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Â鶹ֱ²¥ (UUM) received a visit from the delegates of the Department of Higher Education (DHE), Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoE) to review two key processes at the University.

The visit led by Deputy Director General of Higher Education (Academic and Development), Prof Dato’ Ir. Dr Mohd Saleh Jaafar was accompanied by six other members from the DHE MoE. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dato' Dr. Ahmad Bashawir Abdul Ghani welcomed the delegates at the Vice Chancellor's Meeting Room.

The Vice-Chancellor said the working visit was to review the management of governance of the University Board of Directors (LPU) and the management of the promotion of professors as well as new criteria for path ways related to teaching, education, professional practice and leadership.

During the meeting, the Vice-Chancellor briefed the delegates on the UUM LPU management made up of 11 members and Dato' Dr. Sudin Haron as the appointed Chairman. Other members included member of the UUM alumni, representatives from private sector, representatives from MoE and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) as well as experienced members including University Senate representatives.

He added that UUM was the first university to undergo a Board Effectiveness Assessment (BEA) session in October 2017 and the feedback of the session was used in the improvement process to strengthen the aspect of university governance.

"In terms of promotion of academic staff, UUM also provides access to all staff for the purpose of promotion in accordance to the stipulated requirements, and the university is also in the process of reviewing the promotion requirements for academic staff at all levels.

"To produce academic staff who are dynamic and of quality, the university is currently implementing Talent Grooming for Inspiring Lecturers and Accomplished Researchers," he said.

He added that UUM would further streamline the method of annual performance appraisal of the academic staff based on components namely teaching, seminars, publications, innovation and commercialization (research impact) as well as research and bonus scores as incentives for specific criteria.

He said the UUM also wanted to realise the aspirations of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to make the university a Harvard of the East while maintaining UUM's foundation as a management university, becoming the Eminent Management University in Asia.

Meanwhile, Prof Dato’ Ir. Dr Mohd Saleh said the review of the main process would be done on a '3 in 1' basis which included professorship criteria, LPU management review and preliminary review of documents related to the recruitment process and appointment of professors.

At the meeting, he also explained the executive summary which included a review of the document on 20 public universities based on three aspects, findings and preliminary suggestions.

Among the initial proposals made were the enforcement of minimum criteria and national SOPs for the appointment and promotion of professors, periodic audits to ensure transparency in the process of appointment and appointment of committee at national-level to manage specific cases to assist candidates who do not meet the minimum requirements but possess merit and strengths from other angles.