Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia have retained their status as research universities for another three years beginning this year, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said.

He said the decision to retain their research university status was based on the audit report of their performance for the year 2007 to 2009.

“Generally, the four research universities have given a significant impact on achievements in research and churning out human capital in the country.

“Their achievements were gauged based on four aspects, namely, human capital, publication, patent and intellectual property rights (IPR) and income generating,” he told reporters after the ministry’s monthly assembly here Tuesday.

He said that in terms of human capital, the number of post-graduate students in the four universities showed an increase of 34 per cent, from 29,794 in 2007 to 39,819 last year.

“In terms of publication, the number of publications in the citation index increased from 2,303 in 2007 to 4,346 in 2009, which is an increase of 2,043 or 89 per cent,” he added.

He said a nine per cent increase in IPR was recorded in 2007 at 217 to 237 last year and in terms of income, the amount generated increased to RM746.7 million last year from RM436 million in 2007.

Source : BERNAMA

Technorati Tags: research universities, ukm, UM, universiti kebangsaan malaysia, universiti putra malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, university malaya, upm, usm

This article was written by Mohd Khuzairi Ismail and published at Utusan Malaysia on July 20, 2010.

There was a fuss sometime ago when the number of female students going to institutions of higher learning for the 2009/2010 year exceeded the male students.

From the 40,366 candidates offered to do their first degree at public institutions of higher learning (IPTA) since last June , 65 per cent or 26,200 people were female students.

However, it is nothing unusual because since the past few years, the trend of female students dominating the IPT is normal. It happened in countries where women have equal access to education system.

But, there are other matters than the total number of new students to IPTA which should be our concern. According to racial composition, 27,829 of them are bumiputera, 10,116 are Chinese and the remaining 2,421 comprise the Indians and others,

In principle, the number of bumiputera students is still high, but what is not seen is the actual breakdown of the students that are able to go to IPTA based on meritocracy.

Since 2003, the intake of students to IPTA is no longer based on the quota of 55 per cent for bumiputera and 45 per cent to the non-bumiputera. The meritocracy introduced by the government gives equal opportunity for students of all races.
Read more »

Technorati Tags: bumiputera, Chinese, Indians, intake, ipta, meritocracy, racial composition, uitm, university

Seven public and 11 private institutions of higher learning (IPTs) have attained an excellent rating in the Rating System for Institutions of Higher Learning (Setara) 2009.

The public IPTs are International Islamic University Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Mara, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

He said the private IPTs were Multimedia University, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Sunway University College, Curtin University of Technology (Sarawak campus), Monash University (Sunway campus), Taylor’s University College, International Medical University, Swinburne University of Technology (Sarawak campus), Nottingham University (Malaysian campus) and Management and Science University.

Twenty-five universities and university colleges, of which 14 private IPTs and 11 public IPTS, were rated very good while four private IPTs were rated good, he told reporters here Monday.
Read more »

Technorati Tags: ipta, ipts, MQA, SETARA, universiti rating, university

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has moved a step further by introducing the short message service (SMS) in its learning methods for post-graduate programmes in its School of Distance Education (SDE).

SDE Pricipal Researcher (Mobile Learning) Dr Issham Ismail said masters or doctor of philosophy (PhD)-level students interested in conducting research on distance learning could obtain information and contact their lecturers using SMS.

“A mobile learning research team was created in 2007 when the higher education ministry provided a grant to conduct research on SMS as a module in the system of distance learning,” he told reporters here Monday.

He said, so far, 20 masters and PhD students had begun learning and conducting research with the help of the SMS.

Issham said the ministry had allocated RM330,000 for the learning, via the SMS programme.

Following the success of the SMS usage, USM has organised a two-day international e-learning conference, beginning Monday.

The conference, participated by representatives from 19 countries, is aimed at encouraging researchers and academicians to present their research on learning through telecommunications.

Source : BERNAMA

Technorati Tags: distance education, mobile learning, sms, sms learning, usm

Students who have sat for the examination of Malaysian University English Test (MUET) mid year 2010 test can check their results from July 8, 2010.

Results for MUET 2010

MUET Mid Year 2010 Results can be obtained by three methods;

1. Through school or their respective institutions while private candidates would get it by mail.
2. Through short messaging system (SMS) by typing MUET  Identity Card Number and send to 15888
3. Through the Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia (MPM) website

A total of 81.731 candidates have sat for MUET Mid Year at 872 test centers across the country.

MUET Year End 2010

Those are not satisfied with their performance in MUET Mid Year 2010 may try to improve their result by taking the MUET Year End 2010 test.

Those who are interested take MUET End of Year 2010 are required to register at the State Education Department or the District Education Office before July 22, 2010.

Source: BERNAMA

Technorati Tags: examination, Malaysian University English Test, Mid Year, MUET, result, test, Year End

A total of 2,380 new students are expected to register for postgraduate programmes in the University of Malaya starting July 2, 2010.

Its Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International) Professor Dr Hamzah Rahman said that currently the university had around 10,000 postgraduate students, including about 25 percent international students from over 82 countries.

“I must say, it is not easy to get into this university…rejection rate is more than 60 percent because the demand for places in this university is much more than places available,” he said during the welcoming ceremony for new postgraduate candidates here.

Dr Hamzah said the university management had taken various steps to promote research activities and postgraduate education, including setting up eight research clusters which served as focal points for research projects conducted in the UM.

The university is also providing research grants worth RM90,000 for the PhD programme (over three years) and RM60,000 for Masters (over two years).
Read UM Taking In 2,380 New Students For 2010 Postgraduate Programmes

Technorati Tags: Bright Spark, international students, postgraduate, research university, UM, University of Malaya