Malaysia Airlines - UiTM Flying High to Promote International Academic Cooperation

Shah Alam, 8 September 2022: Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) and Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today to collaborate in the areas of sustainable aviation and higher education, each leveraging on their strengths and strong position in the respective industries.

The wide-ranging initiatives include institutional exchanges between faculty and staff from each partner institution; joint knowledge-sharing sessions through the organisation of events such as symposia, conferences, short courses, development of collaborative projects and publications; as well as cross-marketing and promotional activities.

The signing ceremony was formalised by the Vice-Chancellor of UiTM, YBhg. Prof. Datuk Ts. Dr Hajah Roziah Mohd Janor with Group Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Aviation Group, Captain Izham Ismail at Galeri Seni Tuanku Nur Zahirah (GESTURZ), UiTM Shah Alam.

As the largest institution of higher education in Malaysia, UiTM has been collaborating and taking proactive measures with industry players in maximizing initiatives to strengthen, promote and develop based on the 3 Degree of Separation concept: Academia – Industry – Community among the academic and non-academic staff, students, and alumni to further enhance UiTM’s International Networking Collaboration.

“Today’s MoU will become the era of bounding between UiTM and MAB. The transitions and changes that are taking place in our academia – industry environment will ensure the continuity of our national agenda without compromising Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as we strive to give our best to provide quality education,” said the Vice-Chancellor.

The Vice-Chancellor also anticipated further engagement in the academia-industry experiences between UiTM and Malaysia Airlines. She believed that the organisations’ state–of–the–art infrastructure and technology could enhance further collaboration, institutional exchanges, joint–knowledge sharing sessions, research and publication, experts’ columnist, or editorial write–up, and mutual promotion activities that can benefit the partnership and innovative education in numerous ways.

Additionally, employees of Malaysia Airlines will be able to gain the advantage of self-development programs to further their studies or conduct research.

According to Captain Izham Ismail, “As the national carrier, Malaysia Airlines, along with our sister companies in the Malaysia Aviation Group, we acknowledge the need to prepare future-ready talents and build a pipeline of innovators to serve the aviation and travel industries. We are honoured to be appointed as the strategic airline partner for UiTM and to foster this relationship with them, as we promote international academic cooperation between both parties."

Captain Izham mentioned that this partnership builds on their longstanding relationship with UiTM as designer of their female cabin crew uniform, the iconic 'kebaya' that remains the symbol of pride for the airline and the majestic Harimau Malaya livery for our A330 aircraft.

"We look forward to creating more collaborative works, especially with UiTM students. They can explore research and development of Malaysia Airlines' products and services such as the inflight meal service and entertainment while promoting a hands-on learning experience and working on exciting projects with Malaysia Airlines,” said Captain Izham.

In conjunction with the MoU Signing, Malaysia Airlines and its sister company Firefly are pleased to extend a discount of 15% on airfares to all UiTM alumni registered in the MyAlumni UiTM mobile app to domestic and selected international destinations. Terms and conditions apply.