PENANG, 18 January 2015 – The introduction of an Idea Bank as a platform for the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) community to generate constructive ideas for the development of the university is hoped to become a medium which could assist the university to face the challenges in 2016.

A pioneer member of USM Idea Bank, Professor Dr. Ahmad Farhan Mohd. Sadullah said, this year the university would be facing greater challenges especially in mobilising the limited resources to continue driving excellence further.

Therefore he said, the Idea Bank could be seen as among the medium which could be utilised by the university to gather new ideas which could provide the university with solutions to its problems or challenges.

“We have prepared the platform and hoped that the USM community would utilise it not only to discuss trivial items but also to provide constructive ideas, alternatives and improvements to ensure that the university continues to excel,” said Ahmad Farhan who is also the Director of the USM Engineering Campus.

Meanwhile, another pioneer member of the Idea Bank, Principal Assistant Registrar at the Sains@USM campus, Izam Fairus Kamaruddin said that, they have identified a few items which could increase the effectiveness of the Idea Bank.

Among others he said, they are also looking at the possibility of awarding Continuous Performance Development (CPD) points to the staff and Continuous Student Development (CSD) points to the students who are able to generate worthwhile ideas for the development and to benefit the university and its community.

“We are looking at a few items to further improve the Idea Bank. The awarding of CPD or CSD points are those which have been identified and could be implemented in the near future.”

“USM staff or students could utilise the Idea Bank to earn CPD or CSD points as compared to the need to attend courses or anything of similar. However in relation to the points, it still needs to be finalised with the parties involved,” he said.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin

Text: Marziana Mohamed Alias / Photos: Muhammad Firdaus Khiruddin