Internationalization of the FTUH Civil Engineering Ph.D. Program at UTM — PUSTEKNO FTUH and CIPD UTM Collaborate to Host an International Seminar for Ph.D. Students in the Field of Transportation

The Technology Center (PUSTEKNO) of the Faculty of Engineering at Hasanuddin University (FTUH), in collaboration with the Center for Innovative Planning and Development (CIPD) at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), organized the “UTM-UNHAS International Seminar on Transportation” at the UTM Campus in Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on November 29–30, 2022.

This joint international seminar aims to provide a forum for doctoral students in the field of transportation from UNHAS and UTM to present and discuss the progress of their research. Each doctoral student participating as a speaker in the seminar will share their findings. In his opening remarks as the host of the UTM-UNHAS International Seminar, Prof. Mohamed Zaly Shah, Director of CIPD UTM, stated that UTM warmly welcomes this seminar and plans to continue and expand it to cover other engineering topics in the future. The Dean of the UNHAS Faculty of Engineering, who also serves as the Head of PUSTEKNO FTUH, Prof. Dr.Eng. Ir. Muhammad Isran Ramli, ST., MT., IPM., added in his opening remarks for the seminar that the outcomes of this international seminar would be published in the form of a book of proceedings (book chapter). In addition, Prof. Isran also stated that this event marks the first step in a series of other academic collaboration initiatives between the two institutions aimed at enhancing the quality and outcomes of the engineering doctoral programs at UNHAS and UTM, to be implemented in the future, including, among others, visiting faculty exchanges, exchanges of external examiners and doctoral student advisors, as well as joint doctoral student research progress seminars, among others.

This joint international seminar featured four doctoral students from the Civil Engineering Doctoral Program in the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at UNHAS, and four doctoral students from UTM—two from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and two from the Faculty of Architecture & Surveying—all of whom are conducting dissertation research in the field of transportation. The doctoral students from UNHAS included Hajriyanti Yatmar, whose presentation was titled “The Travel Attributes of Visitors to Lego-Lego CPI as Urban Relaxation Facilities”; Muhammad Idris, whose presentation was titled “The Framework Proposal on Feasibility Assessment of Transportation Infrastructure Development in Consideration of Land Value Change: A Case Study in Mamminasata”; Thelly S. H. Sembor, whose presentation was titled “Analysis on Trip Routes for River Transport Passengers on the Fragmented Island in Merauke,” and M. Ikhsan Sabil, whose presentation was titled “The Influence of Travel Attributes on Mode Utilization Behavior for Civil Servant Commuters in Makassar.” The UTM doctoral students who presented at this International Seminar were Nabihah Kamaruddin, whose presentation was titled “The Framework of Flashpackers’ Use of Public Transportation for Leisure in the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur”; Irdiana Ngadiman, whose presentation was titled “The Reverse Logistics Practice Applied to the Circular Economy and the Impact on Business Performance in the Agricultural Industries’ Perspective," Mohamad Azam, who presented “The Impact of Autonomous Vehicles (AV) on Traffic Operations under Heterogeneous Traffic Conditions,” and Theo Sin-Shannen Chze, who presented “The Impact of Distracted Driving on Traffic Safety.”

At this UTM-UNHAS International Seminar, several faculty members from both institutions served as reviewers for the seminar presentations. From UNHAS, these included Dr.Eng. Bambang Bakri, in his capacity as Deputy Secretary of PUSTEKNO FTUH and Secretary of the Department of Civil Engineering at FTUH, who also served as Deputy Moderator of the seminar; Dr.Eng. Rita Irmawaty, serving as Chair of the Doctoral Program in Civil Engineering at FTUH; and Dr.Eng. Muralia Hustim, representing the team of doctoral student advisors from UNHAS who delivered the presentations. The faculty members from UTM in attendance were Dr. Sitti Asma Binti Hassan, who served as Chair Moderator of the seminar; Dr. Haryati Yaakop, in her capacity as Chair of the Transportation Research Group at the UTM Faculty of Civil Engineering; and Dr. Azman Mohamed, a senior lecturer in the field of transportation engineering at UTM. This international seminar was also attended by several other doctoral students at UTM, as well as undergraduate students from UTM and UNHAS, and several other faculty members from UTM and UNHAS.