UKM embarks on three-year strategic plan
UNIVERSITI Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has set a goal for quality improvement to attain a higher level of excellence via a three-year strategic plan which is kicking off this year. Unveiled by its vice-chancellor, Professor Dr Mohd Hamdi Abdul Shukor during his inaugural lecture at the varsity’s main campus in Bangi, Selangor, recently, the plan has research, academic and internationlisation as its main thrusts, with talent development and funding sustainability as enablers.
“What we are trying to do is realign everyone to a specific objective, which is quality. What I found during the interactions with the university community during my first 100 days (as vice-chancellor) is that UKM has a lot of fundamentals in place and the foundation is very strong. The five elements defined in the strategic plan are the things I thought UKM need to beef up on that will propel the university towards excellence.”
The academic element, for example, needs to shift from traditional learning to active learning.
“Active learning is where we can bring out the best in students so that when they graduate, they will be sought after by industries. Our students’ employability rate is hovering at 76 per cent, and our target is to reach at least 83 per cent. Not just getting the right job, but the right job with the right
pay. This is our concern.”
Based on data, he said, UKM graduates do get jobs but the pay is not good.
“It gives us the indication they are not the first to be sought by the industry after graduation to fill up a certain position. If half of them is getting less than RM2,000 as starting salary, that sets an alarm that we need to boost their skills. I think the content is there and the problem is not having the right skillset for work.
“My team and I are trying to identify where we are lacking and how to improve on this. We know the content of our programmes is good, so let’s focus on skills development. Since skills are related to elements of teaching, let’s transform the way we teach.”
UKM is setting aside RM1.3 million for the renovation of 26 lecture rooms to accommodate flip classrooms, collaborative and problembased learning.
For research, UKM will be emphasising on impactful and forward looking research focusing on non-conventional external grant applications and mobilising multi-disciplinary research in science and non-science fields.
“We will allocate research provisions to postgraduate supervisors where 50 per cent of student tuition fees will be returned to the supervisors in the form of research grants for student supervision purposes,” said Hamdi, adding that there will be incentives for publications in Web of Science Q1 to Q4 journals.
While UKM has carried out internationalisation efforts, Hamdi said the university is lacking in terms of bringing in experts.
“We need to bring in more professors... big names from abroad so they can stay with us for three years to work with both our professors and researchers, and patch what we lack in our expertise.
“We target to bring in 26 such professors this year. With their help and presence, we believe it will strengthen our proposals for international grants. The identification of the professors is being done at the institution and faculty levels. At my side, we will facilitate the process and improve the recruitment procedure.”
He hoped that the community in UKM will take seriously the strategic plan that has been formulated so that it can be implemented well.
“I hope our efforts will be well received by students and they will respond positively. The transformation that we aim for is not only at the staff level, but it must also be executed at the student level. If this is done as a team, it is possible for us to become a renowned university in three to five years.”
On the target in university rankings, Hamdi said rankings are a by-product of the work put in place.
“If we are good and excellent, our ranking will improve. The strategic plan, if well executed, will contribute towards positive ranking.”
Active learning is where we can bring out the best in students so that when they graduate, they will be sought after by industries. PROFESSOR DR MOHD HAMDI ABDUL SHUKOR UKM vice-chancellor