Malaysia Scholarship 2008-2009

Research Universities: In touch with industry

VIBRANT international campuses which actively engage in research in emerging areas — this is how four research universities, namely, University of Malaya (UM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sains Malaysia USM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), see themselves in 10 to 15 years’ time.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed recently announced that the four had been designated as research universities under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Each will be given an additional allocation of RM153 million for research, development and commercialisation activities, which will be disbursed early next year.

Vice-chancellors of the four universities reveal their plans of action for the year 2007 and beyond.

USM vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dzulkifli Abdul Razak:

"We plan to build our own research park similar to Silicon Valley. It will be a place where any research, which is ready to be commercialised or translated into applications, will be nurtured. The park will be close to the university so that the public can tap into our resources. There will be lots of interactions between university and industry. We hope to launch the park latest by the end of 2007.

We also hope to set up an international school within the campus. This will benefit children of the international talents we will be recruiting. This school, unlike other international schools in Penang, will offer affordable fees to our foreign staff. This, we believe, will make USM a conducive environment for foreign people to work in.

We will not neglect the arts, culture and heritage. We feel it is a big mistake to focus on science and technology as though they are all that matter.

As for supplementary allocation, we will distribute the money to research students."

UPM vice-chancellor Professor Dr Nik Mustapha Raja Abdullah:

"We are thinking of ways to hire top professors for short visits here. With increased financial support, we can offer assistantships and fellowships to our research students.

Currently, some 800 students from 50 countries are pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees at UPM but we feel that we need to push for more students. That is why were are exploring new markets such as China.

UPM also plans to create opportunities for postdoctorates to conduct their research with us. We hope that this will ultimately take us to higher levels in terms of research and development."

UM vice-chancellor Datuk Rafiah Salim:

"We will continue to teach as that is our responsibility. But the focus is now on our postgraduate programmes. For us, the research status means a gradual reduction in undergraduate intake and an increase in postgraduates.

We will channel the extra funds into building critical mass and recruiting international and local talents. Give us another 10 years and we will have a bigger and more colourful international community.

The university, however, will not follow any particular model (of research university). We realise that while we can learn from them, we cannot fully emulate them.

Harvard University, for example, has a US$17 billion (RM65 billion) endowment fund. There are 25 other universities in the United States with funds of more than a billion dollars."

UKM vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin:

"As a research university, our emphasis and orientation are research education. But that does not mean that we will neglect our undergraduates. What will happen is that our research work will ‘inform’ education. It will always be linked to our undergraduate programmes immediately.

In the future, we will look seriously into areas such as renewable energy and brain science.

We need an innovation centre which will be responsible for match-making our technologies with not just companies but also communities that require them.

The centre will also help researchers conduct pre-testing of technology, safety and efficiency of products, among other things.

We will get our laboratories accredited, particularly those involved in clinical trials."