Bangkok--Dec 18--Curtin University of Technology
A new offshore campus of one of Australia's most successful international universities will be established at Miri, the home of Sarawak's oil industry in northeastern Malaysia.
The Council of Curtin University of Technology agreed yesterday (Wednesday, December 16) to accept the invitation of the Malaysian State Government to establish the first overseas university campus in East Malaysia.
The new Curtin University of Technology, Sarawak Campus, will begin running programs during 1999, including intensive English language, bridging and foundation programs, the Diploma of Business and the Bachelor of Business Administration. Professional Masters Degrees may be offered from July 1999.
The Miri decision came after extensive discussions with the Malaysian Government, and representatives of the Sarawak Government.
Members of the local Protem Council of the Sarawak Campus led by its Chairman, the Deputy Chief Minister for Sarawak, Datuk Amar Dr George Chan, and the Mayor of Miri Cr Wee Han Wen, came to Perth for this week's Curtin Council meeting. Also in Perth as part of the delegation was prominent Malaysian business identity, Mr Lau Siu Wai, Group Executive Chairman of Miri Housing Development Realty, and a member of the Protem Council, who was instrumental in the initial contact with Curtin about the proposal, and bringing the project to fruition.
Other Protem Council members who visited Perth include the State Minister for Housing Datuk Celestine Ujang, the Assistant Minister for Resource Planning Datak Awang Tengah, the Political Secretary to the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Mr Lee Kim Shin, Datuk Leo Chai, former Director of Forest, Sarawak, Y.B. Dr Judson Tagal, Curtin's Sarawak Campus, Y.B. Aiden Wing, Curtin's Sarawak Campus, and Thomas Siaw, Coordinator of Curtin's Sarawak Campus.
At the meeting, Datuk Chan confirmed the total support of the Sarawak State Government for the initiative, and announced it had allocated 1000 acres (400 hectares) of land on which to build a campus which will attract students from all over the world. The Government is also establishing a large number of scholarships to enable indigenous students to attend the new university.
Curtin Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lance Twomey said the Miri campus will initially cater for Malaysian and Australian students and there had already been more than 400 expressions of interest from potential students without any advertising or marketing.
Professor Twomey said the Curtin Miri campus could attract US and European Study Abroad students and it will become an attractive destination for students from nearby countries including Brunei, Indonesia, the People's Republic of China and the Philippines.
"Our new Miri campus will increase opportunities for university education in Sarawak and will provide excellent opportunities for international academic collaboration and cross- cultural learning," Professor Twomey said. "It provides an ideal destination for study tours and a change of study venue for our Western Australian-based Curtin students."
The new campus will also create opportunities for applied research, consultancy and collaboration with local partners in strategic industries such as petroleum, information technology, environmental management, indigenous studies and tourism management.
Professor Twomey also announced the first two staff appointments to the new Sarawak campus - Associate Professor Frank Sheehy as Academic Director, and Mr Dennis Ham as Administrative Director. Professor Sheehy and Mr Ham are currently based at Curtin's Bentley (Perth) campus.
The Curtin initiative makes it only the second foreign university to be provided a licence to set up a campus in Malaysia. However, the vision of the Malaysian Federal Education Minister Dato Mohd Najib, is that a small number of select foreign universities can play a role in nation-building and help Malaysia itself become a centre of learning and excellence for students from all over the world.
Malaysians regard Curtin as one of the most successful Australian universities and see it as a leader in international and cross-cultural education. The University currently provides 365 undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral courses, on and offshore, to more than 25,000 students, including over 6,000 from 75 different countries outside Australia.Malaysian students make up 23 per cent of Curtin's offshore student enrolments.
Despite the recent financial difficulties, overseas student enrolments at Australian universities overall have increased by 13.7 per cent in the past year, and Curtin has maintained an 8-9 per cent growth rate for the past decade, making it the third ranked university in Australia's top 500 list of exporters.
Curtin off-shore programs are offered at more than 15 partner institutions including Metropolitan College, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur's Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology (LICT), the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Management Association, the Open University of Hong Kong, the Marketing Institute of Singapore, Informatics (Singapore), the Singapore Institute of Human Resource Management and Indonesia's Bina Nusantara University.
A 1998 survey by Asiaweek magazine ranked Curtin as the best science and technology university in Australia and the third best in the region in terms of academic reputation.
For Further Information, please contact Sally Rowe Media Coordinator Curtin University of Technology Perth, Western Australia Tel: (+ 61 8) 9266 2793 Mobile: 0417 945 889 E-mail: rowes@resources.curtin.edu.au End.