The Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MoHE) through its agency Education Malaysia Global Services recently concluded the Education Week which took place from 13^th — 18^thDecember 2021 at the Malaysia Pavilion in Expo 2020 Dubai.

Themed ‘Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)’, the Education Week strongly emphasised the importance of leveraging emerging technologies in education by optimising the digital learning ecosystem, strengthening both Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) through digital learning and cross-industry collaboration to foster greater innovation.

This reflects Malaysia’s support for the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with MoHE’s aspiration on achieving the fourth SDG on Quality Education.

The Minister of Higher Education Malaysia, Datuk Seri Dr. Noraini Ahmad delivered a special address online at the launching ceremony which took place at the Malaysian Pavilion. In her speech, the Minister said that for Malaysia’s higher education institutions to continue their excellent performances, new partnerships must be established between academia, the industry, as well as all other potential collaborators.

The event was subsequently launched by the Director General of Higher Education, Dato’ Prof. Dr.Husaini Omar.

The Ministry also announced a new programme ‘Education Tourism’, also commonly known as, EduTourism, will soon be launched to promote Malaysia as a choice destination for both tourism and education.

Malaysia’s Education Week garnered the participation of 8 governmental agencies under MoHE and the Ministry of Education, 11 public universities, 7 private higher education institutions, and 8 franchised companies specialising in education from early childhood, basic to higher education sector.

The key programmes which took place throughout the week include; a forum on Future Digital Education; early childhood education and online platform learning; 40 pocket talks which covered topics such as environment and sustainability, technical and vocational education training, Islamic education and technology, early childhood education, education through tourism and mobility programmes; product launching; more than 100 business matching meetings; signing of Memorandums of Understanding between Malaysian institutions and international collaborators; and the Asian International Mobility for Students International Conference.

The Education Week is one of the 26 thematic weekly trade and business programmes organised by Malaysia Pavilion in Expo 2020 Dubai. The programmes are spearheaded and supported by 21 ministries, 70 departments and agencies, and 5 state governments, with industry players coming as weekly business delegates.

Malaysia’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai is led by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation with Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation as implementing agency.