Newcomer puts the focus on entrepreneurship
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan aims to become the country’s top centre for entrepreneurial development

Having welcomed its first intake of students only last June, these are exciting, albeit early, days at University Malaysia Kelantan (UKM), one of Malaysia’s youngest institutions of higher education.

Prof. Ir. Dr. Zainai bin Mohamed, the Vice-Chancellor, emphasises that the university is being built from the ground up and that for everyone concerned – not just the students – it is a learning process.

“Other campuses started either as a branch of another established university or were physically there,” he says. “We, on the other hand, started from zero. Manpower, infrastructure, academic programmes etc – we have had to come up with all of them from scratch.”

There is, however, a clear focus on what the university has been established to achieve in terms of contributing to the development of Malaysia. Its objective is to become a champion in the development of human capital. “We will produce citizens who will not only be successful but will be able to contribute to society,” says Dr Zainai.

More specifically, UMK aims to equip its students to become the businessmen of the future. This, of course, is absolutely in line with the federal government’s desire to develop the small and medium enterprise sector of the economy, and to move away from heavy industries and electronics into agro-based industries and biotechnology.

“Entrepreneurship has been our thrust, right from the beginning,” says Prof. Zainai. “The subject matter is just a means for students to learn how to become entrepreneurs. Apart from good business acumen, entrepreneurs need to be creative, innovative, practice good values and show leadership.”

Zainai Bin Mohamed Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan

In this first year of its existence, UMK has as yet a minimum of facilities with which to attract students. Thus far, it offers a faculty of entrepreneurship and business, a faculty of agro-industry and natural resources, and a faculty of creative technology and heritage. There is also a centre for language studies and human development.

From UMK’s initial intake of 300 students last June, however, its Vice-Chancellor expects the university to grow rapidly. “Our goal is that within the next three years, our enrolees will number about 2,100 students and by 2015, around 6,000–8,000 students,” he says.
Located 300 miles from Kuala Lumpur, the state of Kelantan in northeastern Peninsular Malaysia previously lacked a university of its own, having only an institute of higher learning affiliated to another university. The placing of a new public university in the state is part of the federal government’s current initiative to develop Malaysia’s regions under the ongoing Ninth Malaysia Plan.

UMK is currently operating on a temporary campus at Taman Bendahara and in a teacher training college, Institut Perguruan, in the state capital Kota Bharu as well as at a site in the town of Pengkalan Chepa. However, a permanent campus is being prepared. “We plan to have our first batch of students in the new campus by the end of 2010,” the Vice-Chancellor says.

Situated in this quiet agrarian state, UMK is likely to attract students looking for a peaceful place to live and work, where the cost of living is low.

The university plans to interact closely with the local community, particularly in terms of sharing expertise and new technology that can benefit the lives of the local people. “With the university in place, we can change the mindset of the people. Infrastructures can be brought in, and we can upgrade the socio-economic standing of the area,” says Dr Zainai.