USM PENANG, 26 March 2020 – Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education, YB. Dato’ Dr. Mansor Othman took time off to visit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang to have a first-hand look of the latest development on issues regarding COVID-19.

USM is the first higher education as his stopover, on his two-day working schedule to visit higher education institutions in the northern part of the country.

From the information that he had received, Mansor said that USM has made advanced planning and has been well-prepared in dealing with the COVID-19 situation.

“At the level of the Ministry, our crisis centre is giving priority on seeking solutions on how to manage this situation for those in higher education throughout Malaysia, especially students,” said the Nibong Tebal MP.

In addition, said the 1976 USM Social Science alumnus, USM needs to focus on important measures to ensure the wellbeing of the students, who will be on campus throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, which has been extended by the Prime Minister to 14 April 2020.

The session, held at the USM COVID -19 Nerve Centre, also included a briefing by the USM Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dr. Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan on the progress of USM in dealing with the crisis, and later followed by the handing over of contributions to students.

Meanwhile, Mansor is also scheduled to hold another meeting at the USM Engineering Campus in Nibong Tebal, before continuing to five more locations in the Northern region as planned.

Also present at the session were the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Development Affairs and Alumni), Professor Dr. Aldrin Abdullah; USM Registrar, Dr. Musa Ali, President of USM Student Representative Council (MPPUSM), Muhammad Amir Asyraf Mohd Sabri and directors of key departments at the University.

Web streaming of the session was also conducted with other major USM campuses.

Text: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin