The Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC) ended the past year with a total of 42 grants awarded to UC graduate students and faculty members. Among those conferred were 5 student thesis grantees, 26 student travel grantees for research, and 8 student grantees for credit.
For UC faculty members, a travel grant was awarded to faculty members of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) to visit Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) to discuss the proposed International Collaborative Program on MS in Tropical Biodiversity and Conservation among these three institutions. Dr. Daljit Singh A/L Karam Singh of UPM and Dr. Anchasa Pramuanjaroenkij of Kasetsart University (KU) were also awarded travel grants to serve as Visiting Professor for Teaching Purposes at Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tokyo NODAI). Dr. Daljit delivered a lecture on "Land Development of Soil Management" on 12-25 September 2016, while Dr. Anchasa will give a lecture on "Heat Transfer Methods, Technologies, and Application in Agro-Industry" on 4-15 January 2017 at Tokyo NODAI.
Meanwhile, UC and Tokyo NODAI recently signed the renewal of their Memorandum of Agreement for the Joint Dissertation Doctorate scholarship. This Dissertation Doctorate Program for Agriculture and Natural Resources aims to contribute to the enhancement of agricultural research and development in Southeast Asia through the provision of a Tokyo NODAI-UC scholarship for eligible candidates to complete their doctorate dissertation. In particular, the program allows the grantee to stay in Tokyo-NODAI for one month every year to consult with his/her assigned academic adviser in order to complete his/her research work within three years. The Call for Applications is now open until March 2017 to all UC member universities.
Launched in 1989, the University Consortium was an initiative of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and its five founding members to promote collaboration among its members to enhance graduate education and research in agriculture, environment, and natural resources in the Southeast Asian region.
Application requirements and other details about the Consortium and its programs can be found in the UC website at http://uc.searca.org. (Eriza C. Asilo)
