About 19 hours on a plane separate the state of Ohio and the country of Malaysia, but still Ohio University maintains a working relationship, one that’s been around since before current students were born.
This is not the only enduring tie that OU has overseas. Malaysia is but one of the university’s three longstanding foreign partnerships. Chubu University in Japan and the University of Leipzig in Germany are the other two of these decades-long relationships that OU maintains, allowing for exchanges and academic alliances between the institutions.
“(OU) develops long-term relationships in strategic locations,” said Ming Li, the interim executive director for the Center for International Studies. “Long-term means both institutions are committed to maintain these relationships (and they) enhance their relationship with this strong commitment.”
The longest standing relationship of the three is with Chubu University, where the inaugural trip by an OU professor to teach overseas was more than 35 years ago. Now there is a constant exchange of both faculty and students between universities.
“I think that the impact (of these strong relationships) on our students is really strong,” said Catherine Marshall, director of the Office for Education Abroad. “With the breadth that (the relationship) has, even if they can’t travel there, (they still benefit) from the intellectual product, the cultural products (and) the networking.”
The Tun Abdul Razak chair, a position that began in 1980, is an offshoot of OU’s partnership with Malaysia. The Malaysian Ministry of Education, along with the Tun Razak Council and OU, selects a senior Malaysian scholar to become a professor at OU with a two-year tenure.
The current chair is Habibah Ashari, whose residency will be extended a year due to her high level of activity and involvement at the university. She is the second woman to hold the title. In Malaysia, she serves as the director of the International Education College at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), with which OU is closely affiliated.
“(Serving as Tun Abdul Razak chair) is really a blessing,” Ashari said. “It’s a life changing experience, teaching American students and finding out students are the same all over the world.”
Along with the two classes Ashari teaches about Malaysia, she has also begun programming, such as the Malaysian Festival, which took place in April 2012.
OU also celebrated a 20-year partnership with Leipzig University this past September. Along with normal exchange programs, there are various other opportunities, including faculty-led study abroad programs.
Li said the partnerships are highly valuable to the university, and allow students to gain a perspective that aligns with OU’s vision statement. The statement asserts that OU will be a place where “alumni become global leaders.”
“Mutual relationships will benefit our students’ global competencies,” Li said. “Our students (need) to take advantage of all the opportunities because the world is now so (globalized).”
eb104010@ohiou.edu
