Universiti Teknologi MARA


Universiti Teknologi MARA is a public university based primarily in Shah Alam, Malaysia that accepts only Bumiputera. Established in 1956 as RIDA Training Centre, it opened to some 50 students with a focus to help the rural Malays. Since that time it has grown into the largest higher education institution in Malaysia by physical infrastructure, staff organisation, and student enrolment.
The university comprises one main campus and 34 state campuses. With 17,488 academic and non-academic staff, UiTM offers over 500 programmes ranging from foundation to postgraduate level. It is home to some 170,514 bumiputera and international students, in full-time and part-time modes. Teaching is fully conducted in English.

History

Founding

Universiti Teknologi MARA began as RIDA Training Centre, inspired by Onn Jaafar, the founder and former president of United Malays National Organisation. The idea was conceived as a result of a study visit to Ceylon in 1951 to look into its rural development programme. A resulting working paper outlined the establishment of Rural and Industrial Development Authority and its objectives of rebuilding the rural society, as well as improving the economy of rural Malays. A bill Paper No. 10/1951 was passed by the Federal Legislative Council on the same year that led to its establishment; reveals an interesting insight into the connection between RIDA Training Centre and the Malay community. Section 5 of this paper outlines the justification and the necessity of establishing Rural Industrial Development Authority. The word kampong, which is synonymous with the Malays, is also used in Section 8 of the paper.

Training Centre

In November 1956, RIDA Training Centre began operations in Petaling Jaya, Selangor under its first principal, Syed Alwi Syed Sheikh Alhadi. It was officially opened by Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, the Minister for Trade and Industry on 14 February 1957. The training centre conducted pre-university courses, business skills training and several external professional courses offered by established international bodies, such as the London Chamber of Commerce, the Australian Chartered Secretaryship, the Australian Society of Accountants and the British Institute of Management. After the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, the training centre began to admit native students from Sabah and Sarawak, and more academic programmes were offered. In 1964, RIDA Training Centre held its first convocation and 50 graduates were awarded certificates by Tun Abdul Razak, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The training centre later became known as MARA College in 1965. The name change meant that the college no longer operated under RIDA and instead became the most important unit of the MARA Training Division. MARA stands for Majlis Amanah Rakyat under the leadership of Tan Sri Arshad Ayub, took over and strengthened the role and responsibilities of RIDA. In 1966, when the British Institute of Management ceased conducting external examinations, MARA College began running its own Diploma in Business Studies. International recognition for the course came from Ealing Technical College in London, which also became its external examiner.

Expansion and growth

In 1967, the college was upgraded to Institut Teknologi MARA. Its establishment came as a response to a need in Malaysia for trained professionals, especially among bumiputeras. This shortage was identified through a manpower survey conducted by the government in 1965 collaboration with the United Nations. Acknowledging the fact that education holds the key to positive social engineering processes, ITM has made education easily accessible primarily to the bumiputera Malays and indigenous bumiputera of the Malay peninsula, and those from the East Malaysia. It mainly catered to semi-professional courses predominantly in the science and technology in fields such as engineering, applied sciences and architecture, building and planning. However, realising the importance of other complementary nation-building fields, it has also included a repertoire of other salient 'management and humanities-based' fields such as business studies, hotel and catering management, mass communications, public administration, law, secretarial science, as well as art and design. By 1973, branch campuses had been set up in Perlis, Sabah and Sarawak. The development of ITM was in three stages. The first phase came with the declaration of the institute as an autonomous body with its own 300-acre campus in Shah Alam, and was placed under the Ministry of Rural Development. The second phase saw ITM rapidly harnessing its potential as an institution of higher learning. It led to the passing of the ITM Act of 1976 that placed the institute directly under the Ministry of Education.

University status

The third phase came about as a result of an amendment to the ITM Act 1976 which granted the institution all the powers of a university and on par with all the universities in the country, despite retaining its name. Among the significant change was a creation of board of directors and Senate. Many principal officers of ITM were re-designated such as the Branch Director was renamed Rector, the Head of Campus became the Provost, while Principal and Senior Lecturers were re-designated as professors and Malay Associate Professors, respectively; each School was redesignated as a Faculty; ITM was given the power to confer degrees up to Doctor of Philosophy level; ITM was given the unique power to establish courses and campuses abroad with permission from the Minister of Education; the Institute was conferred additional powers to enable it to conduct business, invest in shares, set up companies and engage in commercial research; disciplinary powers over staff were transferred from the Minister to the board of directors; to improve staff accountability, the Institute was bestowed the power to impose a surcharge; and the procedural rights of students in disciplinary proceedings were strengthened.
In August 1999, the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced the change in name of ITM to Universiti Teknologi MARA, UiTM. With such acknowledgement from the government, a major restructuring exercise was carried out to consolidate the University's resources for optimum productivity. The Universiti Teknologi MARA Act 173 was drafted in conjunction with the establishment of UiTM. It is deemed essential as the Act provides guidelines for maintenance and smooth administration as well as other pertaining matters. The Act also serves as an acknowledgement of the institution's transition from an institute to a university, and the authority bestowed upon it to function like any other university. This includes the offering of courses of studies and the conferment of degrees at all levels.

