By Sarah Elizabeth N. Allen, CASS
ASEAN University Network/ Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development (AUN/SEED ) conducted its Intensive Training Program on Promotion for University–Industry (UI) Linkage on November 5-15, 2013 in Nagoya and Toyohashi, Japan. (see related story on AUN/SEED-Net)
Engr. Eulalio C. Creencia of the Chemical Technology Department of MSU-IIT, along with 9 other delegates from the four ASEAN countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, attended this intensive training to join the promotion of UI linkages among working institutions and universities within the ASEAN network.
Creencia, having been the active representative of MSU-IIT since its AUN/SEED-Net membership, said this experience was more goal specific than ‘impressionistic’.
According to him, he and other participants were made to submit a written analytical output for every exposure trip and seminar attended. This was to train them to do the same for the future caravan conferences they will be doing in their respective countries.
In line with this training requirement, last November 27, 2013, Creencia and Prof. Edgar Allan Donasco, Dean of the MSU-IIT, College of Engineering (COE), conducted a seminar on UI Linkages held at the COE for both the faculty and staff of the college.
The purpose was to inform the constituents about the partnership with AUN/SEED-Net as well as to promote research ideas that would be relevant not only to IIT but to the wider context of East Asia. The output from the seminar was immediately sent to the members of AUN/SEED-Net as partial completion of the training.
Now that AUN/SEED-Net is at its third Phase, its primary objective is to operate academic and sustainable development linkages among its member institutions. Moreover, Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), the AUN/SEED-Net host will soon gradually withdraw its financing so that the ASEAN Network would be able to operate to its full potential, while being responsible not only with academic research collaborations but also including the financial strategizing needed to support each other.
The idea of setting this UI linkage is the primary goal of JICA to create bridges between ASEAN universities including that of Japan in order to promote sustainable development across East Asia. This project focuses its objective and goals on academic researches, conferences and trainings for both student and faculty so that every member institute will be globally inclined to promote science and technology.
In one exposure trip, according to Creencia, “It was truly a holistic training. It was very challenging yet fun at the same time”.
He and his co-participants witnessed a university dealing with tomato production using space age technology. The goal of this research was to produce 50 tons of tomatoes in a 1000 sq. meter space. In this tomato research, they were made to assess and give feedback in terms of the plantation’s produce parallel to the demand in the market. In other words, the research promotes not only engineering and technology but including marketability.
The responsibility weighs heavily on member institutes constituted by UP Diliman, De La Salle University and MSU-IIT as university links from the Philippines. The three universities met on Dec. 4 this year to set up country-wide plans to help promote and sponsor University Industry Linkages seminar/ workshops for 2015.
MSU-IIT looks forward to expanding industrial linkages with the AUN/SEED-Net for academic research and education.
Engineer Eulalio C. Creencia (standing 6th from left) with participants during an Intensive Training Program on Promotion for University-Industry Linkage on November 5-15, 2013 in Nagoya and Toyohashi, Japan. (contributed photo)
Topics : linkages engineering