Curtin gets RM2 mln from S’wak Govt

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Abang Johari (fifth left) presenting the RM2 million cheque to Curtin Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Jim as others applauds.

MIRI: Sarawak State Government continued to place strong emphasis on quality and affordable tertiary education in the state with an allocation of RM2 million to the Curtin University Malaysia Campus in Miri.

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg handed over the cheque to Curtin Malaysia’s pro vice-chancellor, president and chief executive Professor Jim Mienczakowski at a hotel in Miri during the launching of a booklet of 65 initiatives undertaken by team Abang Johari in the GPS state government.

Curtin University has been ranked 20th among the world’s top young universities in the 2019 edition of QS Top 50 which measures the world’s best universities under 50 years of age.

In a visit to the campus in June last year, Abang Johari assured that the Sarawak State Government will assist Curtin University, Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) in expanding its facilities, particularly in relation to information technology (IT), to meet the requirements of the state.

He said then this was necessary to meet the needs of Industry 4.0, and tertiary institutions in Sarawak need to enhance their IT and other expertise in line with the state government’s goal to develop its digital economy and natural resources.

Professor Jim Mienczakowski has previously expressed pride in the campus continuing to establish itself as a leading young university on the world stage.

Curtin Malaysia, its largest international campus and global hub in Asia, is part of this global university with campuses in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and Mauritius, as well as course delivery through more than 90 partner institutions worldwide.

Curtin Malaysia will mark its 20th anniversary this year and its upward trajectory in the world rankings augurs well for the campus’ standing as the highest-ranked global university campus in Borneo and the largest Australian international campus in the world.

It is ranked in the top one per cent of universities worldwide in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2017 and recently rose to 250 in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2018-19.

The University has maintained its outstanding Tier 5 (Excellent) rating in the Malaysian Rating System for Higher Education Institutions (Setara), and a similar rating for its engineering programmes in the discipline-based D-Setara in 2017.

It is the only university rated for engineering excellence in East Malaysia.