Wednesday December 13, 2006
Upgrade for six varsity colleges
By SIMRIT KAUR
PUTRAJAYA: When Malaysia ushers in the New Year in about two weeks, it will also celebrate the birth of six new public universities.
This follows a government decision to upgrade public university colleges in various states, from Perlis in the north to Johor in the south and eastwards in Pahang and Terengganu.
Little Perlis, which now houses Kolej Universiti Kejuruteraan Utara Malaysia (Kukum), will see the institute becoming a full-fledged university, and renamed Universiti Malaysia Perlis.
Terengganu-based Kolej Universiti Sains dan Teknologi Malaysia (Kustem) will be known as Universiti Malaysia Terengganu while Kolej Universiti Kejuruteraan dan Teknologi Malaysia (Kuktem) will become Universiti Malaysia Pahang.
Kolej Universiti Teknikal Kebangsaan Malaysia (Kutkm) will become Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Malacca while Kolej Universiti Islam Malaysia in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, will change its name to Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia.
Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn in Batu Pahat, named after the country’s third prime minister, has been rebranded Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn and will be the first public university in the country bearing the name of a famous person.
The six university colleges had, in the past, been asking for their status to be upgraded as they felt their current description had an inferior connotation.
In April, Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed had said that he was looking into their request.
Announcing the decision yesterday, Mustapa said the name-change of these public institutes of higher learning did not mean they would change their focus.
“They were initially set up to offer hands-on training in the fields of science, technology and engineering.
“I hope they will intensify their efforts to develop more industrial linkages,” he told reporters at his ministry’s Quality and Integrity Day here.
On complaints that professional bodies had not recognised the engineering degrees of some local university colleges, he said: “This is an oversight. New degree programmes can be accredited only a year before the first batch of students graduate.
“However, this did not happen in some cases. But it has been rectified.”
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