Universiti Utara Malaysia


The Universiti Utara Malaysia was established on 16 February 1984 under the Universiti Utara Malaysia 1984 Order. The university was corporatised on 23 April 1998.
It is in Sintok, Kedah. It is known as a management university. UUM was ranked in the bracket of 591—600 in the QS World University Rankings 2020.

History

The construction planning began in August 1983 when the Ministry of Education began to plan the university. On 19 October 1983, the Cabinet gave its approval for this project in Kedah. At that time, the project was called "The Sixth University Project". Several months later, the temporary office of the Sixth University, officially named Universiti Utara Malaysia, was officially opened on 15 February 1984 in Jitra.
Four months after its official opening, the UUM office was relocated to the provisional Darul Aman Campus in Jitra, in June 1984, when the first phase of the project had been completed. The first academic year began in June 1984. The Darul Aman Campus was on a 62-acre tract of land in Bandar Darulaman. It was 18 km north of Alor Setar and 4.8 km from Jitra.
Meanwhile, the planning of a permanent campus had begun. It was to be built on an area of 1,061 hectares in Sintok, 48 km north of Alor Setar and 10 km east of Changlun, a small town along the North-South Highway, near the Malaysia-Thai border.
The permanent UUM campus, referred to as the Sintok Campus, began operations on 15 September 1990. In a former tin mining area, it is in a valley of lush tropical forests, embraced by blue hills, and watered by two rivers that flow along the middle of the campus. The rivers are Sungai Sintok and Sungai Badak.
The MYR580 million Sintok Campus was opened on 17 February 2004 by the Royal Chancellor, His Royal Highness Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah. The main buildings are the Sultanah Bahiyah Library, the Chancellery, the Sultan Badlishah Mosque, the Mu’adzam Shah Hall, the Tan Sri Othman Hall, the Sports Complex, the Varsity Mall, the Budi Siswa building, the Convention Complex, and the buildings that house the departments of the academic colleges.
In January 2008, a restructuring of the university academic system was undertaken. Thirteen faculties were merged and streamed into three main academic colleges: UUM COB, UUM CAS, and UUM COLGIS.

Campuses

Sintok Campus

The main campus is on a 1,061 hectare site in Sintok, Kedah. The campus is 48 km north of Alor Setar and 10 km south of the Bukit Kayu Hitam and are near the Malaysia-Thailand border. Other towns near UUM are Jitra and Changlun.
Due to its vast land area, the university has used 107 hectares of forest to develop facilities open for use by outsiders. Thus the campus has evolved into an open campus where outsiders and tourists visit. Among the facilities are a picnic area, a nine-hole golf course, a go-kart circuit, a shooting and archery range, and an equestrian site.
The training base and facilities for the Malaysian National Service Programme was on the campus.

Kuala Lumpur Campus

UUMKL Campus is the first UUM fully owned study centre outside Sintok and operated directly by UUM. It is a non-residential campus which occupies a nine storey building in the city center along Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz in the Kampung Baru area and adjacent to Chow Kit.

Academics

College Of Business

Initially, the business and management courses were delivered under a faculty system. In 2008, the faculties were merged to form the College of Business. The curriculum includes business administration, accountancy, finance, economics, banking, marketing, human resource management, insurance and risk management, Islamic banking and finance, muamalat, operations management, and technology management.

Faculties

Note: OYAGSB became an independent school in 2013
The College of Arts and Sciences was formed on 1 January 2008. UUM CAS consists of five academic divisions – Applied Sciences, Educational Studies, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences – and each is headed by a chairperson.
Under the umbrella of UUM CAS, the Applied Sciences division caters for the cross-disciplinary programmes of IT, Computer Science, Multimedia and Decision Science programmes. Research interests include algorithms, web and mobile, software engineering, computer networking, intelligent and information systems, knowledge management, and decision analysis.
Physical Sciences focuses on statistics and mathematics with research interests spanning across the field of statistics and mathematics.
The Humanities and Social Sciences division explores the human condition to better understand our roots, our belief and the best way to express ourselves. The discipline includes history, nationhood, religion, language, communication and media technology.
The Education division produces future educators.

Faculties

The Faculty of Public Management and Law was established on 16 November 2003 consisting of three departments: Public Management; Development Management; and Law. Since its inception, FPAU has offered three academic programs at the undergraduate level with honours and six programs at the postgraduate level. In 2008, the faculties was restructured and grouped under the College of Law, Government and International Studies.

Faculties