USM PENANG, 3 January 2024 – After a year of helming Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) as its ninth Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Abdul Rahman Mohamed expressed his heartfelt thanks to the campus community for the continued support and commitment towards the growth of the University.

He said that, the current momentum of USM is very good and he vowed to continue the established efforts, including in strengthening the APEX agenda and the four strategies which uphold and warrant the success of ‘Ekonomi MADANI: Pendidikan Tinggi (4P)’.

The ‘4P Strategy’ stated are talent preparation; research and innovation; encouraging the transfer and sharing of knowledge by universities to society; and the internationalisation of the education sector.

According to him, USM has pioneered a number of high-impact programmes that could broaden the strategic network with the community and industry, among which the latest is the Ministry of Higher Education Research Incubator and Industry-Infused (MRI3) programme.

“We have started on the right foot in making an impact to the stakeholders, and we too have a strategic goal in continuing to implement further all the ideas that have been planned into the next stage.

“Financial sustainability will still be the focus of the University this year, and I am confident that we will be able to continue moving with the momentum,” he said.

Abdul Rahman also expressed his hope for the University community members to be attuned to the ongoings of the outside world, including looking at opportunities that can be utilised through modern technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitalisation.

“Again, I would like to say thank you to the whole USM community for working together and carrying out their duties in the best way possible.

“I agree that there will be many challenges to be faced ahead, nevertheless I believe that with the cooperation and commitment from everyone, USM will continue to inscribe further success stories and create an impactful presence,” he said.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin