The Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) will hold its 34th UC Executive Board Meeting online on 16-17 December 2021, hosted by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. The Consortium is anticipating the virtual attendance of representatives from its Regular Members, Kasetsart University (KU), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), IPB University (IPB), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), and Universitas Brawijaya (UB). Also attending the board meeting are the two UC Associate Members, Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tokyo NODAI) and National Taiwan University (NTU), and Affiliate Member, University of British Columbia (UBC).
This year's UC Executive Board Meeting will also be the first time for its new Affiliate Members, Central Luzon State University (CLSU) and Visayas State University (VSU) from the Philippines, and Maejo University (MjU) in Thailand, to participate in the meeting. The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) serves as Secretariat of the UC with Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio as Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Maria Cristeta N. Cuaresma as UC Coordinator.
The UC was established in 1989 to share resources and collaborate on student and faculty exchanges among leading agricultural universities. Now on its 32nd year, the UC continues to offer competitive student and faculty grants and activities hosted by the different member institutions which are regularly reviewed during the board meeting. The UC also discusses ongoing dual or joint degrees as well as proposed collaborative research studies among the members and institutional partners outside Southeast Asia.
