Queensland---Officers of the Executive Board of the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources met in Queensland, Australia on 2-3 December 2008. The meeting, which was the 21st annual meeting of the University Consortium (UC), was held at the University of Queensland (UQ), Gatton campus. The meeting was focused on the following: 1) directions of the UC in the succeeding years, 2) partnerships, and 3) plans and activities for fund generation. Dr. Roger Swift, Executive Dean of the UQ Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Veterinary Science, chaired the meeting.
Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan, director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), an associate member of the UC and head of the UC Secretariat presented SEARCA’s Ninth Five-Year Plan which will pursue more focused selection of programs, projects, and themes under the two broad thrusts namely: Agricultural Competitiveness and Natural Resource Management. In the next five years, SEARCA’s activities will be more regionalized and will strongly engage the UC in collaborative projects, particularly in hosting of SEARCA scholars, researchers and scientists and in designing joint graduate programs; research and training courses, and Sandwich programs for MS and PhD.
Dr. Richard Williams, Associate Dean, Faculty of the UQ Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science, presented information on the availability of Australian grants and opportunities to the UC such as the Australian Leadership Awards and the Asian Public Sector Linkage Awards. Dr. Williams said that proposals have to be submitted in order to apply for these grants.
During the meeting, the UC Executive Board also decided to hire an expert to come up with a marketing plan for the UC (to emphasize the value adding features and track record of the UC) and come up with proposals to generate funds for the UC. During the meeting, a Fund-Raising Working Group was formed, which is composed of representatives from among the UC members, namely: UQ, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM); University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB), and SEARCA.
After careful deliberation, the Board agreed on the following priority themes for projects of UC in the next two years: a) Food security and biosafety; b) Biofuel and global warming; climate change; competition between food and bio-fuel. The Board also approved the continued implementation of ongoing student and faculty exchanges with combined funding from the UC and other sources, as well as the annual UC meetings.
The Tokyo University of Agriculture in Japan will be the host of the 22nd UC meeting tentatively scheduled on the second week of November 2009.
Participants of the meeting were Dr. Khairil Anwar Notodiputro, Dean of Graduate School, Dr. Rinekso Soekmadi, Director, Directorate of Collaboration and International Programs, both from Institut Pertanian Bogor, Indonesia; Dr. Masyhuri, Director, Center for World Trade Studies, Office of International Affairs, and Dr. Ali Wibowo, Professor, both from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia; Professor Dr. Aini Ideris, Dean of Graduate School, and Dr. Hasanah Mohd. Ghazali, Deputy Dean, School of Graduate Studies, both from Universiti Putra Malaysia; Dr. Mahesh Upadhyaya, Associate Dean, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences Graduate Studies, and Dr. David Kitts, Professor and Program Director of Food, Nutrition and Health, both from University of British Columbia, Canada; Professor Dr. Roger Swift, Executive Dean, and Dr. Richard Williams, Professor and Coordinator, Faculty International Programs, both from the Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Australia; Dr. Akimi Fujimoto, Director of International Programs, and Dr. Mariko Uehara, Deputy Director of International Programs, both from the Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan; Dr. Luis Rey I. Velasco, Chancellor, and Dr. Oscar B. Zamora, Dean of Graduate School, both from the University of the Philippines Los Baños; Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan, Director; and Dr. Editha C. Cedicol, Manager of Graduate Scholarship Department, both from the SEAMEO SEARCA.
The UC was established in September 1989 at SEARCA, College, Laguna, Philippines and its founding members are Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) and Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Indonesia; Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM); Kasetsart University (KU) in Thailand; and University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). Its associate members are University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada; University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia; the Georg-August University of Goettingen (GAUG) in Germany, and Tokyo University of Agriculture (TUA) in Japan. SEARCA initiated the establishment of the UC and is the seat of the UC Secretariat.
