TAR UMT has big plans for Penang campus

Looking ahead: Liow, flanked by Consulate General of China in Penang acting Consul-General Zhang Li (third from left), Tan and Prof Lee, joining others in taking a group photograph at TAR UMT Penang branch campus in Tanjung Bungah, George Town. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star

GEORGE TOWN: Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) has big plans for its Penang branch campus under a 10-year roadmap.

Its board of governors chairman Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai said the plan included a multi-storey student centre to accommodate more undergraduates from neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.

“We want to convince them to pursue their tertiary education here as we develop Penang campus into TAR UMT’s Talent Development Hub in the northern region with special focus on deep technology and digital transformation education, training and research.

“The campus was recently awarded Premier Digital Tech Institution status by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation for producing top talents and future leaders in digital technology and applications.

“Plans are also in place to form and build alliances with key local industry players and universities in the northern region and neighbouring countries to drive university-industry collaboration and partnership,” he said in his speech before a briefing on the 10-year roadmap at the campus here yesterday.

Liow revealed that the Penang campus currently collaborated with more than 70 companies in a wide spectrum of university-industry activities, including flexi-industry engagement for students, consultancy services, training and research.

He added that the Penang campus had grown to become a formidable institution of higher learning in the northern region with an average annual intake of more than 1,000 students.

“There are currently around 3,600 students pursuing 29 different programmes such as accountancy, computing, IT, finance, business, technology and engineering at foundation, diploma and bachelor’s degree levels.

“To date, the Penang campus, which is TAR UMT’s largest of six campuses nationwide, has produced more than 27,000 graduates, contributing to the much-needed talents of the local industries in Penang and the nearby states,” he said.

Liow said he was committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure TAR UMT’s roadmap was successfully implemented and achieve its strategic goal by 2030.

“I am confident that we will receive strong support from all our 300,000-strong alumni under the leadership of TAR UMT Alumni Council chairman Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy.

“Our strategic goal is to become a renowned ‘future-proof’ talent development hub in Malaysia and the region within a decade.

“Future-proof talent development refers to the transformation of students into graduates with 21st century skills,” he said.

TAR UMT president Prof Dr Lee Sze Wei said as the university was a non-profit entity, it was always in the red but due to public donations and Federal Government allocations, it was able to survive.

“Also under the roadmap, we are looking into generating more income and one of the ways is to attract more foreign students to the university as they pay 1.5 times more than local students. This will help us to be sustainable over the next 50 years.

“Since the formation of TAR College in 1969, we have given out more than RM100mil in merit scholarships and it is hoped that we can continue to do this with the help of our stakeholders and alumni,” he said.

Penang campus adviser Datuk Tan Teik Cheng lauded the efforts of the stakeholders and said TAR UMT had come a long way and its success would not have been possible without their collaborative efforts.