BERTAM, November 2013 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Advance Medical and Dental Institute (AMDI) has come up with a special initiative by introducing the Young Scientist Programme which is designed to encourage students to pursue their study in science-based courses.

AMDI Academic Deputy Director, Dr. Shahrul Bariyah Sahul Hamid said that the programme is unique since it provides exposure to students on the importance of taking up science courses especially in the new era of globalisation.

He said school-level students should be given continuous exposure to develop their interest in science and technology as it is core for the country to becoming a developed nation.

“Science-related courses can be considered as a critical course nowadays where the Ministry of Education (MOE) has also stated that students of science and technology stream will get priority in getting places in the Higher Education Institutions including USM, '' he said.

The Young Scientists Programme was organised by the Integrative Medicine Cluster in collaboration with AMDI Division of Industry and Community Network (BJIM), and the State Education Department of Penang.

This programme was participated by 40 students from 20 secondary schools all over Penang and was filled with various activities such as lectures, a visit to the laboratories in AMDI as well as an exposure to the real experience of doing DNA and Bioinformatics-related technology experiments.

Through these activities, students experienced the excitement of learning science while exploring the fun part of it and hopefully this kind of activity will increase the students' interest in science.

AMDI will continuously make effort in encouraging students’ interest in science and technology, since the effectiveness of this programme will be used as a yard stick for future plans and programmes.

Also present were Chairman of AMDI Division of Industry and Community Network, Dr. Jahangir Kamaldin; Assistant Director of the Guidance and Counselling Unit of Penang State Education Department, Zakaria Mohd Zain; Head of IPPT Integrative Medicine Cluster, Dr. Lim Vuanghao; Dr. Hasni Arsad and Chairman of the Young Scientist School Programme. - Translation: Siti Faizah Abd Halim/Text & Photo: Courtesy of AMDI