By Kuah Guan Oo
Pix by Abd Raai Osman
BANGI, 24 March 2011 – The high-level panel of auditors who scrutinised Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) readiness for autonomy over the last three days is generally satisfied with the documentary proof and evidence presented by the university.
“Obviously, the group driving the university’s move for autonomy under the leadership of Vice Chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dato’ Wira Dr Sharifah Hapsah Shahabudin, had made a thorough preparation,” said Encik Abdul Rahim Yusoff, lead auditor of the panel.
He said this when presenting the preliminary findings of the 13-member panel here yesterday. The panel included officers from the Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC), two members from SIRIM Berhad and five resource persons.
Among the resource persons are Emeritus Prof Dr Muhammad Awang, Vice Chancellor of Kolej Universiti SEGI and Encik Ahmad Shahab Haji Din, the Chief Operating Officer of the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance.
“If you can implement our recommendations, there is no reason why UKM could not obtain full autonomy,” he said, adding that he would prepare his report for UKM to provide its feedbacks before finalising it for the Government which had directed MPC to conduct the audit.
In his summary of the findings and observations, he said the panel was happy to see the readiness and high commitment shown by the UKM team for autonomy.
In the area of institutional governance, he said they saw the strength in the close cooperation between the university’s Board of Directors and Senate that can propel UKM to realise its vision and mission, especially in becoming an internationally renowned research university.
The Board of Directors as the main pillar of the university, has played a sterling role and can push UKM to achieving its aspiration, vision and mission with the strong support of the university community.
With members who have been with the board since the inception of UKM, they can assist the board in achieving the struggle of UKM.
The Board of Directors has played an active role in developing, monitoring and improving the UKM Transformation Plan to realise its objective of becoming an internationally renowned research university by 2018.
As for academic governance, the panel found the composition of the Senate to be well in place while the transparency of the Senate’s roles is highly commendable.
As a research university, UKM is on the right track. The whole community and ecosystem are in place and committed in anticipating the importance of maintaining its status while pursuing its stated objective.
The campus community should be able to propel Research and Development and innovation into commercialisation, in line with the nation’s aspiration.
Encik Rahim said in terms of academic governance, UKM is doing very well, based on its track record. “Given the autonomy status, it would be able to fulfill the needs of the central agency.”
In the area of human resource management, the panel felt that efforts taken to enhance the management are geared to creating a culture of excellence and would contribute to making UKM a world renowned
In terms of finance, the panel found that the financial management system of UKM had followed the financial management conventions laid down by the Government.
The university had implemented and abided by the various requirements and had set up the finance committee as spelt out by the circulars.
UKM should focus on the process of understanding, implementation and adherence by the PTJ or centres of responsibility in order to further strengthen the financial management of the university.