By Asmahanim Amir
Pictures by Centre for Corporate Communication

BANGI, 16 April 2019 – Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) aims to appoint 26 distinguished international Professor to be a part of UKM in the efforts of improving the quality and ranking of the national university.

Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Hamdi Abd Shukor said UKM need to bring more international experts so as to translate the academic outputs to address the societal issues beyond Malaysia border.

“For example, when we design an engine. The expertise required is not only limited to mechanical engineering, however, there are also other components that related to it such as electric and electronic, operations management, manufacturing, marketing, management and so on. We might have all the experts internally, but the collaboration with distinguished experts from abroad can further enhance the field,” he explained after the ceremony of Bicara Perdana Naib Canselor 2019 with theme Kualiti Teras Kebitaraan Universiti, recently.

He said the appointment of 26 distinguished professors from abroad will be made within this year with at least a three-year contract that cost UKM of RM6 million.

“Three years tenure is deemed to be strategic. This period enables the collaboration to sense, seize and apply for international research grants. By having the famous Professor onboard, the research and proposals will be escalated into frontier research which fulfilling the common needs of international research grants,” he added.

Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Hamdi also explained that the identification and nomination of the distinguished international professors will be done at the faculty and institute level.

“They (faculties and institutes) know better about their needs, i.e., what area they want to expand. So, I leave it to them. At my level, we must facilitate the process. For the time being, we don’t have the actual amount how many Professor will be assigned for each faculty or institutes appointed because the size of each faculty and institute is different,” he explained.

About the UKM ranking, Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Hamdi strongly believes that is the end product. Thus, the foundation and values of UKM members need to be strengthened.

“That means, if the products are good and great, automatically the rankings will increase. Of course, deep in our heart, we want to be the top 100. If we implement a good strategic plan, it would have a positive impact on our ranking,” he said.

Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Hamdi, who has been 100 days administer UKM, hopes that all UKM members will take seriously the strategic plans that have been made and implemented in earnest.

 

“I hope all UKM members include students together implement this strategic plan. Not only the staffs but the students need to be involved because they are those who accept the implementation. They (students) should also be transformed.

“So when we talk about transformation, it happened on all levels, not only UKM staff, but also to the students,” he said.