UUM ONLINE: "UUM has progressed so much!" said Deputy Higher Education Minister Dato' Dr. Mansor Othman after listening to a briefing and presentation on the various initiatives and achievements attained by UUM during his working visit here recently.
He said UUM had successfully moved up its ranking since the days of its inception at Tanah Merah, Jitra up until the Sintok valley.
"Congratulations on the University's commitment to place UUM at a better position, in fact everyone is doing their best, even more so now that the country is confronting the COVID-19 outbreak. This pandemic has taught us a great many experience.
"Focus on entrepreneurship, I am amazed that UUM has a centre dedicated to entrepreneurship, and it has also provided a microcredit scheme to help students start their business on campus," he said in a meeting held at the Senate Meeting Room during his Working Visit to UUM.
Dato' Dr. Mansor said UUM had made so much progress in terms of ranking, in fact he also expressed his interest in the social entrepreneurship aspect as highlighted by UUM through its, Co-operative and Entrepreneurship Development Institute (CEDI) where entrepreneurs used entrepreneurship principles to build and manage their business to achieve their social goals, which in turn resulted in the setting up of the Start-up Business Unit aimed at nurturing and generating entrepreneurs among the staff and students of this University.
He said he had long wanted to expand the concept of microcredit to Higher Education Institutions throughout the country and he expressed elation upon learning that UUM had long practiced the scheme.
He said with all these efforts, hopefully it would attract the industry to work together with the university to contribute to the community and help produce more entrepreneurs from amongst the students.
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dato' Dr. Ahmad Bashawir Abdul Ghani said UUM had always taken proactive steps and redefined efforts to strengthen teaching and learning (TnL) methods and practices to ensure that it remained relevant, thus meeting current industry needs.
According to him, in an effort to realize the idea of Higher Education 4.0, UUM was extremely alert and prepared to go through the transformation phase especially in confronting the Industrial Revolution 4.0 which also left a huge impact on the needs of the educational system.
He said that as the country dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic, UUM had also proven that it was able to digitize all the workloads and services of its clients including the implementation of remote learning to continue TnL sessions.
"All of these initiatives will fulfil the aspirations of the Malaysian government, particularly, MOHE in strengthening the elements of knowledge and industry that go in tandem with the requirements of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0)," said he who also gave a briefing on the University in conjunction with the Deputy Minister of Higher Education Malaysia working visit to UUM.
In the briefing, he spoke about the history of UUM, the development phase of the UUM Strategic Plan, the recent achievements of UUM, particularly its rise in the QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the initiatives undertaken by UUM during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also informed that UUM welcomed the idea put forth by His Royal Highness Al-Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, the Sultan of Kedah to establish the Centre for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The Vice-Chancellor said each year UUM would go on to show its progress and in fact may even outdo Research Universities (RU) in the future, hence, making the University on par with other RUs even though UUM's forte is management.
Attendees who presented at the meeting were the Director of the Cooperative and Entrepreneurship Development Institute (CEDI), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chandrakantan Subramaniam - entrepreneurship at UUM and Deputy Director of the Centre for University-Industry Collaboration (CUIC), Dr. Shahrina Othman -the current status of students on practicum during the Movement Control Order (MCO).
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LONJAKAN UUM MEMBANGGAKAN TIMBALAN MENTERI PENGAJIAN TINGGI
UUM ONLINE: "UUM sudah maju ke hadapan!," demikian kata Yang Berhormat Timbalan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Dato' Dr. Mansor Othman selepas mendengar taklimat dan pembentangan tentang inisiatif dan pencapaian UUM ketika mengadakan lawatan kerja di sini, semalam.
Beliau berkata, UUM telah berjaya meningkatkan ranking sejak awal penubuhan lagi bermula di Tanah Merah, Jitra hingga ke lembah Sintok ini.
"Tahniah di atas komitmen universiti ini untuk melonjakkan UUM ke tahap lebih baik, malah semua orang sudah melakukan yang terbaik, tambahan lagi dalam mengharungi cabaran Covid-19. Pandemik ini telah mengajar kita satu pengalaman yang baik.
