Greetings from Kuala Lumpur

So my first real post comes to you from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. This two week trip will take me from KL to Shanghai to Singapore to Guangzhou to the UK to Brussels. I will post as much as I can about these places and what my objectives are as I go along.

I am in KL mainly to do some work for the engagement office of the Division. I am here with the Director Linda Griffith who has been doing some great work in this part of the world. We are seeking to make contacts in Malaysia that can contribute to JCU's strategic intent - A Brighter Future for Life in the Tropics Worldwide".

We have a Malaysian Alumni group that meets in KL. We are looking to see how we can contribute to this group - and how it can help us.

Yesterday (Friday) I met with Gavin Gomez at the Australian High Commission. Gavin is the Deputy Director for Australian Education International. Linda had already met with Adam Carlon the Director when she was last in KL. Gavin gave us a briefing on the higher education scene in Malaysia and gave us some leads regarding universities we should be making links with.

Professor Ian Wronski has recently been to KL and made on the spot offers to our medical school. Ian also met with AEI. AEI reported that this had been a very successful visit. Ian also met with our alumni group - which is what I will be doing later today. We have been successful in obtaining scholarships for our programs from the Malaysian Government.

We also met with Puan Sr Datin Seri Dr Susan Cheah. Dr Cheah is an executive member of the Sunway Group. She is also the president of The Malaysian Australian Alumni Committee. We had a very good meeting and she is going to help us to grow our alumni activities in Malaysia. She is also going to help us arrange the program for when our VC visits Malaysia later this year. This picture show Dr Cheah at her meeting with us. I look a little fuzzy in this picture - maybe because I had been up all night flying from Australia to Malaysia!

In between these meetings and on the trip over I have been in almost constant contact with Jodie about our Divisional Plan. This had to be in submitted on Friday - and we did it on time! I would like to thank the Directors for all the hard work that they have put into this plan. I also want to thank Jodie for the work she has done. I was on the phone to her at mid-night on Thursday talking about the plan - now that is dedication. I am meeting with the VC next Thursday to discuss and agree our plan. I will let you know the outcome of that meeting.