THE International Institute of Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences (I-AQUAS), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) pioneered a collaborative research effort with the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan in the field of marine fish and prawn breeding.
NCKU, which posseses high technologies in producing disease-free parent stocks of tiger prawn and also in breeding and seeding of high-value grouper species, sealed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with UPM on collaborative research to intensify the aquaculture researches in new areas at I-AQUAS.
UPM Vice Chancellor, Prof Datin Paduka Dato’ Dr Aini Ideris said that through the research collaboration, the aspects of expertise and technology sharing and transfer, and training will boost the performance of the newly-upgraded research institute, I-AQUAS and the country’s aquaculture industry in general.
“UPM always strives to enhance the level of researches in the field of agriculture, and through this MoU, both universities can benefit from the knowlege and technology sharing. UPM hopes that the National Cheng Kung University will become the main strategic partner for researches in the agricultural fields in UPM, with the aquaculture and aquatic science branches to begin with.
“This initiative is based on the visibility aspect of UPM, a major agricultural-based research university which offers aquaculture studies under the Faculty of Agriculture; and this is in line with the focus of NCKU in aquaculture researches,” said Aini.
She stated that the initiative towards generating cooperative funds through the ‘Taiwan’s New Southbound Project’ programme will be undertaken by both parties, especially with the signing of the UPM -NCKU memorandum of understanding.
“Among the frameworks of the implementation plan is to provide a platform for I-AQUAS researchers to obtain training and knowledge of new technologies in the aquaculture field from researchers of the NCKU Bioscience and Biotechnology College.
Other beneficial scopes are the technical staff exchange and students mobility for the purpose of technical training which will also be carried out,” said Aini.-UPM
