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| University of Malaya | |
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| Universiti Malaya | |
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| Seal of the University of Malaya | |
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| Motto: | Ilmu Punca Kemajuan |
| Motto in English: | Knowledge is the Key to Progress |
| Established: | 1905, 1949 |
| Type: | Public |
| Chancellor: | HRH Sultan Azlan Shah |
| Vice-Chancellor: | Datuk Rafiah Salim |
| Pro-Chancellors: | HRH Raja Nazrin Shah Toh Puan Dr Aishah Ong Tan Sri Siti Norma Yaakob |
| Undergraduates: | 18,051 (AY 2008) |
| Postgraduates: | 8,912 (AY 2008) |
| Location: | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Colours: | Red, Gold and Blue |
| Affiliations: | ACU, APRU, ASAIHL, AUN |
| Website: | http://www.um.edu.my/ |
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The University of Malaya (Abbreviation: UM; Malay: Universiti Malaya) is the oldest university in Malaysia. The university motto, Ilmu Punca Kemajuan (Malay: Knowledge is the Key to Success), reflects the philosophy of the University in its constant endeavour to seek knowledge in all fields to produce successful graduates and a successful nation.
It was widely recognised as one of the top universities in Malaysia but university rankings in recent years have seen the decline of UM's glory [1].
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History
Beginnings
In September 1904, Tan Jiak Kim led a group of representatives of the Chinese and other non-European communities, and petitioned the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir John Anderson, to establish a medical school in Singapore. Tan, who was the first president of the Straits Chinese British Association, managed to raise $87,077, of which the largest amount of $12,000 came from himself. On 3 July 1905, the medical school was founded, and was known as the Straits and Federated Malay States Government Medical School. The medical library was first housed in the students' reading room within the school, converted from the vacant old female lunatic asylum in Sepoy Lines.
In 1912, the medical school received an endowment of $120,000 from the King Edward VII Memorial Fund, started by Dr Lim Boon Keng. Subsequently on 18 November 1913, the name of the school was changed to the King Edward VII Medical School. In 1921, it was again changed to the King Edward VII College of Medicine to reflect its academic status.
| Evolution of the University of Malaya |
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In 1929, Raffles College was established to promote arts and social sciences at tertiary level for Singapore students.
Establishment of the university
Two decades later, Raffles College was merged with the King Edward VII College of Medicine to form the University of Malaya on 8 October 1949. The two highly respected institutions were merged to perform together an even greater service by providing for the higher education needs of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore and to help lay the foundations of a new nation by producing a generation of skilled and educated men and women.
The growth of UM was very rapid during the first decade of its establishment and resulted in the setting up of two autonomous Divisions in 1959, one located in Singapore and the other in Kuala Lumpur.
Growth and consolidation
In 1960, the governments of the Federation of Malaysia and Singapore indicated their desire to change the status of the Divisions into that of a national university. Legislation was passed in 1961 establishing the former Kuala Lumpur division as the University of Malaya while the Singapore division was renamed the University of Singapore, the predecessor of today's National University of Singapore, on January 1, 1962.
On June 16, 1962, the university celebrated the installation of its first Chancellor, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first Prime Minister. The first Vice-Chancellor was former Dean, Sir Alexander Oppenheim, the world renowned mathematician who formulated the Oppenheim conjecture in 1929. When Oppenheim left in 1965 with no successor in sight, Rayson Huang who later went on to become the first Asian Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong [2], was asked to take over as the Acting Vice Chancellor. He served in that capacity for 12 months but declined reappointment in order to return to academic pursuits [3].
Chin Fung Kee, a well known authority in geotechnical engineering [4], replaced Huang as Acting Vice-Chancellor until the university succeeded in filling the position in 1967 by the appointment of James H.E. Griffiths. A distinguished physicist and a fellow of Magdalen College, Griffiths was also the former head of Clarendon Laboratory of Oxford University and one of the discoverers of ferromagnetic resonance.
Malaysianization
In 1968, economist Ungku Abdul Aziz succeeded Griffiths as Vice-Chancellor, making him the second Malaysian after Chin to be elevated to the highest executive office in UM and the first Malaysian to be appointed as full Vice-Chancellor. This development was a precursor to the introduction of ethnic quotas into public universities with the introduction of the New Economic Policy in 1971.
On May 1, 2006, the first woman Vice-Chancellor when former Dean of the Faculty of Law and later assistant governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Rafiah Salim, was appointed to the position [5].
Current developments
In 2007, some controversy was generated when the THES - QS World University Rankings published by the Times Higher Education Supplement dropped UM from their list of Top 200 world universities [6]. The rankings first came into scrutiny when the former Vice-Chancellor, Hashim Yaacob, highlighted that UM was ranked 89th in the THES - QS World University Rankings [7].
