Universiti Sains Malaysia

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Universiti Sains Malaysia

Motto Kami Memimpin

Motto in
We Lead
English

Established 1969

Type Public

His Highness the Raja of Perlis, Tuanku

Chancellor Syed Sirajuddin ibni Almarhum Tuanku
Syed Putra Jamalullail

Vice- Tan Sri Professor Dato' (Dr) Dzulkifli Abdul

Chancellor Razak

Location Penang, Malaysia

Main Campus (Minden, Penang), Health

Campus (Kubang Kerian, Kelantan),
Campus
Engineering Campus (Nibong Tebal,
Penang)

Affiliations ASAIHL
 Website http://www.usm.my/

Universiti Sains Malaysia (English: University of Science, Malaysia, acronym: USM) is a

public university with its main campus situated in Penang, Malaysia. There are two other
branch campuses, one in mainland Penang, and the other in Kelantan, on the East Coast of
Peninsular Malaysia. With around 29,789 students in 2006 [1], USM is one of the biggest
universities in terms of enrolled students in Malaysia. The number of lecturers is about 1606,
which leads to a student-lecturer ratio of around 1:23.
USM was established in 1969 as the second university in Malaysia. It was first known as
Universiti Pulau Pinang. Initially, the University operated on borrowed premises at the
Malayan Teachers' Training College at Gelugor. In 1971, it moved to its present 239.4-hectare
site (formerly a military barracks) at Minden, approximately 9.7 kilometres from the city of
Georgetown. The site, which consists mainly of undulating land, is indeed an ideal location to
house a university campus. There are now two other USM campuses as well, one at Kubang
Kerian in Kelantan known as the Health Campus and the other at Seri Ampangan in Penang,
known as the Engineering Campus. The former houses the School of Medical Sciences, the
School of Health Sciences and the School of Dental Sciences, while the latter houses the six
engineering schools.
From the outset, Universiti Sains Malaysia was given the mandate to provide, promote and
develop learning in the fields of Pure Sciences, Applied Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Building Science and Technology, Social Sciences, Humanities and Education as well as to
conduct research and foster the dissemination of such knowledge. To date, the University has
not departed from these terms of reference and has made significant progress in meeting its
academic, social, and national obligations.
The University has always been guided in its activities by the need to develop a personality
and identity of its own. Since its establishment, it has adopted an innovative approach to
higher education and departed significantly from the traditional faculty system of an academic
organisation. In its place, the University introduced the school system that allows for a
multidisciplinary approach. The policy was to combine subjects and to organise programs in
such a manner that a degree of specialisation in a chosen subject was possible.
To date, 24 Academic Schools, 14 Centres and 7 Units have been established. Of the Schools,
12 are applied science and technology-based Schools, namely, the School of Civil
Engineering, the School of Aerospace Engineering, the School of Chemical Engineering, the
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the School of Materials and Mineral
Resources Engineering, the School of Mechanical Engineering, the School of Housing,
Building and Planning, the School of Industrial Technology, the School of Medical Sciences,
the School of Dental Sciences, the School of Health Sciences and the School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences. The three liberal arts schools are the School of Educational Studies,
the School of Humanities and the School of Social Sciences. The pure science schools
comprise the School of Biological Sciences, the School of Chemical Sciences, the School of
Mathematical Sciences, the School of Computer Sciences, and the School of Physics, all of
which offer courses that are similar to those traditionally available in other universities.
In December 1989, the School of Management was set up, having evolved from the
Management program within the School of Social Sciences. As part of its continuing
expansion, the University established the School of Computer Sciences and the School of
Communication as of March 1995.
The centres and ancillary services include the Centre for Languages and translation, the
National Poison Centre, the Doping Control Centre, the Centre for Archaeological Research
Malaysia, the Centre for Educational Technology and Multimedia, the Computer Centre, the
Centre for Knowledge, Communication and Technology and the Islamic Centre. There are
also various research centres, namely the Centre for Policy Research, the Centre for Drug
Research and the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies. The Distance Education Program
offered through the School of Distance Education is another innovative program adopted by
the University in 1971. It has gained an encouraging response from working adults and is set
to be developed further in this decade to cater for new directions and needs.
In the field of research, the emphasis is on function-oriented or interdisciplinary research. The
main focus is on areas that integrate academic interest and practical relevance, thus directing
scientific thrusts towards breakthroughs in problem areas crucial to the quality of life and
national development.

The main gate at the main campus of USM

USM is one of three universities in Malaysia that have been identified as research-intensive
universities in Malaysia, with the other being University of Malaya and Universiti Putra
Malaysia. This is in tandem with its mission and vision to be a world-class university
embarking on world class research programmes via strategic planning and implementation of
its R&D mechanism. The university has qualified academic staff and excellent human
resource support in order to realise its mission.

Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Campuses
• 3 Research
○ 3.1 Research areas
• 4 Education
○ 4.1 Graduate studies
○ 4.2 Undergraduate studies
○ 4.3 Other study programmes
• 5 Schools
• 6 Activities at USM
○ 6.1 Activities throughout 2006
 • 7 Healthy Campus
• 8 Ranking
• 9 Movies and Television
• 10 References
• 11 External links

[edit] History
USM was established as the second university in Malaysia in 1969 and it was first known as
Universiti Pulau Pinang. At that time, it operated in Bukit Gelugor, Penang. In 1971, USM's
campus moved to its present 239.4-hectare site, which was the former site of military
barracks.
From the outset, USM was given the mandate to provide, promote and develop higher
education in the fields of pure sciences, applied sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, building
sciences and technology, social sciences, humanities and education as well as to provide
research, advancement and dissemination of such knowledge.
The establishment of USM began with an agreement reached through a resolution which was
approved by the Penang State Legislative Assembly in 1962, which called for the
establishment of a university college in the state. The acquisition of a piece of land in Sungai
Ara for this purpose was then followed by the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone by
the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Y.T.M Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj on 7 August
1967.
Taking into account the need for a larger campus and a more conducive one in line with future
manpower needs, in 1969 a full-fledged university was established under the name Universiti
Pulau Pinang. The establishment of USM was eventually gazetted under the Corporation Act
signed by His Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong as provided for under the Universities and
University Colleges Act 1971, and published in the Government Gazette P.U. (A) 383/71.
The management of the University is carried out through the executive power of the Board of
Directors, made up of members chosen from the University, representatives from government
departments and those appointed by the Ministry of Higher Education. As an executive
council, the Board of Directors retains the right to wield power entrusted to it by the
University Constitution, Statutes, Acts and Regulations.
From its humble beginnings with an intake of 57 science students in 1969, Universiti Sains
Malaysia (USM) had made great strides. Today, USM offers a wide range of courses at both
undergraduate and postgraduate levels to more than 28,000 students. USM has also emerged
as one of the most widely-acclaimed universities not only locally but also abroad. The success
achieved in various fields especially in research, including the latest through the Asian
Innovation Award in which USM emerged as the only winner from this country, has placed
USM on the world map.[2]
[edit] Campuses
Besides the main campus in Minden, USM has two other campuses; one at Kubang Kerian in
Kelantan known as health campus and the other at Seri Ampangan, Nibong Tebal in mainland
Penang known as engineering campus.
Started as a USM hospital in 1983, the health campus has expanded after the School of
Medical Science was moved from the main campus to the present site which is 72.84 hectare
in size. The School of Medical Science was moved from the main campus in June 1990.
There're are now 2 other schools in the health campus - the School of Dental Science and the
School of Allied Health Sciences. The engineering campus meanwhile moved to the present
site from its previous site in Tronoh, Perak in 1996.
[edit] Research

Dewan Tuanku Syed Putra. The main auditorium of USM, located on the main campus on
Penang Island
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) offers excellent opportunities for research and education to
both local and foreign scholars. The University's core competencies are teaching, research and
consultancies, which relate directly to the advancement of human resource development and
capacity building, knowledge and industrial competitiveness.
In order to develop as a teaching and research institution of international repute, and to
perform its expected role both in society and in the world of learning, the University must
continue to develop a broad-based research infrastructure involving the acquisition of a wide
range of equipment, laboratory facilities and library holdings. University research in many
ways differs from corporate R&D, and from the activities of specialised R&D institutions in
that it must address a wider range of problems, be more tolerant or open minded, perform
purely theoretical investigations and incorporate literary, artistic, philosophical, social and
other fields of study in its research endeavours.
The route taken for the development of academic excellence at USM has been the
establishment of research institutes, centres and units. A criterion for the setting up of these
institutes, centres and units has always been that the areas which they cover must be the ones
in which there have already been notable achievements and where the setting up of formal
structures would help to mobilise more effectively research talent and expertise from different
disciplines and from different parts of the University. But it has always been understood that
these structures, while providing better opportunities for integration and networking, would
not replace or reduce the research roles of the teaching Schools and their staff. Indeed, a
cardinal rule in the University's overall planning has been that principal areas of teaching and
research would overlap, as would areas of staff and postgraduate research, to the common
advantage of all.
The University has always emphasised the inter-disciplinary approach in all its programmes
and this is reflected in both its academic structure and research activities. The Science Fund
funding is the main source of R&D for USM. However, in order to promote research, the
University allocates a sum of money from its operating funds annually as incentive and for
short-term research purposes. External funds, mainly in the form of research grants, awards
and consultancies won by individual academic staff members, also feature prominently. There
are, of course, external sources of funding as well, but these are largely of an ad hoc nature
and do not as a rule result in the development of major research facilities. Some external
research links have also been established thus far, both through individual and through
institutional networking arrangements.
These are areas in which the University is able to contribute effectively both to the national
research effort and to the advancement of knowledge in general. In other words, these are
areas in which the University is already strong and enjoys a favourable reputation, or in which
the required expertise and support facilities are already in place at several research clusters at
the respective Schools or at the various research centres in USM
[edit] Research areas
Research areas of special strength at USM include environmental science, aquaculture,
biomedical and pharmaceutical studies, natural language processing and computer aided
translation, information technology, food technology, polymer science and technology,
biotechnology, distance education, geographical information system, structure analysis,
materials science, engineering, surface chemistry, and robotic vision. Penang has excellent
research facilities for collaborative search, particularly in coastal pollution, mangrove
ecosystem and marine aquaculture.