PENANG, 26 February 2019 – The Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Professor Datuk Dr. Asma Ismail today laid out future plans for the university in her annual address.

The event, with the title ‘Bringing USM to the World and the World to USM’ was held at the university’s Dewan Tuanku Syed Putra, with the audience comprising the staff and students, including the honoured guests, filling the hall to the brim. 

The guests of honour included the USM Pro-Chancellor, Tan Sri Datuk Mustafa Mansur and members of the Board of Governors, Professor Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Shukri Mustapa Kamal and Nor Azam Mohd Noor.

In her speech, Asma outlined the need for USM to review its strategies and reposition itself in view of the challenges and uncertainties from Industry 4.0. In order to become THE PREFERRED UNIVERSITY by Design, it needs to go beyond world rankings, while making improvements in fundamentals such as citations, international student outlook and the quality of teaching.

She also touched on the Strategic Plan for the next three years (2019-2021). USM has to be resilient in fulfilling the needs of the different stakeholders, by offering new value propositions.

“For USM, ‘APEx’ would now mean ‘Adaptive, Proactive and Experiential Learning’ in its research and innovations, student experiences and the services provided, while ensuring that all its programmes are infused with values,” she added.

Two new initiatives were also launched at the event. The first is USMBiz, an official and centralised USM online business platform offering unique, secure and multi-business features for the convenience of the university community. The booking of 7 university products and services can now be done at the fingertips.

Another initiative is FACELIFT. Based on an internal audit conducted in 2017 on teaching and learning facilities on campus, the university has a pressing need to upgrade such facilities. Results from discussions held between the USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International) and the University Centre for Business Development have led to the university choosing ‘crowdfunding’  as the option to secure financing to provide the best learning experience to the students.

Therefore, the Funding for APEX Collaboration on Excellence Learning Infrastructure & Technology, also known as the FACELIFT project was initiated. This initiative aims to rethink ways of supporting learning, developing new teaching spaces and retro-fitting old rooms for greater space maximisation and productive utilisation.

Both initiatives were launched by Tan Sri Datuk Mustafa Mansur.

Also present were the USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Professor Ir. Dr. Abdul Rahman Mohamed; Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Development Affairs and Alumni), Professor Dato’ Dr. Adnan Hussein; the Ombudsman, Professor Dato’ Seri Dr. Md Salleh Yaapar; Director, Engineering Campus, Professor Dr. Nor Azazi Zakaria, Heads of Departments, Captains and representatives of the industry, and key university officials.