The Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) will host this year’s Executive Board Meeting of the Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC), a consortium of leading agricultural universities in Southeast Asia. Preparations for the meeting are spearheaded by Prof. Dr. Bujang Kim Huat, Dean, School of Graduate Studies and UPM’s Coordinator for UC. 

The annual meeting to be held on 19-20 November 2012, is expected to gather the representatives from UPM, Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), Kasetsart University (KU), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Tokyo University of Agriculture (TUA), University of Queensland (UQ), University of British Columbia (UBC), and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (GAUG).

During the 2-day meeting, the group will once again evaluate the accomplishments of the Consortium for the past year and craft its future directions to help achieve the Consortium’s mission of enhancing graduate education and research in agriculture, environment, and natural resources for the benefit of the Southeast Asian region. 

Initiated by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) in 1989, the UC is a commitment made among leading Southeast Asian higher education institutions to share academic expertise and resources. Today, the University Consortium is an effective network linking strong universities in Southeast Asia, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Japan.