International Agreements with the FAU College of Education

University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

June 6, 2007:

A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was first signed by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Malaya and President Frank Brogan. The agreement was negotiated between Professor Tony Townsend, former Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at FAU and Dr Rahimah Ahmad from the University of Malaya’s Institute for Principal Studies.

The Department of Educational Leadership entered into a three year agreement with the Institute of Principalship Studies to support them running a summer leadership institute, for joint research purposes and to support UM in hosting the 2010 International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement held in Kuala Lumpur.

June 2008

FAU Professors Townsend and John Pisapia visited with professors at the Institute at Principalship Studies to conduct a series of workshops in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching and to begin a research study on Strategic Leadership.

Dr Pisapia collaborated with Drs. Tie Fatt Hee and Chua Yan Piaw of the Institute to collect data using the Strategic Thinking Questionnaire and Strategic Leadership Questionnaire which was presented at the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management in Durban ; Dr Townsend collaborated with Drs Rahimah Haj Ahmad, Tie Fatt Hee and Chua Yan Piaw to develop Leadership Standards, presented at a symposium at the 2009 ICSEI Conference in Vancouver.

January 2010

The Institute for Principalship Studies and the University of Malaya host a very successful (700+ participants) ICSEI conference. Dr Townsend delivered a keynote address entitled “Thinking and Acting both Locally and Globally: From Sustainability to Regenerative Leadership” and facilitated a session where FAU Professors Ira Bogotch and Pat Maslin-Ostrowski teamed with Drs. Rahimah Haji Ahmad, Tie Fatt Hee, Chua Yan Piah and Zuraidah Abdullah from the Institute for Principalship Studies on a paper titled “Principal Skill Development: A Study in Context - Florida, USA and Malaysia”.

Drs. Bogotch, Maslin-Ostrowski and Townsend served as visiting professors at the Institute for Principalship Studies where they worked with staff of the Institute on developing new publications, delivered workshops for local principals and interacted with both masters and doctoral students of the Institute.

2012-present

FAU Professors Maruja Vasquez and Yashwant Bhagwanji have visited the Institute and delivered papers.

Professor Pat Maslin-Ostrowski has continued collaborative research projects with Professors from the Institute.
Professor Ira Bogotch currently serves as an External Evaluator on doctoral dissertations for the University of Malaya.

February 7, 2014

A new 5 year MOU was signed by Interim President Dennis Crudele and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Malaya specifying opportunities for:

  • Staff exchange
  • Student exchange
  • Potential joint doctorate
  • Research collaboration
  • Co-presentation on themes of joint interest- leading schools in challenging circumstances
  • Connections to our major research project on Leadership in Asia
  • Links to other University partners with U of M - London, Southampton, Moscow Higher School of Economics, Queensland University etc.