Campus

UiTM is Malaysia's largest institution of higher learning in terms of size and population. Besides the main campus in Shah Alam, the university has expanded nationwide with 34 branch campuses, which collectively offers more than 500 academic programmes. UiTM established a system called 1 University Multi System. Based on this system, there is an anchor university and 13 branch campuses.
The anchor university assumes the role of the administrative centre and the branch campuses will be the autonomous state administration. UiTM is headed by a Vice-Chancellor while the branch campus is headed by a Rector, who is directly accountable to the Vice-Chancellor. The anchor university consists of the main campus in Shah Alam and the Selangor Branch Campus, while the autonomous branch campuses consist of all the campuses in each state and its satellite campuses. All branch campuses will be given the autonomous status in phases. As of June 2014, there are seven branch campuses which have been given the autonomous status namely, Perlis, Perak, Terengganu, Sarawak, Melaka, Pulau Pinang and Pahang campuses.

Shah Alam Main Campus

Libraries

The founding of UiTM Library began with the establishment of RIDA Training Centre at Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya in 1956. Initially, it was known as RIDA Library that was loaded with reading materials for accounting book keeping and London Chamber of Commerce examination preparatory courses. The administration of the library was operated in a room located on the first floor of the old Administrative Department building at RIDA Training Centre. Later, the library was moved to the ground floor of the Administrative Department annex to accommodate the increase of users and collections.
In 1965, the name of the library was changed to MARA College Library in conjunction with the change from RIDA Training Centre to MARA College. It was the first year that MARA College Library was administered by a certified officer in librarianship. The library collections at the time consisted only of books, journals, magazines, newspapers and other foreign publications in English.
On 14 October 1967, MARA College was again changed to MARA Institute of Technology. In a short period of time, the Jalan Othman campus could no longer accommodate the number of new professional courses that indirectly has caused an increase in the number of students. In 1972, the ITM main campus was built in Shah Alam. A four-storey building was specially designated as the ITM library, designed based on discussion with the Chief Librarian, according to specifications of an academic library.
This library was officiated by the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak on 29 July 1972. The name Tun Abdul Razak Library was chosen in honour of the Prime Minister.
On 26 August 1999, the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad announced that ITM has been upgraded to Universiti Teknologi MARA. This new status brought UiTM Library to a transformational process from a traditional library to a hybrid library in line with the development of current technology. The library internal processes are now automated. In addition, UiTM Library services can now be accessed 24/7 via the website http://www.library.uitm.edu.my/. It functions as the primary source of online reference for users at all time, with the Anywhere, Anytime, Anyone concept.

Residential colleges

There are 13 residential colleges which provide accommodation to students in the main campus. These colleges differ from one another in terms of room capacity, where some colleges accommodate two students per room while some accommodate up to eight students per room. Residential colleges are not autonomous as they fall under the jurisdiction of UiTM. However, the director of each college has vast power endorsed to them in governing these colleges.
The colleges are segregated by gender where different colleges cater only to either male or female students, with the exception of Kolej Teratai where male and female students live in different blocks. Rental for residential colleges in Shah Alam campus is free for only first year students. However, a minimum fee is charged for second year students and above. First year students are not allowed to drive their own vehicles except for motorcycles. All colleges have access to free Wi-Fi service, which is part of the integrated wireless internet connection for the university itself.
As the main campus receives an increase in student enrolment each year, there are constraints on the residential college facilities. Many students in UiTM Shah Alam have to rent off-campus residential facilities on their own. In ensuring the welfare and safety of the non-resident students who stay off-campus, the college management has established a Non-Resident Management Unit to manage living environment matters for these students. This unit will help non-resident students in search of accommodation within Shah Alam.
There are some facilities offered to non-resident students. Prima Siswa Complex located inside the campus, provides a student lounge. It features a large screen television, day lockers, information racks, bulletin board, pool table, foosball, indoor games, prayer room and student activity room. The UiTM Student Service Centre is located outside the campus in the Section 7 Commercial Centre, Shah Alam. It includes free internet surfing, self-service laundry and a small lounge.

