USM, PENANG, 1 September 2016 – The Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Professor Dato' Dr. Omar Osman today urged the students and staff of the university to always aspire to be number one and be the best.

"That is how it is visualised and interpreted when entrusted with the responsibility as a university that is striving for excellence since it was accorded the APEX status in 2008, and which needs to be upheld by all of us, students including," said Omar to almost 2,000 new students in the ‘Majlis Sambutan Siswa Lestari’ here recently.

He added that, USM for instance was the first to embark on the idea of sustainability in 2008, by empowering students through various campaigns to care for the environment, including prohibiting the use of polystyrene and plastic food packagings, which later went on to become a national agenda.

Said Omar, USM is the first science university in the country, with ‘sustainability’ being the trademark, and ongoing efforts to become the best and the first in many areas.

The determination of USM in championing issues relating to sustainability could be seen further with the establishment of the Centre for Global Sustainability Studies (CGSS), the Healthy Campus Secretariat (Kampus Sejahtera) and the Centre of Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD) among many others.

“At present, we are still maintaining the sustainable practices and we hope that the students would also join in by always thinking about the importance of sustainability in the future, by minimising the use of electricity, reducing the use of water as well as other resources or generally known as 'cost-saving and energy saving'.”

"All these were done through student empowerment and volunteerism initiatives which have been in practice earlier on," said Omar.

Approximately 3,700 new students enrolled at the USM Main Campus on Penang Island, the Health Campus in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan and the Engineering Campus at Nibong Tebal in mainland Penang last Sunday.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin