities and projects that benefit both parties, organization of the conferences, short courses and meetings on tourism research issues, to create a mutual understanding of business opportunities and needs of both parties and mutually promote information and activities between parties within the MoC on their respective website.
