The Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Selangor, was honored to receive an online visitation by the Language Center, National Defence University of Malaysia, last March. The virtual visit aimed to benchmark Bachelor of Education (Hons.) Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL), a program offered by the Department of TESL. The Faculty of Education was one of the institutions understudied in parallel with the Language Centre’s needs to develop and offer a similar academic program.
A meeting attended by the top management of both institutions was held. On the Faculty of Education’s side, in addition to the Dean and Deputy Deans, members of the meeting consisted of the representative from the TESL Department and Postgraduate Department. The National Defence University of Malaysia was represented by Brig Jen Prof. Ir Dr. Norazman Mohamad Nor, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation); Prof. Dr. Azizi Miskon, Director Center for Research and Innovation Management; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Norhashima Zainal Shah, Director Language Center; Dr. Ahmad Thamrini Fadzlin Syed Mohamed, Deputy Director (Research and Postgraduate); and several lecturers from the center.
Welcoming the delegates, Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr. Sharipah Ruzaina Syed Aris, the Dean of the Faculty of Education UiTM, addressed members of the meeting by providing a brief overview of UiTM and the Faculty of Education. Dr. Wan Nurul Elia Haslee Sharil, Ketua Pusat Pengajian for Arts and Humanities, then proceeded to share information about the TESL Department and the bachelor’s degree program. The sharing session was fruitful, with significant concerns that Language Center had about curriculum, administrative and operational aspects of the soon-to-be-developed-program were addressed.