A week of celebration and collaboration at Sunway University saw graduations, prize-giving and a research conference between the 25th and 28th of July.

Over the 4 days, 890 students graduated from joint Lancaster and Sunway University programmes across 26 degree programmes.

Professor Andy Schofield and Professor Simon Guy attended ceremonies alongside the Chancellor of Sunway University, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Jeffrey Cheah, Founder and Chairman of Sunway Education Group. Colleagues from the Management School and the Faculty of Science and Technology also attended ceremonies to support graduating students.

Now in its 17th year, the partnership between Lancaster and Sunway University is the largest UK-Malaysia Transnational Education partnership (HESA 2021/22) and colleagues made the most of their visit to Malaysia with additional activities.

Professor Schofield and Professor Sibrandes Poppema, President of Sunway University, launched a joint research conference between Lancaster University Management School and Sunway Business School on the theme ‘Collaborating to build a sustainable future together’.

The conference included a keynote speech by LUMS Professor of Economics, Professor Ian Walker, workshops and developing impactful research ideas and presentations from Lancaster and Sunway academics and PhD candidates. Professor Constantin Blome, Academic Dean for Lancaster University Leipzig also delivered a presentation to Sunway colleagues about the LU Leipzig campus.

The initiative was supported by the Global Advancement Fund which seeks to support innovation and connectivity across Lancaster's global networks.

On 27 July, Professor Simon Guy and Professor Abhi Veerakumarasivam (Sunway University Provost) led a prizegiving ceremony for students that had participated in the 4th annual Lancaster University Undergraduate Research Conferences in March 2023. Presentations from the conference are available to view on the Undergraduate Research Conference webpage along with more information on the annual event.

Professor Simon Guy, Pro Vice-Chancellor Global of Lancaster University said: “It is always a privilege and a pleasure to celebrate with our students at graduation ceremonies. This year's graduates haven’t had it easy with their studies and lives affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic and each of them should be very proud of their accomplishments.

Graduation celebrations are also a symbol of the achievements of our partnership with Sunway University which is growing in strength each year. Events such as the annual Undergraduate Research conference which connects so many of our global students, and a joint conference bringing together academics from our business and management schools held during graduation week demonstrate how our partnership is developing to create globally significant research collaboration.”