KUCHING: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) continues to provide the best in facilities and service for students to excel in studies.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Khairuddin Abdul Hamid said Unimas was concentrating on improving its education offerings.
“For the past three years, we have focussed on quality. We have succeeded in placing Unimas in the global arena through various memoranda of understanding and many collaborations with foreign institutions and bodies.
“In addition to that, we are constantly upgrading our facilities and amenities for students as well as getting more experienced staff into our team,” Khairuddin said.
He said the university was always monitoring their faculties and departments to ensure they fulfilled their key performance indices (KPIs).
“This is done to improve the standard of delivery and identify any problem. The purpose is to strengthen our foundation. Our next target is to achieve excellence. KPIs will be adjusted in accordance with the new direction the university heads for,” he said.
Khairuddin revealed that as a testimony of their quality education, Unimas was recently listed among the Top 200 Best Asian Universities 2011 published by QS World University Rankings.
“It came as a pleasant surprise, but then we have been very focused in what we do. We are ranked at number 191, and with that we have added to the number of Malaysian universities in the ranking. We hope we will be able to promote Malaysia as an education hub,” he told reporters after officiating at an oath-taking ceremony by new pre-university students yesterday.
A total of 611 students have been selected for Foundation in Science Studies at Unimas pre-university centre for the 2011/2012 term.
According to Khairuddin, this was increased from 260 the previous term, indicating that the community had become more aware of the university’s foundation studies in science.
The 2011/2012 term has a total of 341 students taking the Foundation in Life Science programme and 270, Physical Science programme. They have been chosen from over 10,000 applicants
The Life Science stream prepares students for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science and Faculty of Science and Resources Technology, while the Physical Science stream prepares them for courses under the Faculty of Engineering.
Earlier, Khairuddin advised the new batch of students to work hard to enter their desired course as placements were limited and they would be facing stiff competition from STPM, matriculation and diploma graduates.
“To stand a chance, you must work hard to score a CGPA of 4.00. But even if you don’t get selected for the course of your choice, Unimas offers many other courses for you to choose from, all which will gear you for future employment opportunities,” he said.
He assured the students that Unimas would provide them the support to do well during their time there, including providing facilities and infrastructure for a conducive and fun learning experience.