USM, PENANG, February 2017 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) aspires to propel its name with its uniqueness and in its own mould, and to avoid relying on fate (or by chance) in implementing all of its plans.

The USM Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dato’ Dr. Asma Ismail said, the excellent and prominent stature of the university, in being the first institution to be selected by the government for the Accelerated Programme for Excellence (APEX), would be continued through systematic planning.

She said that, the three main areas to be focused on in ensuring the continuity in excellence as a ‘purpose-driven university’ include aspects of ‘global prominence’, financial sustainability and a happiness index.

“The world of higher education currently is more challenging due to the direct impact of the economic situation and advances in the digital era among others, and which have all resulted in a ‘tsunami-like’ effect to higher education.”

“Therefore, we need to overcome the impact as a team and in USM’s own way, and also to further strengthen the fundamental values which are aligned with the APEX aspiration,” she said when presenting the 2017 Vice-Chancellor’s Annual Address with the theme ‘Rising Above the Tsunami Effect of Globalisation Together… USM Style’ here recently.

She added, as a research university (RU), USM needs to go for knowledge creation which could be shared with the students and to be benefitted by the community and industry, and later to bring financial gains to the nation.

Apart from that she also said, the USM community, in particular the researchers, need to be more creative in aspects of financial sustainability by working closely with the industry in developing more impactful research outcomes. 

She also stressed the concepts of ‘Saya Sayang USM’ (I Love USM) and ‘USM Sayang Saya’ (USM Loves Me), where both need to be balanced in ensuring that the institution would retain its strong values and to remain competitive.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin / Photo: Mohd Fairus Md. Isa