PENANG, 20 January 2014 - The private sector has been urged to provide more aid in the development of public universities, particularly in the commercialisation of research products and innovations.

Deputy Minister of Education II, P. Kamalanathan said this at a press conference held in conjunction with his one-day official visit to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) today.

“With the help of the private sector, local universities will be able to produce research products that can be commercialised for the benefit of the country and even the world so that they can be placed amongst the best universities in the world,” said Kamalanathan.

The Deputy Minister of Education II was satisfied with the achievements of USM based on the detailed reports provided and was ready to assist in implementing the programmes listed in the APEX Programme Phase II, 2014 to 2025.

USM is the sole local public university selected by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia in September 2008 to implement the Accelerated Programme for Excellence (APEX) that is based on transforming higher education for a sustainable tomorrow.

“I believe that with the help of the private sector, much effort can be done together with the increase of research and product innovations that USM had successfully patented over the years,” he added.

Between 2008 and 2013, USM had produced 247 research products that were patented at national and international levels, including four for the design industry with a total revenue of more than RM228 million.

 “I also believe that research products such as the Halal Vaccines that was developed in collaboration with the Finlay Institute Cuba to fight meningococcal diseases meets the needs of Muslims worldwide in line with the country becoming the world halal hub. This can have an impact in terms of USM and Malaysia in the eyes of the world if it can be duly commercialised with the help of various parties including the private sector,” he added.

Apart from Halal Vaccines research project, USM is also enhancing research in the field of Nano-Optoelectronics, particularly the nanosciences, nanomaterials, nanofabrication and nanoengineering that can be used by the industry of today and the future. Nanotechnology is the next industrial revolution in the development of the world economy and daily life of the people.

“I am also impressed with the efforts undertaken by USM to develop programmes across any border in producing world-class graduates who have an open mind such as ‘Students with a Global Mindset’, ‘APEX Global Programme’ and the ‘Institute of Open Learning’ which will open up more space for USM in providing opportunities for students to explore their talents and increase the efforts in student mobility worldwide,” he added.

Describing the upcoming roadmap of USM as a bold and important initiative to boost its world ranking, the Deputy Minister of Education II hoped that it will be achieved with everyone’s help.

“Education and higher education is available for all and it should not be an issue which, if raised by any party, it would be from their own perspective,” he said.

At the same press conference, he also informed that the application period for USM 2014/2015 first degree programmes has started, and candidates who are interested to apply into USM can do so as soon as possible (through online application) since the recruitment is done by the university itself.

“I received very good feedback from parents last year over the transparency of the university in selecting candidates for admission, let alone having received a total of over 20,000 applications,” he said.

USM has opened applications for qualified candidates to apply for any of its 71 academic programmes at full-time degree level beginning today.

Earlier, the Deputy Minister of Education II was briefed on USM’s detailed APEX Phase II plans by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dato’ Dr. Omar Osman, Deputy Vice-Chancellors and the top management. He also visited some research laboratories to have a firsthand look at some of the efforts and preparation in implementing the APEX Phase II. - Translation: Yong Check Yoon/Text: Mohamad Abdullah/Photo: Mohd Fairus Md Isa