MMSU banners PH in Asean-Russia network project

Russia's Moscow State University (MSU) has joined Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in the international telecommunication network (ITCN) project among universities in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region.

MMSU in Ilocos Norte is the only Philippine university that has joined the network dubbed Asean-Russia project, according to Daniel Tapaoan Jr., MMSU assistant information officer.

He said other universities that have joined the ITCN were Udanaya University in Bali, Indonesia; Savannakhet University in Laos; Vietnam National University of Forestry in Hanoi, Vietnam; and the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand.

Tapaoan noted that while MSU is the main proponent of the network project along with the Vietnam National University of Science in Hanoi in Vietnam, other proponents are the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Prof. Charles Batin, MMSU coordinator from the College of Agriculture, Food and Sustainable Development, explained that the ITCN serves as an venue for the participating universities to analyze, adapt and implement innovative agricultural technologies in their respective communities.

"Through the unified telecommunication platform, the member-universities will conduct teleconferences and training-seminars to discuss innovative technologies with specialists from scientific and business communities," Batin said.

He said the sessions will, later on, be packaged into manuals and films to be used in cascading innovations to their respective stakeholders.

According to Batin, the Asean-Russia project is a product of MMSU's long-time partnership with the Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry and Vietnam National University in Vietnam.

"In sustaining the partnership, MMSU regularly participates in the virtual meetings of the group leaders from member-universities every Friday," Batin said.

A project MMSU is committed to in the Asean-Russia network is the famous Paoay Lake in Ilocos Norte.

"The MMSU team had already gathered preliminary data for this project and set to identify its water body and gather secondary data related to soil, surrounding vegetations, water quality and resources," Batin said,

The team is composed of students Julius Pablico (BS Agriculture), Amabel Achuela (BSA), Karen Joy Bonuen (BS Forestry), Justine Rose Teneza (BS Environmental Science) and Jacob Altair Agtarap (BS Chemical Engineering).

The MMSU team was cited as the best presenter during the welcome meeting in February, according to Batin.

"We will do our best for the project and we will collaborate with other participating universities as part of our internationalization program," Batin said.