PENANG, 19 March 2013 - Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB) contributes zakat amounting to RM50,000 to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to be distributed to the students of the institution in a special ceremony here yesterday.

USM Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dato’ Omar Osman said that the university is honoured to receive financial aid which is seen to be able to ease the financial burden of students who are less fortunate.

He said the university is also delighted with the cooperation that has been established with the leading financial institution over such a long time, while hoping to explore more things of common interest in greater depth.

“USM hopes to strengthen cooperation with BIMB especially in widening academic courses on Islamic financial management.

“We look at BIMB more than just a financial institution but also serves as a smart partner that has the expertise that can be shared with the campus community, especially the students,” he said.

In the meantime, the BIMB General Manager, Datuk Wan Ismail Wan Yusof said the zakat donated is the profits derived from business operations and every year BIMB allocates RM1 million to be distributed to the universities.

“USM is one of the universities that received relatively high zakat funds over the past few years through their close working relationship,'' he said.

He added that, besides USM, BIMB also distributes zakat to the other universities in the country amounting between RM10,000 to RM30,000 according to the needs of each university. - Text: Marziana Mohamed Alias/Photo: Mohd Fairus Md Isa/Translation: Yong Check Yoon