A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE AIMST UNIVERSITY

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A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF
THE AIMST UNIVERSITY
AIMST was registered as a private university
under the Private Higher Education Institution
Act 1996 (Act 555).
In 2002, the IPS approved the ‘Bachelor of
Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS)’
degree programme as the first degree
programme of the AIMST University. Based
on the needs, several expatriate academic
staff was recruited by the AIMST university
to make sure that education quality will not
be compromised. As a new university, it was
important to develop the reputation of the
degree programmes and education quality
offered by the university.
To implement the national plan to transform
Malaysia into the education hub of the region,
Malaysian Government was carefully selecting
the Malaysian universities where foreign
students can enroll for the degree programmes.
In 2003, based on the ground reality, Ministry
of Home Affairs approved the application of
AIMST university to allow international students
to enroll into degree programmes offered by
the university. In fact, It was a very good news
for the AIMST University though it came with a
big responsibility.
In short time, university introduced several
first degree programmes in the area of
biomedical and non-biomedical domains.
Because of the education quality, response of
the students was very good for most of the
degree programmes. To take it to the next
level, university management decided to offer
various postgraduate degree programmes to
the students with inexpensive admission fee.
In 2004, IPS approved the application of AIMST
to start its MSc Biotechnology (by research) as
the first postgraduate degree programme.
During every intake, the students’ number
was increasing steadily in the interim campus
of the AIMST University located at Amanjaya
in Sungai Petani town. All university staff and
students were appreciative of the conducive
atmosphere in the interim campus. All staff and
students were participating enthusiastically
in the celebration of various events including
new year celebrations of Chinese, Malay
and Indian communities, and staff from the
interim campus always shares their wonderful
experience enthusiastically.
In the interim campus of the university, there
was no hostel facility and providing reasonably
good and conducive accommodation to
the students was a big challenge. University
management was very student centric and
sensitive to the students’ needs. To make
sure that students are safe and comfortable,
university arranged rented houses for the
students in Bandar Laguna Merbok (BLM) area
of the town. Special buses were arranged by
the university for the students’ safe journey
between BLM and university’s interim campus.
In 2006, the 1 st batch of students from ‘BSc
Biotechnology’ programme successfully