Varsity to keep chasing excellence

AIMST medical graduates posing with their scrolls at the convocation ceremony.

ASIAN Institute of Medicine, Sciences and Technology (AIMST) University is aiming for a score of five which stands for ‘Excellent University’ under the Malaysian Higher Education Institution’s rating system known as Setara.

The evaluation is based on the quality of undergraduate studies for medical, dental and pharmacy disciplines.

AIMST vice-chancellor Emeritus Professor Dr Harcharan Singh Sidhu said the university, which presently has a score of four, will work hard to obtain ‘Excellent University’ status.

“We are just below Universiti Malaya (UM).

“Bear in mind that government - funded UM has a more than 100-year head start on us whereas AIMST is only 16 years old,” he said in his address at AIMST’s 11th convocation ceremony at the campus in Semeling, Sungai Petani.

A total of 565 students from the medical, pharmacy, physiotherapy, biotechnology, accounting, finance and other faculties received their scrolls during the event.

University chancellor Tun S. Samy Vellu said three students graduated with doctorate degrees (PhD) and 11 others with Masters degrees from various programmes.

Dr Harcharan added that one Intellectual Property (IP), the first of its kind called ‘Cold chain-free live attenuated cholera vaccine’ was filed with MyIPO with the trademark name ‘MyChol’.

He said the university also signed research collaboration agreements with various Malaysian and foreign universities.

“We are committed to making this university a more effective vehicle for the country’s development,” he said.

“It is heartening to celebrate the success of our alumni.”

The total grant secured this year was RM1.8mil, an increase of 23% compared with the previous year’s grant.

Engineering student Namani Srilahari from Hyderabad, India, of the Engineering and Computer Technology faculty, won the gold medal for her outstanding performance in academic and co-curricular activities.