UMS to assist in Sabah agriculture devt – VC

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Taufiq launching UMS online system yesterday.

KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) will assist in agriculture development in Sabah through its Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture (FPL), in Sandakan.

UMS Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Taufiq Yap Yun Hin said the idea emerged as a result of a meeting with the Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, recently.

He said UMS could play an important role in contributing significantly and giving bigger impact towards agricultural development in the state.

Currently, Taufiq said there were requests from coffee planters in Tenom to help them solve their problems of declining coffee production and to increase productivity.

For such requests, UMS would respond by looking into their (coffee planters) problems and finding solutions for them, Taufiq told a press conference after delivering the UMS Vice Chancellor’s 100 days address at UMS Chancellor Hall here yesterday.

In the address, Taufiq announced that he would continue the UMS administration under his care with the theme of Kampus Rahmah Core of Excellence and Eminence.

Rahmah means a life of tolerance based on certain values from acronyms of Ramah (friendly), Aman (peace), Harmoni (harmony), Mesra (amiable), Alami (nature) and Hormat (respect).

Taufiq explained the seven points of Rahmah which are Free and interactive academics; govern with integrity and accountability; holistic, virtuous and competitive graduates; dedicated, knowledgeable and caring staff; harmony, respect and accepting the differences; safe, friendly and happy; and sustainable and high technology/smart.

He believed the implementation of these seven points of Rahmah would uphold UMS staff, lecturers and students and eventually bring UMS to a higher level, which meets the quality requirements.

He said UMS would in turn benefit the economy and people of Sabah, which is a gifted state with abundance of natural resources.

Apart from that, he highlighted UMS 25th anniversary of establishment and was happy to share that it had improved its performance, being ranked 11th out of 20 public universities in Malaysia.

In the UI Green Metric World University Ranking (an international ranking system of universities from around the world based on their environmental performance), Taufiq said UMS had improved from 71 to 58.

In the UI Green Metric Ranking among universities in Malaysia and Asia, UMS is at the third and 11th, respectively.

Also present in the event were UMS Board of directors, chief officers, senate members, deans of faculty, directors of Institute and Centre, heads of departments, divisions and units, lecturers, management and administrative staff and students.