By Azman Zakaria
Photo by Noor Azreen Awang
SERDANG, Feb 24 - Expecting that the challenges facing
the higher education sector, especially universities, will be greater this
year, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Datin Paduka Dr
Aini Ideris called on all UPM staff and students to remain ambitious and
motivated in maintaining excellence.
Expressing her confidence, she said strong bonding and
cooperation among them will enable UPM to pass through all those hurdles.
“By sticking to the spirits of collegiality and togetherness
steadfastly, we can continue to enhance our solidarity and sense of belonging
and work closely together to bring UPM’s excellence to greater heights,” she
said in her 2017 New Year Message here which was attended by UPM staff and
students.
Also present were Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and
International), Prof. Dr. M.Iqbal Saripan and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research
& Innovation), Prof. Dato' Dr. Husaini Omar, both of whom were appointed to
their respective post on Feb 15, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community
Relations), Prof. Dr. Ing Ir.Renuganth Varatharajoo.
In her message, themed "Ihsan: Excellence and
Challenges," Prof Datin Paduka Dr Aini called on Pusat Tanggungjawab (PTJ)
to prepare an Action Plan to help realize the initiatives of preserving the
greenery and creating a UPM Botanical Garden, and intensifying efforts to
strengthen the agricultural field, research, national strategic requirements,
talents as well as academic leadership.
Other initiatives she pointed out included instilling
excellence and humanity in students, creation of positive learning experience
in preparation for actual living, utilization of learning technologies,
bringing Bintulu Campus’ excellence to greater heights, exploring new
strategies for university funding and risk management, strengthening integrity
and wellbeing of UPM staff, and making Universiti Putra Malaysia a global
brand.
She also expressed her hope for UPM folks to embrace Ihsan
as their source of strength in their relentless efforts to brace themselves for
excellence, which will indirectly propel UPM to become a renowned institution.
"We must never regard the challenges we are facing as
obstacles to achieve par excellence, but rather as a source to enhance our
resilience that could protect and safeguard our excellence as a research
university,” she added.
In addressing the challenges for funding and university’s
finances, she said every UPM resident at all levels of management should be
responsible to culturalize fund-generating and cost-saving activities.
Towards implementing the Ihsan concept, she said it is the
responsibility of every UPM resident to embrace the culture of austerity, wise
spending to avoid wastage, adopt lean management and optimize the use of
existing facilities and resources.
This year, according to her, financing for higher education
in Malaysia is experiencing a reduction in budget, affecting all public
universities, from RM7.57 billion in 2016 to RM6.12 billion in 2017, or 19.2%.
As for UPM, the reduced allocation stood at 29.7% as compared to the previous
year.
UPM accepted this hard reality and the trend of reduction in
government funding for university operations, she said, adding UPM was moving
towards asset monetization through 10 university entities which are facilities
and equipment belonging to university that had been identified as being able to
generate a steady income.
“Reduction in budget for the country’s higher education
sector has resulted in stiff competition for bidding of research grants from
government funds. Therefore, we can no longer fully rely on government funds
but rather explore other funding resources, whether at national or international
levels,” she said.
According to her, one of the approaches to be adopted by the university in confronting challenges in getting research funding is through collegiality. - UPM