Two PHDs For The Price Of One

PETALING JAYA, April 16, 2008 (Bernama)

University Malaya (UM) and University of Sydney (UoS) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a Cotutelle Agreement to pave the way for PhD students to earn joint doctorates from the two universities.

This was the first time that such a programme between two such august universities was being undertaken, marking a historical event in Malaysia's academic world, said UM Vice-Chancellor Datuk Dr Rafiah Salim.She said under the agreement, students need only pay their fees to the home institution while they are exempted from paying to the host institution.She said the students would spend a year in UM, and another in UoS, and the rest at a university of their choice.

"By the end of their programme, these students will be receiving two PhDs from both universities, instead of just one."To make things easier for our students, they need only to pay the fees at the home university (UM) and not at the host university."This is in lieu with our vision and mission of turning UM into a world renowned centre of academic excellence and research," Dr Rafiah told reporters after launching the "Enhancing Human Performance" research symposium at the University Malaya Medical Centre here.

At the signing ceremony, UM was represented by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Professor Dr Ikram Shah and Sports Centre director Dr Ashril Yusof while UoS was represented by Health Sciences Faculty Pro-Dean Associate Professor Martin Thompson."We've had many undergraduate programmes in the country but this is the first time we are doing something like this.

What is unique about this programme is that the students will only pay a single fee at their home university and will receive two PhDs."We are looking forward to expanding our horizons with other universities, as well as our other faculties. Currently, the faculties involved are the sports and medicine faculties," added Dr Rafiah.