Malaysia and Turkiye have made a major stride in strengthening their educational relationship with the establishment of a Joint Working Committee to promote cooperation in higher education. The pact was agreed upon during the first Malaysia-Türkiye Joint Committee Meeting, which was conducted in Istanbul in conjunction with the Eurasia Higher Education Summit (EURIE) 2025.
It was co-chaired by Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir, Malaysia's Higher Education Minister, and President of Türkiye's Council of Higher Education (YOK), Professor Erol Özvar. Senior management officials, academicians, vice-chancellors, and rectors from top universities in both countries attended.
In a media statement on April 9, Zambry disclosed that the committee will meet every year, with the hosting responsibilities being rotated between the two nations. Malaysia will host the next gathering in 2026.
The committee agreed on enlarging the spectrum of cooperation on a number of strategic areas of cooperation that would further promote higher education system development in both countries. One such highlight was joint commitment to financially support research programs in strategic sectors and offer training and capacity-development programs for governmental officials, lecturers, researchers, and students.
Additional discussions were also resolved to further improve the impact of scholarship programs for Turkish and Malaysian students. The two countries will also decide on focal areas of cooperation for academic and research studies.
It was also highlighted that TVET and polytechnics must be improved, and emphasis was particularly made on focus skill areas such as maritime, engineering, and technology—domains that both nations prioritized.
The session also involved a discussion of an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to verify its continued validity and effectiveness in accordance with existing educational objectives.
Throughout the event, a number of new Letters of Intent (LoIs) and MoUs were inked between Malaysian and Turkish institutions. These included agreements between Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Ondokuz Mayis University, and Istanbul Gedik University. Other MoUs were signed between Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Kocaeli University, and Hacettepe University. A LoI was also signed between the Polytechnic Education Department and Karabuk University, and Istanbul Technical University.
This Joint Committee Meeting represents a new chapter in Malaysia-Turkiye collaboration in higher education. It lays the groundwork for high-impact partnerships in knowledge exchange, collaborative research, and global talent building", concluded Zambry.
