Prof. Irwandi Jaswir, Ph.D., Direktur of the International Halal Research and Training (INHART) from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) gave a general lecture to the academicians of Study Program of Food Technology of Unimus on Saturday, February 25, 2017. “It is an honor to be lectured by him (Prof. Irwandi Jaswir, Ph.D.), to equip Food Technology Students with knowledge to be competent in their field, especially knowledge of halal food as well as its challenges,” explained Dr Nurhidajah, S.T.P., M.Si., head of Unimus’ Food Technology program.
Along with the lecture, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was held between both parties (Unimus and INHART) in a ceremony entitled “Signing Ceremony, International Collaboration and Scientific Discussion;INHART and UNIMUS.” To sign the letter, Unimus was represented by the Vice Rector II, Dr Sri Rejeki S.Kp., M.Kes. The MoU dealt with partnerships in academic, research and mobility-for-student-and-staff fields. Dr Sri Rejeki really appreciated the committee in regard with the event. She encouraged all related parties to establish halal center research at Unimus.
Prof. Irwandi, who has been selected for the Asia-Pacific Young Scientist (2009) in Thailand, established by Scopus (the world’s largest abstract and citation database) and also Habibi Award (2013) emphasized the importance of halal science for students of Food Technology progrram, especially given Islamic character embedded in Muhammadiyah. “It will be what makes it (Unimus) different from the others. Halal is related to many aspects, so that Unimus can have its own study center in order trigger the advancement of halal products in Indonesia, whose market is great,” stated him, who was born in Medan, North Sumatra.
“Prof. Irwandi’s position is very strategic as director of INHART of IIUM, Malaysia, an organization that collaborate with the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) in developing halal center,” said Dr Nurhidajah, who just visited INHART Malaysia a while ago along with some staff members and students to conduct a comparative study.
Irwandi, who took an undergraduate program in the Faculty of Agricultural Technology of the Agricultural Institute of Bogor (IPB), stated that “Countries with Moslem as the majority group, halal market should be optimized, as in the International sphere, it keep developing.” He took an example in Malaysia, telling that the biggest food exporter in that country nw is Thailand. The amount’s great, nearly 70 percents. “That’s is our challenge, to deep deep and optimize the potentials we have in order to compete and take part in the market of halal products.”
“We can learn from Prof. Irwandi, a Moslem young scientist in Food Chemistry and Biochemistry, primarily in halal food research. He has published 40 scientific works in international journals and 40 works in international conferences, excluding dozens of his popular scientific articles on various mass media, and also five book chapters in international books,” explained Agus Suyanto, S.T.P., M.Si., a lecturer of Food Technology program of Unimus when telling the audience about the professor’s track record. Irwandi also won the Best Innovation Award in the World Halal Research Summit (WHRS) 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for his research entitled “Nano-Structural Properties of Alternative Collagen for Halal Industry. In 2006 he also won the gold medal in the “34th International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products of Geneva” for a research entitled “Rapid Method for Detection of Non-halal Substances in Food.”
“What’s next after this? a question for all of us”. Rector of Unimus, Prof. Dr. Masrukhi, encouraged the initiation of Halal Research Center at Unimus. Soon, new cooperation between Unimus and Chulalongkorn University’s Halal Center Thailand will also be established. Get ready! (Gus, administration staff of Food Technology program, tekpan.unimus.ac.id)
