Putrajaya FOI: 68 Agreements Inked, Over RM158 Mln In ROI

PUTRAJAYA, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- A total of 68 strategic cooperation agreements, with a return on investment (ROI) exceeding RM158 million, were inked over two days of the Festival Idea Putrajaya (FOI) 2025 programme, which began yesterday.

Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) and Letter of Intent (LoI) at the FOI proved the ministry's ongoing commitment to strengthening the network of strategic collaboration at the national and international levels.

"Most of these collaborations focused on the field of high-impact research, particularly in the health and agriculture sectors, as well as various other fields that provide direct benefits to the people,” he said in a statement today.

In addition, he said there were sharing service initiatives with industry players, such as the implementation of industrial training programmes that provide students with the opportunity to gain real-world experience in related companies.

"Such efforts not only strengthen relations between universities and industries, but also ensure that our graduates are better prepared to meet the current needs of the job market,” he said.

According to Zambry, the return on investment (ROI) on the first day was RM137,703,574, while for the second day it was RM21,241,358.

He added that the first day involved the participation of 31 public universities (UAs) and four Departments of Polytechnic Education and Community College Education (JPPKKs), with 31 industries; and 22 UAs and 11 private higher educational institutions (IPTS), with 34 industries, on the second day.

The most prominent was the National Defence University of Malaysia (UPNM), which had the highest participation among UA, with nine MoA worth RM1.91 million; while Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UNIKL) emerged as the most active IPTS, with five MoA and one MoU worth RM2.995 million.

The Ministry of Higher Education said that the highest ROI contributor was Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA), with a total of RM117,505 million, while the IPTS with the highest ROI was Multimedia University (MMU), with RM5 million.

-- BERNAMA