By Asmahanim Amir
Pix Ikhwan Hashim

PUTRAJAYA, 18 Jan 2016 – The Faculty of Economics and Management (FEP) of The National University of Malaysia (UKM) earned a total of RM3.6 million from 132 research grants up till now from various parties, domestically and outside the country.

Vice-Chancellor, Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali said faculty members have been involved in research related to the fields of monetary and fiscal and financial and banking.

“FEP has expertise in various fields of economics and management who can help the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in realising the aspirations of government and nation.

“For this time, FEP has nine research groups. There are international trade and industry research groups, development and human research management, economic development and community, Islamic economy and muamalat, consumerism, and the applications of accounting and financial management,” he said at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UKM and the Finance Ministry here on Jan 13.

He said outstanding FEP researches had attracted the interest of several agencies to sponsor Research Chairs such as the Chair of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and Tun Ismail Mohamed Ali Foundation (YTI).

“These endowments will enhance the ability of the faculty members in research that help resolve economic and social problems,” he said.

Prof Noor Azlan said cooperation between UKM and MOF will open up opportunities  for both parties to optimise resources in producing output in the form of a more realistic and practical policy.

“I believe this collaboration will enhance the ability of the faculty in recommending policies that cover a large scope other than purely academic theories. I am also confident this cooperation will benefit both parties in research, training, publication, seminars and knowledge-sharing,” he explained.

Meanwhile, The Secretary General of the Treasury, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah said this is the first ever MoU of cooperation between MOF and a higher education institution.

“This is the first time we have an MoU with a university. So I hope this MoU will extend to other universities because we have many areas that can be explored,” he  remarked.

He said benefits will be yielded with this strategic cooperation, for both parties in particular and the country in general.

Among the key areas of this cooperation are discussions of drafting an annual budget especially through Focus Groups and capacity building such as the introduction of econometric methods to new officers in the MOF.

Besides that, there will be collaborations through conferences related to economics and finance and knowledge-sharing in terms of Macroeconomics and Microeconomics will also be emphasised during this period.