Feature

Named after General Sir John Monash, an Australian military commander of the First World War, Monash University was established in 1958. From its first intake of 347 students at Clayton in 1961, the university grew rapidly and by 1967, it had enrolled more than 21,700 students. In 1990, Monash moved beyond the borders of Clayton and merged with the Chisholm Institute of Technology, creating the university's Caulfield and Peninsula campuses. This was followed by the establishment of the Gippsland campus. The following year, the Victorian College of Pharmacy joined the rapidly growing university as the Parkville campus. The growth continued apace with the establishment of a new campus in Berwick in 1994 within the southeastern growth corridor of Melbourne.

In 1998 Monash set up a campus in Malaysia jointly with the Sunway Group which was the first Monash campus outside Australia. A second offshore campus was opened in South Africa in 2001. From a single campus at Clayton with fewer than 400 students, Monash has grown to a network of more than 50,000 students from over 130 countries. Monash is one of the top 40 universities in the world and is in Asia's top 10.

The new purpose-built campus in Sunway was officially opened on September 3 of this year by The Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Tun Haji Abdul Razak.

The Sunway campus of Monash University offers various degrees through five academic schools - School of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Engineering, School of Information Technology and School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The Sunway campus is a diverse, multicultural institution. Out of the 3500 students in this campus 1000 are foreign students from various countries in Asia. There are about 40 Bangladeshi students at the Monash Campus, 25 of which are in studying in the Bachelor of Commerce and Management discipline, 12 in Bachelor of Engineering, one in Bachelor of Communication, one in Bachelor of Science (Biotechnology) and one in Doctor of Philosophy.

One of the Bangladeshi students who recently joined the Monash family is Nashit Arafat who is a first year student of Engineering. Nashit has given his O and A Level examinations from the Bangladesh International School in Saudi Arabia.

Nashit had always wanted to study engineering. When he could not get into BUET he got into AIUB and did one semester there. “I joined Monash mainly because it gives you an international certificate at a minimum fee,” says Nashit, “in Australia the tuition fees are much higher than here and so are the living costs. Also being a Muslim I don't have any problems eating in this country, everything is halal.”

Nashit, whose parents are in Saudi and a sibling in Bangladesh, says that his experience at Monash has been amazing. “The professors here actually explain to you what you're doing as an engineer. The teaching style is really amazing and the teachers are very helpful,” says Nashit, “we have tutorial classes every week where we can do more practical work.”

Nashit is currently staying at the Monash Hostel, which is a walking distance from the campus, but there are also shuttle bus services to and back. “In the beginning it was a bit difficult to become familiar with the place and the people,” says Nashit, “but now I have made a lot of friends and am very comfortable here.”

As one of the eight Monash campuses, the Sunway campus is subject to Monash University for all matters related to academic development, teaching and support. The instructions and experience received in all course work are similar to that received by students studying in Australia. The degrees awarded to the graduates are the same throughout all its eight campuses.

The Sunway campus has research strengths in biotechnology, medicine and health, economic and business modelling, Islamic banking, electronic test technology and agri-business. The new campus is a paradise for research students with state-of-the-art research facilities (having received the Research and Development Excellence Award for private institutions of higher learning from the ministry of Higher Education in 2003), internationally recognised medical school and trainers with comprehensive international exposure.

Mapping the Human Brain
Professor Ishwar Parhar is the Director of Research of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and has done extensive research work first at the Rockefeller University in New York and then as the former Director of the Molecular Neuroendocrinology Unit of the Nippon Medical School in Japan. He has now returned to his home in Malaysia after spending 30 years abroad and set up his own brain research centre at Monash where among other things he is studying the brain of tilapia fish to have a better understanding of the human brain.

“Most brain related problems like depression and Alzheimer's have their origins probably very early in life,” says Parhar talking about his findings, “maybe even while we are in our mother's womb.”

The research works he will focus on concern genomics, behavioural neurogenetics, nanomedicine, neuroinformatics, brain imaging and brain diseases. “What we're looking for is some of the markers that can help us identify how neurons travel,” says Parhar, “you don't need to train the female fish to take care of its babies. You don't train the male to make a nest. But the male makes the nest and the female takes care of the babies. We want to find out how these parental behaviours are regulated.”

