EDUCATION

Universiti Sains Malaysia

                                                            University of Science, Malaysia

The Crest of Universiti Sains Malaysia

Motto	Kami Memimpin
Motto in English	We Lead
Established	1969
Type	Public
Chancellor	His Highness the Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin ibni Almarhum Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail
Vice-Chancellor	Prof Datuk Dr Omar Osman
Location	Penang, Malaysia
Campus	Main Campus (Minden, Penang), Health Campus (Kubang Kerian, Kelantan), Engineering Campus(Nibong Tebal, Penang)
Affiliations	ASAIHL, ACU, FUIW[2]
Website	http://www.usm.my/

History

The establishment of USM began with an agreement 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 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.

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 at Minden (formerly Minden Barracks of the British Far East Command) in Gelugor, approximately 9.7 kilometres from the city of Georgetown. The site, which consists mainly of undulating land, is an ideal location to house a university campus.

There are now two other USM campuses: 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 mandates and has made significant progress in meeting its academic, social, and national obligations.

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.

Today, USM offers a wide range of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels to more than 28,000 students. The success achieved, 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.

USM has always been guided in its activities by the need to develop a personality and identity of its own.^{[citation needed]} 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 a system that allows for a multidisciplinary approach. The policy was to combine subjects and to organise programs so 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: Civil Engineering, Aerospace Engineering; Chemical Engineering; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Housing, Building and Planning; Industrial Technology; Medical Sciences; Dental Sciences; Health Sciences; and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The three liberal arts schools are Educational Studies, Humanities, and Social Sciences. The pure science schools are Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Computer Sciences, and 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 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 areas crucial to the quality of life and national development.

USM is one of six universities in Malaysia that have been identified as research-intensive universities, with the other being University of Malayaand Universiti Putra Malaysia.