KUANTAN: Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) is striving to further strengthen efforts in developing and expanding higher education by focusing on high-end Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
The university has embarked on various efforts with the aim to improve the country's technical capabilities including offering industry-driven academic programmes to produce holistic graduates.
UMP vice-chancellor Prof Dr Wan Azhar Wan Yusoff said the focus will also be given towards the cooperation between UMP and both local, and foreign industries to further enhance the technical capabilities of both parties.
"The university has formulated the UMP Strategic Plan 2021-2025 by focusing on elements of exploring new knowledge through research and innovation, internationalisation and graduate entrepreneurship activities in related fields to improve the quality of education globally.
"At the same time, equal attention will be given to other elements including UMP's financial sustainability and strengthening the university's ecosystem.
There will be continuous initiatives towards making UMP a smart and sustainable campus that will benefit more than 12,000 students in the university," he said.
Wan Azhar said with the ongoing efforts, he hopes it will pave the way for UMP to emerge as one of the young universities that will go on to play an important role in improving the country's technical capabilities.
He said UMP was ranked 133rd in Asia in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2021 in the latest edition announced by the international rating agency QS Quacquarelli Symonds recently.
"This is a recognition on UMP's efforts towards developing and strengthening the quality of human capital alongside education both at the national and international level," he said.
In 2018, UMP emerged as the first local technical and non-research university to receive the prestigious QS 5-star overall rating award in the 2018 QS Star Rating System.
The QS Star rating reflects the high qualities of teaching, research, community services, and globalisation at UMP besides performing well in the advanced criteria of QS Star ratings, namely "innovation" and "inclusiveness."
The Pahang-based university has also emerged as the top university among 15 Asian universities with high publication growth rate in Engineering as reported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2013, and was ranked world's 58th by UI GreenMetric World University Ranking in 2016.