“We use nanotechnology for two things one to deliver drugs into the brain, and another to regenerate neurons.” His research work may one day help revive a paralysed limb using nano techniques to re-grow neurons in the right direction. At Monash there already is a huge neurogenomics lab and Professor Parhar is also setting up a neuroinformatics centre.

Bridging The Digital Divide
Gil-Soo Han, Associate Professor & Head of Arts at Monash University, Malaysia is currently working on a project to bridge the huge gap that exists in ICT between urban and rural Malaysia, which holds great relevance for Bangladesh and many Southeast Asian countries.

According to Han as rural population make significant contribution to the nation particularly in developing countries like Bangladesh, it is critical to be able to offer rural population the benefits that are enjoyed by urban population. Han believes that mere provision of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) will not solve all the difficulties related to life in rural communities. (This also applies to any problems in the city.) ICT can take a role in enhancing the life in rural communities.

“Farming, plantation and other rural industries could utilise ICTs to make their business become robust and stay sustainable. ICTs could keep the farmers up-to-date with required skills and knowledge; help them closely informed of the needs of consumers and market situations or help the farmers interact with the consumers in the city directly to maximise their profits; it could also help them connect to other rural population who are involved in similar work or facing similar farming issues and problems; they could be educated with farm management skills for effective running of their enterprise. Overall, their economic activities could be better supported and modernised for their most benefits which would improve productivity,” says Han.

“Effective education of future generation, through the exposure of the children to rich and educative information available outside the rural community or through the Internet, could be pursued. Urban children frequently utilise the Internet for their homework, utilising a vast amount of knowledge available there.”

“Effective use of ICTs could also help their families living in rural and urban areas stay connected. The family values could be well preserved -- the list goes on.” Han also believes that mere provision of ICTs including mobile phones, computers and internet is not going to resolve the issues. “Proper investigation of people at grassroots level in terms of their awareness of ICTs and their needs to have ICTs and proper education of the population as to how the ICTs can be best utilised are crucial. Service facilities in terms of where people can seek support and personnel are also crucial. Also critical is the government's commitment and long-term investment in terms of financial support and providing infrastructure,” adds Han.

Professor Richard Larkins, the Vice Chancellor & President of Monash University believes that the partnership with the Sunway campus is a successful, international operation. “It's a wonderful opportunity to build a partnership not only between Australia and Malaysia but also throughout South East Asia,” he says, “and gradually the campus is becoming increasing international and is attracting students from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka as well as Indonesia and other countries in the region.”

“We believe higher education should be multicultural. Students can learn a lot about each other and their countries. Links and network formed here help with trade and business later on and students are better equipped to professionally function in a globalised world. We want this campus to be an international university so we welcome students from different countries and cultures.”

The medical school of Monash in Malaysia is fully accredited by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and is the only medical programme offered outside Australia and New Zealand to receive such an accreditation. This means that if the graduates from Malaysia wish to practice in Australia (or New Zealand), the AMC would not put any further barriers (provided they get a visa) in their way. Students from the medical programme have access to government clinics and a range of private facilities and they are all expected to do at least 3 months of their final year in Australia, so they have an understanding of the western clinical environment. The university is also going to start Pharmacy in 2009.

“It's a complicated thing to set up a medical school,” says Professor Merilyn Liddell, the Pro Vice Chancellor and President (Malaysia), “and we wanted to be sure that we were providing really high quality education. We expect to take in about 110 medical students in February 2008.”

There are opportunities for scholarships for overseas meritorious students. Those who don't earn scholarships when they enter can also get merit scholarships based on their performance in the course. Depending on how well they do, it can be 50% to a full scholarship. There are also a lot of post-graduate research scholarships. “At this campus we make no distinctions between local and overseas students,” says Liddell. Although the Malaysian government laws restrict students from being able to work, Monash University is lobbying with the authorities to allow students to work inside the university campus. It also has a comprehensive student services programme that helps with employment seeking after graduation. A purpose-built student hostel is being built near the university and is expected to be ready by 2009/2010 which will have about 1500 beds and will be primarily accessible for international students.

For more information on the Sunway campus of Monash University please visit:
http://www.monash.edu.my/newcampus/index.htm

Photo Courtesy: Monash University, Malaysia