UK Malaysia University Consortium: Inaugural Student Conference

Intercultural Perspectives on Sustainable Development and Equality in Higher Education

Dates: Monday 17 to Friday 21 July 2023

Venue: Universiti MalayaInstagram

Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Conference programme and activities

Over five days, students from across the UK and Malaysia will come together at the Universiti Malaya to discuss issues and identify solutions based around United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Equality in Higher Education.

Through a mixture of guest lectures, hands on workshops and cultural activities, students will develop their knowledge of sustainable development and build friendships and international networks in the stunning capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.

Undergraduate students from any discipline are welcome to apply.

View the Conference poster

View the Conference programme

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

The ESD aims to:

  • Prepare young people to meet the challenges of the 21st century
  • Promote global citizenship
  • Promote sustainability competence
  • Foster critical thinking and innovations
  • Help students understand and value the importance of sustainability

If you have any queries, please contact the following:

COIL logo

COIL Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Challenge

The COIL SDG challenge is to encourage students to apply what they have learnt in class and translate it into innovation ideas to solve current problems.  Through this experiential learning, students will be able to develop diverse skill sets including analytical thinking, problem solving and sense making.

In this part of the Conference Programme students will:

  • Identify real-life issues related to 21st Century Global Challenges
  • Propose solutions to solve the issues
  • Solutions must include specific SDG goals to be achieved
  • Develop a mock-up on the proposed prototype and pitch solutions to judges from during the Conference in July
  • Work collaboratively and transdisciplinary

Delivery platforms

  • Padlet
    Padlet is an enhanced digital noticeboard platform that which facilitates communications between students and teachers.
  • Gathertown
    Gathertown is a virtual space platform that offers a way of conducting online meetings, events, and conferences. The platform provides a 2D environment where users can interact with each other in real-time, as if they were in the same physical location.
  • Other video conferencing tools such as ZOOM and WEBEX

The buddy scheme

Programme structure

  • Padlet: Introduction to all participants
  • The Story Circle
  • The Global Culture Poster

UNESCO: Story Circles

Story Circles involve the sharing of personal experiences within gatherings of three or more people. Based on an underlying value of the importance of human connection, Story Circles uphold respect and openness as foundational aspects of any story circle, both of which are fundamental in the development of intercultural competencies.

Please note:
respect and openness must be upheld by all participants for the Story Circles experience to succeed.

Story Circles operate on two presuppositions:

  • We are all interconnected through human rights
  • Each person has inherent dignity and worth

It is important to remember that:

  • Every person has personal experience that can be shared
  • We all have something to learn from others
  • Listening for understanding is transformational

Students in groups of 4 participants will be divided into separate breakout rooms, ideally two from each nationality. There will be a scheduled online synchronous session, which will be conducted online.

Duration: 1 to 1.5 hours

Read the Manual for developing intercultural competencies: story circles.

Global culture poster

Students are required to prepare a poster titled Global Culture.This is an asynchronous activity where they will make their own plans to communicate with group members. The design of the poster is up to students’ creativity and there will be a physical poster presentation in July.

Size: DIN AO (841 x 1189mm), vertical format

Format: PDF file, pictures should be in CMYK colour scale and should have at least a resolution of 150 dpi

Duration: 1 week