In recognition of the long-standing relationship between RCSI and Malaysia, RCSI welcomed the Malaysian Minister of Rural and Regional Development YB. Dato’ Seri Haji Mohd Shafie Bin Haji Afdal to the College on Thursday, 28 July 2011.

YBhg. Datuk Ibrahim Bin Ahmad, the Director General of MARA, a Malaysian Government agency that provides educational scholarships to Malaysians for study overseas, accompanied the Minister.

The Malaysian delegation met with RCSI Senior Management to discuss the ongoing developments in RCSI Dublin, Bahrain and Malaysia. The Minister then had an opportunity to meet with some current and past MARA sponsored students who have attended RCSI, at a private lunch in the College.

The Ambassador (Designate) of the Embassy of Malaysia in Ireland, Dato’ Ramli b Naam, also joined the delegation for today’s visit.

RCSI has strong linkages to Malaysia with almost 800 Malaysian students coming to the College in the last 10 years. Malaysians are one of the largest student populations at the Dublin campus with one in every five students coming from Malaysia.

A twinning programme with Penang Medical College in collaboration with UCD has been in place since 1996 and a five-year undergraduate medical programme for the new Perdana University-RCSI School of Medicine will commence in September 2011.