2 Professor Dato Dr. Jamil Hamali ADVISOR Associate Professor Dr. Firdaus Abdullah MANAGING EDITOR Roselind Wee CHIEF EDITOR (ENGLISH) Lilly Metom DEPUTY CHIEF EDITOR (BAHASA MALAYSIA) Azlina Ghazali EDITOR Aiza Johari EDITOR Mohamad Bin Abang WRITER (BM) Ardiana Mazwa Raudah Bt. Amir Abdullah WRITER (BM) Ch’ng Looi Chin WRITER (ENGLISH) Jacinta Yeo Jiin Yih WRITER (ENGLISH) Adib Sarkawi WEB MASTER Dr. Chung Siew Mee @ Ellen Chung PUBLICITY Abdul Khalid Karim PHOTOGRAPHER Zaini Ahmat PHOTOGRAPHER
Message from the Rector 3 Since its establishment on 1 July 1973, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sarawak has had the support and cooperation from the Sarawak State Government throughout all the years. On behalf of UiTM Sarawak, I convey my heartiest congratulations to Datuk Amar Abang Zohari Abang Openg on his appointment as the 6 th Chief Minister of Sarawak. I look forward to working closely with Datuk Amar to bring development to our beloved state of Sarawak with UiTM Sarawak producing the much-needed qualified manpower. I also extend my deepest sympathy and condolence to Puan Sri Jamilah Anu and family on the sad demise of the late Chief Minister, Tan Sri Adenan Satem, who had contributed greatly to the state of Sarawak. Under Datuk Amar Abang Zohari’s capable and strong leadership, I am sure that Sarawak will continue to enjoy prosperity and progress. I hope that 2017 brings better tidings for UiTM Sarawak as we soar to reach greater heights of achievements. I am very grateful for the support of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Hassan Said and our main campus, UiTM Shah Alam which has brought us to where we are today. 2016, which marked the 60 th anniversary of UiTM, has been a remarkably successful year for us. It is very much an encouragement for us here in Sarawak that Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Haji Safri Awang Zaidell, a Sarawakian, has been appointed as the Pro Chancellor of UITM at Istiadat Konvokesyen UiTM Ke-85 in UiTM Shah Alam. On behalf of the campus, I wish to convey our heartiest congratulations to him on this recognition and great achievement. I would also like to thank the Sarawak State Government for awarding me Anugerah Ma’al Hijrah, Pegawai Awam Contoh by His Excellency of Sarawak, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, on 2 October 2016. At the same time, I take this opportunity to thank the staff and students of UiTM Sarawak for their cooperation and support that have enabled me to carry out my job efficiently and effectively. Together we will soar to reach greater heights of achievement. This year, 2017 is a challenging year for UiTM Sarawak as public universities have their combined operating budgets reduced by about 19 per cent, or RM1.5 billion, a bigger cut than 2016. Out of the 20 public universities including many top-ranking institutions in Malaysia, 10 of them face massive cuts ranging from over 10 per cent to over 31 per cent. As for UiTM, RM563 million or 25.2 % of its operating budget has been reduced. With this considerable drastic budget reduction, there is an urgent need to make changes in financial management. The government encourages public universities, which have been generating income for the past nine years, to be more financially sustainable. Therefore, the staff and students of UiTM Sarawak need to take proactive cost saving measures. One effective cost saving measure is to turn off electrical appliances such as air conditioners and computers that are not in use. In this digital age, it is unnecessary to print everything as documents can be stored digitally. Reducing the use of paper can save a lot of cost and at the same time reduce the need to cut down our trees. This saves not only our environment but also a lot of cost. UiTM Sarawak has expanded by leaps and bounds as we now have three campuses, namely Samarahan 1, Samarahan 2 and Mukah. There is a remarkable increase in student population but budget allocation has been reduced substantially. Consequently, the pressing need to reduce the university expenditure, particularly the utility bills, forms the basis for the green initiative undertaken by the university. For a start, Samarahan 1 campus is replacing the street lighting with solar lighting. Seeking alternative energy sources and reducing energy demand reduce cost and ensure more sustainability for the university. At the same time, with the budget cut, public universities are tasked to generate income to be self-sustainable. Towards this end, UiTM Sarawak set up of a Business Development Unit in 2016 with the main aim of generating income through collaborating and synergizing with other stake holders to create business opportunities. In addition, this Business Development Unit also aims to commercialise the expertise and innovations of UiTM Sarawak. To achieve its objectives, the unit has come up with 5 main initiatives namely, Distribution and Retailing, Production, Food Service, Facility Services as well as Event and Activities. UiTM Sarawak has a lot of facilities such as sports facilities, auditorium and big halls which can be rented out to hold various functions to generate income for the campus. As UiTM Sarawak is new in the field of business, investments are minimized through collaboration with outside agencies for mutual benefit. With UiTM Sarawak’s uniqueness in having a pool of expertise from different faculties, highly differentiated products and services can be offered. The Strategic Business Unit (SBU), consisting of teams under different faculties, lecturers or staff, was set up to market expertise and innovations. For example, photography service, which was introduced during the previous convocation, can be extended to cover other events such as convocations at other campuses and other universities as well as activities of clubs and students in different programmes. As a university, research is highly valued as it places the university ranking higher at national and international levels. In this time of limited funding, it is very important that lecturers, who are embarking on research projects, source funding from other external organisations, whether locally or abroad. I would like to encourage lecturers to collaborate and network with other organisations, especially those at international level. A number of conferences have been planned for 2017 and 2018. These include the First International Alumni Conference (IAC 2017), the International Conference of Emerging Trend in Integrated Pest and Disease Management for Quality Food Production, the International Conference on Drone and its Applications, the First International Conference on Traditional Knowledgement and Biodiversity Management, the Second International Conference on Biotourism as well as the International Conference on International Business Management and Entrepreneur Development Teamwork has always been excellent in UiTM Sarawak. Therefore, the level of achievement that the campus has attained is due to the ability and commitment of the staff to work together for the betterment of the campus and the university. I am very happy that we have a team of dedicated and committed highly caliber staff who work hard and cooperate well to bring us to where we are today. Despite all the obstacles and challenges faced, as a family, UiTM Sarawak has managed to overcome all the odds and emerge successful. Once again, thank you to the staff and students of UiTM Sarawak for making our campus and university an excellent place to work and study in. Professor Dato Dr. Jamil Hamali
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