Academic

The university is made up of a number of faculties and academies. It is categorised into three main clusters namely business and management; social sciences and humanities; and science and technology. The Academic Affairs Division, headed by a Deputy Vice-Chancellor, is responsible to ensure the soundness of the academic programs as well as the robust, uniform and standardised academic delivery throughout the whole UiTM system across the nation.
The Senate is the highest authority in UiTM for all academic matters. It is chaired by the Vice-Chancellor and the membership comprises all Deans of faculties and academic centres, representatives from the Rectors of campuses, senior members of the academic staff, and a registrar. The Senate are responsible to create curriculum and academic programs; to set the standard of teaching, learning and training conducted at the UiTM; to determine the entry qualifications into any academic programs offered; and to endorse the results of student assessments and awards of all academic degrees at doctoral, master, bachelor, diploma and certificate levels.
As of May 2015, 470 programmes offered by UiTM include degrees at doctoral, master, bachelor, diploma and certificate levels. There are 286 programmes based on science and technology while another 184 programmes are non-science and technology. In addition, 94 professional programmes are offered by UiTM. This includes programmes certified by University of London International Programmes, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, the Chartered Institute of Transport, the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, the Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Chartered Institute of Building, London College of Printing, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries of United Kingdom and many more.
In 1973, UiTM established ITM-Off Campus with the aim to provide opportunities for working adults to further and obtain a quality tertiary education. Classes are held after office hours on weekdays and on weekends, and courses are patterned after the full-time mainstream programs. The success of external program propelled UiTM toward embarking upon the distance mode. After several improvements and revolution, Institute of Neo Education was formed in 2012 offering several diploma and degree courses on distance and out-campus mode.

Research

Universiti Teknologi MARA is a self-described "research-intensive entrepreneurial university" considered by the QS World University Rankings to have "very high research activity". In 2011, UiTM's research publication was ranked 5th nationwide by Web of Science. Scopus reported, a total of 6,863 papers has been published in academic journals by UiTM faculties from 2009 until 2013. It was cited in 7,479 papers with 32.7% of it was self-cited by UiTM's researchers.
Institute of Research Management & Innovation is the research arm of the university. It was created to manage research, consultancy, intellectual property protection, commercialisation, initiate new research and innovation activities. IRMI conducts seminars, workshops and roadshows to encourage and train the academics and non-academic staff on research and consultancy, securing research grants and projects, managing their finances and publishing research work. It also handles the university's Research Ethics Committee. In the same vein, IRMI organises expositions of innovations and research to encourage innovations and inventions within the university's environment.
UiTM, in the Shah Alam main campus and its satellite campuses in the Klang Valley, has been focusing on research excellence and postgraduate training since 2009 in response to the 10th Malaysia Plan, which include the Research and Development Roadmap Action Plan. The UiTM R&D Roadmap specifically emphasised on two research performance indicators, namely to increase number of principal investigators and students to publish in Web of Science and Scopus journals. Research funding in UiTM has been steadily increasing from just over RM14 million in 2006 to RM50.4 million in 2011. Social science and humanities research made up around 20% of the secured funding.
To steer Malaysia towards becoming an innovation-based and knowledge-based economy, Ministry of Higher Education in 2009 recognised six research institutions as Higher Institutions Centre of Excellence including UiTM's Accounting Research Institute for its research niche area in Islamic Finance Criminology. In 2014, UiTM's Malaysian Institute of Transport conferred as HICoE for the niche area of Halalan Toyyibban Supply Chain. Six UiTM's research institutions has been granted Centre of Excellence status namely Institute of Science, Institute of Infrastructure and Environmental Services and Management, Institute of Pathology, Medical and Forensic Laboratory, Atta-Ur-Rahman Institute for Natural Product Discovery, Integrative Pharmacogenomic Centre, and Institute of Business Excellence.

Reputation

YearWorldAsiaMalaysiaRef
2012601+2389
2013601+7
2014701+1687
2015651–700201–2507
2016701+201–2507
2017701+1818
2018751–8001589
2019751–80013712
2020651–70011912

As one of the leading universities in Malaysia, UiTM has been rated positively by local and international bodies. In 2010, UiTM was rated 'Tier 5: Excellent' in the 2009 Malaysian Qualifications Agency Rating System for Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia. UiTM maintained its rating of 'Tier 5: Excellent' in the 2011 Malaysian Qualifications Agency Rating System for Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia. In the same year, UiTM was rated 2 stars in 2011 Malaysian Research Assessment Instrument where universities are given "star ratings" for their research, development and commercialisation efforts. In 2013, UiTM was awarded by Ministry of Higher Education as Entrepreneurial University of the Year.
In global rankings, UiTM best performance was in 2014 when it positioned as 168th best university in Asia, despite maintaining its 7th position locally. In 2016, five subjects were ranked in QS World University Ranking by Subject, an increase of two subjects from 2015 ranking.

International partners

The university holds a number of formal links with institutions from around the world to share teaching and research and facilitate staff and student exchanges. As of June 2019, a total of 25 universities engagement, 9 embassies and 2 others have been identified as global partners.
Universities
Embassies
Others
UiTM graduates have found success in a wide variety of fields, and have served at the heads of diverse institutions both in the public and private sector. As of November 2014, more than 600,000 alumni have graduated from UiTM over the course of its history. A dedicated UiTM Office of Alumni Relations was established in 2000 which aims to maintaining and updating a database of alumni in collaboration with faculties and campuses; promote strategic relationships; maximising social capital and to promote the generation of income through entrepreneurial activity with alumni. Fraternity among alumnus was further uphold with the establishment of UiTM Budiman Foundation which helps the needy students and give financial support to current student who further studies in postgrad level. Some of the notable alumni include the following: