MONDAY, 27 DECEMBER 2010 18:55

By Abd Ghani Nasir
Pix by Saliman Leman

BANGI, 27 Dis, 2010 – The Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan (UKM) has set up three Research Centres of Excellence in line with the needs of the nation’s development.

In announcing this today, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and International Affairs), Prof. Dato’ Dr Ir Hasan Basri said the centres are the Islamic Economy and Benevolent Research Centre, the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Scale Industries Development (CESMED) and the Centre for Human Resource Studies (CHREST).

The formation of the three centres mirrored the strength of the faculty in research and is a clear indication of  the importance of graduates from FEP to the development of the country.

They would become researchers and thinkers who can contribute towards achieving the goals of the New Economic Model, he said.

Speaking at the launching of the new name for the Faculty as the Faculty of Economics and Management, Prof Hasan hoped the faculty would uphold its high expectations and would continue  to be dynamic and sensitive to changes taking place in the country and the world when imparting knowledge to its students.

He stressed that the name Faculty of Economics and Management encompasses a big field of study and suits the new direction of the university and nation.

“The term management denotes a big responsibility and encompasses all aspects of wealth, resources and leadership. The achievements of each goal depends on sound management.

 “It is not surprising that those aspects of management have become an important agenda for discussions at all levels,” he said. The new name also suits the programmes offered which emphasizes on management.

There are three schools of studies under the faculty —  the School of  Economics,  School of Management and School of Accounting —  offering courses connected to management at the graduate and postgraduate levels.

The faculty is also drawing up new programmes connected to management such as Management and Public Policy.

Prof Hasan praised the faculty for being outstanding in publications and being advanced in social sciences.

This was proven by the good citation it received in Scival Spotlight in 2009 and its major contributions in Business Ethics and Human Resource Management. He was proud of the achievements and expressed the hope that the faculty would continue to make headway.
“I’m very proud with this achievement and hope this will continue and be upgraded in the future,” he said.

The Dean of the Faculty, Prof Dr Mohd Fauzi Mohd Jani, said the faculty would be offering post graduate studies in Islamic Economy besides  Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

He highlighted the various developments it had made since it began as the Department of Economy and Business  under the Arts Faculty in May 1970.

It became the Faculty of Economics and Management with six departments in January 1974 before being separated into two faculties, the Faculty of Economics  and Faculty of Business Management  in May 1979.

In April 2004, the Faculty of Economy and Business Management were merged to become the Faculty of Economy and Business. Four years later in January 2008, the Graduate Business School was established as a separate entity.