Unimas committed to realisation of Sarawak’s digital economy
KOTA SAMARAHAN: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ( Unimas) is committed to accomplishing Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg and the Sarawak government’s mission in transforming Sarawak into a digital economy.
University vice- chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi said RM12.77 million had been allocated to Unimas for this purpose by the Sarawak government through the Digital Sarawak Commercialisation (CoE) and Research.
“These initiatives encompass various economic sectors which are important to spur the economy.
“The purpose of establishing the Digital CoE Research is to fund the research project implementation in public and private institutions, and ITs and computer sciencesrelated government agencies in Sarawak.
“Among them are agriculture, city planning and preservation, tourism, medical, manufacturing, administrations, infrastructure, skills management, and talent and digital data infrastructure,” he spoke at the 22nd Unimas convocation in DeTAR here yesterday.
Kadim added that from the conducted research projects, it is hoped that it would lead to innovation developments, products and services, researches and technologies, which are commercially viable, and would be able to support prime economic sectors in the Sarawak’s ‘Digital Economy’.
“I believe that the resources of these researches will give a significant impact to the development of the digital economy based on e- commerce (e- economy) knowledge that can generate Sarawak’s wealth across geographical borders and time,” he said.
On another subject, Kadim said to ensure that Unimas would continue to be relevant and capable of fulfilling the requirements of experts in Sarawak, the university had established this year the 10th faculty – Faculty of Built Environment, which had its first students intake for the Bachelor of Science (Honours) in the academic session of 2017/2018, and Bachelor of Quantity Survey ( Honours) in 2018/2019.
There are also three new academic programmes in Unimas – Bachelor in Creative Arts with Honours (Animation) provided by the Faculty of Applied and Creative Art; Bachelor of Communications ( Strategic Communications); and Bachelor of English Literature ( Global Communications) – available under the Communications and Language Faculty.
For the Medicines and Health Sciences, Kadim welcomed Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s announcement during the presentations of the 11th Malaysia Plan, to develop a ‘ Teaching Hospital’ in Unimas.
“This project is very important to improve competitiveness in medicines and health sciences. We have waited a long time for this,” he said.
Kadim added that throughout the years, Unimas had achieved many accolades, which included being in the ‘Best 1001 Universities in the World’ (according to Times Higher Education, World ranking), and at the national level, Unimas is the 10th best university, and the ‘Best University in Borneo’.
Unimas, opened in 1992, is still celebrating its 25th ‘Silver Jubilee’ this year.
The 22nd Unimas convocation at DeTAR yesterday, which was presided over by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg who is the university’s prochancellor, had 1,731 graduates in the second and third sessions (morning and afternoon) from five faculties – Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, Computer Science and Information Technology, Social Sciences and Humanities, Medicine and Health Sciences, and Language and Communications – receiving their respective scrolls.
Pro- chancellor Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu and Unimas board of directors chairman Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Sulong Mat Jeraie were among those present at the event.