USM, PENANG, 24 September 2016 – TheScience@AlorSetar programme, a new campus of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), is making innovations in education with the offering of blended learning in the teaching and learning activities for new students of the campus.

The teaching and learning activities would incorporate methods such as face-to-face interaction, video conferencing, web conferencing and e-learning.

The Dean, USM School of Distance Education (PPPJJ), Associate Professor Dr. Mustafa Fadzil Farid Wajidi said that, the learning style to be implemented for USM students at the campus would ensure that they would be thoroughly exposed to the study in science, as opposed to how teaching is currently done.

"The students too would undergo practical work in science as well as computer classes for certain courses," he said.

Explaining further, he said that the students who opted to go for industrial training would also be offered places at production factories or science-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) located around the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia.

"The resulting outcome would be for the USM students to get 'the best of both worlds' and to learn from lecturers who are highly-experienced in the distance learning system and meeting them face-to-face to make it more exciting," he said during the Welcoming Ceremony for New Students of RPJJ and Students of the Offshore Programme Science@AlorSetar for the academic session 2016/2017.

Also present were the Deputy Deans, Programme Chairpersons, Lecturers and key officials of PPJJ USM.

The USMScience@AlorSetar programme materialised from the collaboration between the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA), Kedah State Government and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to develop a science-based higher education institution.

This programme, located at the Kolej Universiti Insaniah (KUIN) campus grounds in Alor Setar, is hoped to produce the human capital needed to support programmes which would be developed at the Northern Corridor such as the Kedah Rubber City (KRC), Kedah Science and Technology Park (KSTP), Chuping Valley Industrial Plan and a few other projects to be developed in the northern area of the peninsula.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin