Two Professors of the FF UNAIR, Prof. Dr. apt. Noorma Rosita, M.Si. and Prof. apt. Rr. Retno Widyowati, S.Si., M.Pharm., Ph.D., conducted a visit to the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia. This visit agenda was successfully implemented on Thursday, August 6, 2026. This visit was part of efforts to strengthen academic relationships while opening wider collaboration opportunities between the two institutions.
Prof. Noorma and Prof. Retno were warmly received by Dr. Ezatul Ezleen binti Kamarulzaman (who introduced USM's community service programs and served as adjunct professor at UNAIR), Dr. Nur Hidayah Kaz binti Abdul Aziz (community service activity coordinator), and Dr. Hadzliana Zainal (Deputy Dean for Academic, Career & International at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia).
During this visit, the two FF UNAIR professors discussed various collaboration opportunities. The exchange of ideas included the potential for joint research development, exchange of knowledge and expertise, and opportunities for developing academic activities that could involve the academic community from both institutions.
Beyond discussing research, this visit also became a momentum to finalize preparations for collaborative community service activities (pengmas) that would be conducted on August 7-9, 2026 in Selangor, Malaysia. These activities were expected to serve as concrete evidence of higher education institutions' contributions in providing benefits to society while strengthening international cooperation networks.
Preparations for the community service activities were discussed in more depth to ensure program implementation could run optimally. This collaboration between academics from Indonesia and Malaysia was hoped to be able to present an approach relevant to community needs and serve as a space for sharing experiences and knowledge across countries.
This activity also supported the SDGs, particularly SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals, through strengthening partnerships among cross-country higher education institutions to produce sustainable and impactful collaboration.
