Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and Alor Setar City Council (MBAS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance and improve the organization governance practices recently. The signing ceremony was held at the Conference Room, Menara MBAS, Alor Setar.

The MoU was signed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Prof. Dr. Noor Azizi Ismail, representing UUM Vice-Chancellor and MBAS was represented by Alor Setar Mayor, Dato’ Mat Noh Ahmad.

Delivering the speech of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Noor Azizi said, the country is now focusing on key areas among which is to improve the quality of governance of an agency or public organization.

"Among the biggest issues that need to be addressed in this endeavour are optimizing the operating costs of the organization and improving the quality of public service delivery.

He added that, the MoU focuses specifically on Optimising the Management Cost at MBAS so that the organization can move towards achieving the Green and Smart City concept.

MBAS has made the right choice by selecting UUM via the School of Technology Management and Logistics (STML) as the strategic partner given that a number of renowned academics at STML possess a wealth of expertise in the areas related to the development of quality management, strategic management and green technology management.

"This collaboration is further strengthened with the agreement from the MBAS to collaborate with UUM in the Knowledge Transfer research grant programme by the Ministry of Education (MOE).

"I hope this collaborative partnership will help MBAS to develop skilled and knowledgeable workers (k-worker) to face the global challenges and at the same time, researchers at STML can share their knowledge and expertise with MBAS," he said.

STML has embarked on collaborative partnership with MBAS when STML was appointed as the consultant at the time MBAS obtained the MS ISO 9001:2008 certification.

Meanwhile, in his speech, Dato' Mat Noh, Alor Setar Mayor said, MBAS is constantly working to develop any areas related to quality management as this will indirectly help to decrease or optimise the expenses in MBAS.

"I am also grateful to UUM for the expert consultation services. Without the assistance from UUM, it would not be possible for MBAS to successfully obtain the MS ISO certification.

"In addition, we also managed to get a study grant from the ministry with the help of the university," he added.

Also present at the signing ceremony were Assoc. Prof. Dr Shahimi Mohtar, the Dean of STML; senior officers of MBAS and UUM.