The progressive drop in the rankings in the subsequent years (169th in 2005, 192nd in 2006 and 246th in 2007) became an object of public questioning and controversy about the perceived declining standards of Malaysian universities and the apparent lackadaisical attitude of UM in addressing long standing issues [8]. This prompted the Ministry of Higher Education to establish its own competitive ranking system between Malaysian public universities known as the Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education Institutions or SETARA following an Academic Reputation Survey conducted the year before [9]. The results of the first SETARA exercise were published in 2008 and University of Malaya came out as the top university in the country. It was the only university which achieved a rating of 5 (out of maximum 6). None of the local universities was able to achieve the top rating of 6 (internationally excellent).
Organization and administration
UM is incorporated by an Act of Parliament with the passage of the University of Malaya Act 1961 which established the former Kuala Lumpur division of the University of Malaya incorporated by the University of Malaya Ordinance 1949 as an independent public university. Additional legislation such as the Degrees and Diplomas Act 1962 [10] granted retrospective recognition and equivalency of degrees and diploma granted by predecessor institutions.
Principal officers
The principal officers of UM are the Chancellor, three Pro-Chancellors, the Vice-Chancellor and four Deputy Vice-Chancellors, the Registrar, the Bursar, the Chief Librarian and the Director of the University of Malaya Medical Centre. The Chancellor and Pro-Chancellors are honorary positions with the Chancellor acting as the titular head of the university presiding over the Convocation. The current Chancellor is HRH Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak.
The Vice-Chancellor is the chief executive and academic officer of UM and is assisted by four Deputy Vice-Chancellors responsible for Student Affairs and Alumni, Academic and International Relations, Research and Innovation, and Development respectively.
List of principal officers
The following table is a list of the principal officers of the University of Malaya and her predecessors. Note that the office of the President of Raffles College was renamed Principal of Raffles College from 1938 [11] [12] [13].
| Principals (King Edward VII Medical College) |
Presidents and Principals * (Raffles College) |
Chancellors (From 1949) |
Vice-Chancellors (From 1949) |
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| Gerald Dudley Freer Robert Donald Keith George Hugh MacAlister George V. Allen Second World War George V. Allen Desmond William George Faris |
1905-1909 1909-1918 1918-1929 1929-1941 1941-1945 1946-1947 1947-1949 |
R. O. Winstedt James Watson Frederick Joseph Morten Alexander Keir George McOwan Second World War W. E. Dyer George V. Allen |
1928-1931 1932-1934 1935-1937 1937-1938 1938-1941 1941-1945 1946-1948 1948-1949 |
Malcolm John MacDonald Tunku Abdul Rahman Sultanah Bahiyah of Kedah Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak |
1949-1961 1961-1972 1972-1986 1986- |
George V. Allen |
1949-1952 1952-1956 1956-1965 1965-1966 1966-1967 1967-1988 1988-1991 1991-1994 1994-2000 2000-2003 2003-2006 2006- |
University authorities
The highest administrative body of UM is the Board of Directors comprising of one Chairperson, the Vice-Chancellor, two representatives from the Government of Malaysia, a community member, and three other professionals, one of whom is from the private sector. Office bearers, apart from the Vice-Chancellor, are appointed to a three year term by the Minister of Higher Education and the Board is currently headed by founding director of the MARA Institute of Technology (now Universiti Teknologi MARA), Arshad Ayub [14] [15].
The Senate is the highest academic body of UM comprising of the Vice-Chancellor, the Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Deans and Directors of the academies, faculties, institutes, and centres as well as a selected number of professors. It has the control and general direction of instruction, research and examination, and the award of degrees, diplomas, certificates and other academic distinctions in UM within its jurisdiction.
Campuses
UM currently has 2 campuses, both located in Kuala Lumpur
Main
The Main Campus is located in the suburb of Lembah Pantai, southwest of Kuala Lumpur. The campus encompasses an area of 750 acres (3.0 km²) and is the original campus of the Kuala Lumpur division of the original University of Malaya. Most of the main administrative buildings and faculties are located in this campus. The 80 hectare Rimba Ilmu Botanical Gardens are also located within the campus.
City
The City Campus is located in the Bukit Persekutuan area of Kuala Lumpur approximately 15 minutes away from the Main Campus. The University of Malaya Centre for Continuing Education, Institute of Principalship Studies, International Institute of Public Policy and Management, Graduate School of Business and the City Campus library are located in the campus.