"Fokus kepada keusahawanan, saya berasa kagum kerana UUM telah mempunyai pusat yang menumpukan kepada bidang keusahawanan, malah turut menyediakan skim mikrokredit bagi membantu pelajar memulakan perniagaan di dalam kampus," katanya sempena Lawatan Kerja Ke UUM di Bilik Mesyuarat Senat.
Dato' Dr. Mansor berkata, UUM sudah mara ke hadapan dalam perkara tersebut, malah beliau turut tertarik dengan keusahawanan sosial yang ditonjolkan UUM menerusi CEDI yang mana usahawan menggunakan prinsip-prinsip keusahawanan untuk membangun dan mengurus perniagaan dalam mencapai matlamat sosial, seterusnya Unit Start-up Business yang bertujuan memupuk dan menghasilkan usahawan dalam kalangan staf dan pelajar universiti ini.
Menurutnya, beliau telah lama berhasrat untuk memperluaskan konsep mikrokredit di IPT seluruh negara dan bangga apabila mengetahui UUM sudah lama mempunyai skim tersebut.
Katanya, dengan segala usaha yang dilakukan itu diharap dapat menarik pihak industri untuk bersama-sama universiti dalam menyumbang kembali kepada masyarakat serta membantu melahirkan lebih ramai usahawan dalam kalangan pelajar.
Sementara itu, Naib Canselor, Prof. Dato' Dr. Ahmad Bashawir Abdul Ghani berkata, UUM sentiasa mengambil langkah proaktif serta menggandakan lagi usaha untuk memperkasakan kaedah dan pendekatan pengajaran dan pembelajaran (PdP) bagi memastikan institusi ini kekal relevan, seterusnya memenuhi keperluan industri masa kini.
Menurutnya, dalam usaha untuk merealisasikan gagasan Pendidikan Tinggi 4.0, UUM amat peka dan bersiap siaga untuk melalui fasa transformasi terutamanya dalam mendepani Revolusi Industri 4.0 yang turut meinggalkan dampak besar kepada keperluan sistem pendidikan di universiti ini.
Katanya, dalam negara berhadapan dengan pandemik Covid-19, UUM juga telah berjaya membuktikan bahawa universiti ini mampu mendigitalisasikan segala gerak kerja dan perkhidmatan kepada pelanggan termasuk pelaksanaan 'remote learning' bagi meneruskan sesi PdP.
"Segala inisiatif yang dilakukan ini dapat merealisasikan hasrat kerajaan Malaysia, khususnya KPT untuk memperkasakan lagi elemen pengetahuan, industri dan selari dengan keperluan IR4.0," katanya yang turut memberi taklimat universiti sempena lawatan kerja Timbalan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi Malaysia itu.
Dalam taklimat tersebut, beliau menerangkan tentang sejarah UUM, perkembangan fasa Pelan Strategik UUM, pencapaian terkini UUM terutama peningkatan dalam ranking bagi QS World University Rankings dan Times Higher Education World University Rankings serta inisiatif dijalankan ketika pandemik Covid-19.
Selain itu, beliau juga memaklumkan bahawa UUM menyambut baik titah Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Al-Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, Sultan Kedah untuk menubuhkan Pusat Sains, Teknologi, Kejuruteraan dan Matematik (STEM).
Naib Canselor berkata, setiap tahun UUM telah menunjukkan peningkatan dan mungkin mampu untuk mengatasi universiti penyelidikan (RU) pada masa hadapan agar UUM dapat 'duduk sama rendah, berdiri sama tinggi' dengan universiti RU lain walaupun fokus UUM adalah bidang pengurusan.
Turut membuat pembentangan ialah Pengarah Institut Pembangunan Keusahawanan dan Koperasi (CEDI), Prof. Madya Dr. Chandrakantan Subramaniam berkenaan keusahawanan di UUM dan Timbalan Pengarah Pusat Kerjasama Universiti-Industri (CUIC), Dr. Shahrina Othman tentang status semasa pelajar praktikum ketika Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP).
Sumber berita : UUM Corp Comm