The President of Yarmouk University, Prof. Malek A. Alsharairi, and the Director of the Higher Education for Innovation and Growth Project, Dr. Abdullah Ali Abdullah, signed a memorandum of understanding between the two parties to coordinate efforts in implementing the HEIG project. The project is supported by the U.S. Department of State and implemented through the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) in the medical manufacturing sector.
The memorandum aims to support the university’s efforts to improve its core functions and enhance its institutional efficiency through the implementation of the project in cooperation with Virginia Tech University in the United States and the Business and Professional Women Association.
The memorandum stipulates the formation of a technical committee to manage and facilitate the project’s activities, the allocation of the necessary human resources for its implementation, the review of institutional performance improvement plans, and the assessment of institutional capacities.
Under the memorandum, the university will host and support the Collaborative Catalytic Consortium in Medical Manufacturing (C3), mobilize researchers in relevant fields of study as active members of the consortium, and enhance industrial cooperation among them. In addition, the university will participate in the network of higher education institutions to be established during the project and take part in the workshops held as part of its activities.
The memorandum also stipulates that IREX will cooperate with the university in implementing a higher education institutional capacity assessment tool and in developing an action plan to improve performance, in order to guide and coordinate the technical and material assistance provided to the university within a specified timeline. IREX will also ensure the provision of the necessary material resources to the university based on the assessment results and in accordance with the performance improvement plan.
During the signing ceremony, Alsharairi affirmed that cooperation with the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) represents one of the successful and effective partnerships that have enabled the university to participate in the implementation of several pioneering and distinguished projects. He emphasized the university’s continued commitment to strengthening and supporting networking with the private and industrial sectors in a manner that serves the educational, research, and training processes at the university.
He also praised the outstanding level of the project team from the Hijjawi Faculty for Engineering Technology, as well as the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy, and their efforts to advance the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector and activate applied programs and studies that positively reflect on community service and development on the one hand, and on the advancement of the applied aspect in the university’s various faculties on the other.
For his part, Dr. Abdullah commended Yarmouk University’s strong academic reputation and the academic competencies it encompasses, which are capable of employing their knowledge and expertise in serving and developing communities. He noted that throughout the project’s implementation phases, networking between the university and the industrial sector will be strengthened in a way that embodies the concept of integrating academia with industry and ensures the optimal utilization of the university’s capabilities in conducting studies and implementing programs related to pharmaceutical manufacturing.