Varsity Anthem
University Malaya
Kebanggaan kita semua
Bertambah para ilmuwan
Di pelbagai lapangan
Kami bertekad di hati
Mencapai cita murni
Tradisi kecemerlangan
Menepati wawasan
Di sini kami sedia berbakti
Terus berinovasi
Kami harapan generasi muka
Teras nusa dan bangsa
Varsiti kesayanganku
Sungguh banyak jasamu
Membentuk insan mulia
Berilmu berbudaya
Residential Colleges
The following campus residential halls offer lodgings and related services which may include facilities such as game courts, reading rooms, grocery shops, cyber cafes and computer labs.[16]
- First Residential College (Asrama Tunku Abdul Rahman)
- Second Residential College (Asrama Tunku Bahiyah)
- Third Residential College (Asrama Tunku Kurshiah)
- Fourth Residential College (Asrama Bestari)
- Fifth Residential College (Asrama Dayasari)
- Sixth Residential College (Asrama Ibnu Sina)
- Seventh Residential College (Asrama Pendeta Za'aba)
- Eighth Residential College (Asrama Kinabalu)
- Ninth Residential College (Asrama Tun Zahid Zahirrudin)
- Tenth Residential College (Asrama Tun Ahmad Zaidi)
- Eleventh Residential College (Asrama Ungku Aziz)
- Twelfth Residential College(Asrama Raja Nazrin Shah)
- Section 17 Residential College
Notable alumni
King Edward VII College of Medicine/Raffles College era (pre 1949)
- Tun Abdul Razak - 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia
- Mahathir bin Mohamad - 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia
- Ismail Abdul Rahman - former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
- Benjamin Sheares - 2nd President of Singapore
- Lee Kuan Yew - former Prime Minister of Singapore
- Goh Keng Swee - former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore
- Toh Chin Chye - former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore
University of Malaya era (1949 - present)
- Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia.
- Anwar Fazal - Consumer and Civil Society Advocate.
- Anwar Ibrahim - ex-Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
- Aznil Hj Nawawi - award-winning TV host and actor
- Chan Sek Keong - Chief Justice of Singapore
- Charles HectorFernandez - Human Rights Advocate and Activist, former member of the Malaysian Bar Council, former Coordinator of the Malaysian Action Front(MAF)
- Chuah Hean Teik - President/CEO of UTAR, award-winning engineering researcher, and former Senior Professor, Vice President (R&D and Academic Development) & Dean of Faculty of Engineering at the Multimedia University, Cyberjaya
- Shirley Geok-lin Lim - award-winning poet and English Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara
- Teresa Kok Suh Sim - Democratic Action Party Member of Parliament for Seputeh
- Sellapan Ramanathan - President of Singapore and Chancellor of the National University of Singapore
- Sha'ari Tadin - former Senior Parliamentary Secretary and first Malay graduate PAP Member of Parliament, Singapore
- Sim Kee Boon - Former Head of Civil Service, Singapore.
Notable faculty members
- Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid, who once served as the university's vice chancellor
- Wang Gungwu, a former Professor of History at the Department of History (left UM in 1968). Prof. Wang is currently the Director of East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore.
- Khairuddin Mohamed Yusof, a former Professor of University Malaya and also a former Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the University Hospital. Retired in 1997 and was honored with the title of Emeritus by the University. Currently Professor Emeritus Dato Paduka Dr. Khairuddin bin Mohamed Yusof is the Director of Telemedicine Malaysia (World Care Inc)
- Khoo Kay Kim, a former Professor of Malaysian History at the Department of History. Retired in 2001, currently a Professor Emeritus at the University.
- Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a former Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Administration (left UM in 2004). Prof. Jomo is currently the Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
- Ho Peng Yoke, a former Professor of Chinese at the Department of Chinese Studies. Prof. Ho is the Director Emeritus of Needham Research Institute, Cambridge.
- Terence Edmund Gomez, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and administration. He is currently one of the six research coordinators at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development UNRISD.
- The late Tan Sri Datuk Professor Ir. Chin Fung Kee, a well known authority in geotechnical engineering. Born in Nibong Tebal, he was the man who designed the Penang Bridge. He was the former acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Malaya.
See also
References
- ^ "The Difficult Path To Education Excellence", Bernama (2007-11-13). Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
- ^ University of Hong Kong: A Liftime of Memories - Dr Rayson Huang Book Launch (retrieved June 11, 2008)
- ^ Huang, Rayson (2000). "A New University in a New Country", A Lifetime in Academia: An Autobiography by Rayson Huang. Hong Kong, China: Hong Kong University Press, pp 81-83. ISBN 9622095186.
- ^ Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society: A Brief History of the SEAGS
- ^ "UM gets first woman V-C", The Star (2006-04-22). Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
- ^ "Malaysian varsities fail to make top 200 ranking", New Straits Times (2007-11-09). Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
- ^ "World Ranking A Powerful Motivating Force, Says UM Vice-Chancellor", Bernama (2005-11-23). Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
- ^ "What's to celebrate?", The Malay Mail (2005-11-13). Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
- ^ "A balanced view", The Star (Malaysia) (2008-05-25). Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
- ^ Attorney General's Chambers: [www.agc.gov.my/agc/oth/Akta/Vol.%208/Act%20379.pdf Degrees and Diplomas Act 1962]
- ^ National University of Singapore: Roll of Honour
- ^ Malaysian Monarchy: Raja Permaisuri Agong V - Sultanah Bahiyah
- ^ ibid: Yang di-Pertuan Agong IX - Sultan Azlan Shah
- ^ Universiti Malaya: UM Board of Directors
- ^ Amanahraya-JMF Asset Management: Profile of Tan Sri Datuk (Dr) Arshad Ayub
- ^ http://www.um.edu.my/um_life/services/accommodation/residential_colleges.php?intPrefLangID=1& - accessed 18 January 2008
External links
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 4 October 2008, at 05:30.
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