Malaysia's UNIMAP Aspires To Be Leader In Knowledge Industry

From Adnan Jahaya KANDY (Sri Lanka), Dec 5 (Bernama) -- Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP, a Malaysian public institution of higher learning) aspires to be a leader in the knowledge industry through its cooperation network with leading institutions of higher learning in the world, said its vice-chancellor, Prof Dr Zul Azhar Zahid Jamal. According to him, continuous efforts in empowering the network would build the foundation towards putting UniMAP in the group of the world's best 500 universities by 2020. "It is not easy as the challenges in the knowledge industry can be enormous, what's more to be among the best," he said after signing a letter of intent (LOI) between UniMAP and University of Peradeniya here Saturday. At the ceremony, University of Peradeniya was represented by its vice-chancellor Prof Upul B. Dissanayake. The Crown Prince of Malaysia's northernmost state Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail, who is also UniMAP Chancellor, witnessed the LOI signing ceremony. Present were the Malaysian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Wan Zaidi Wan Abdullah and UniMAP deputy vice-chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni) Assoc Prof Dr Mohd FoadSakdan. Among the universities which have shown interest to collaborate with UniMAP include University of Meratuwa and International College of Business and Technology, which are located in Colombo. UniMAP, currently has 14,000 students and 12,000 alumni in the employment market in various engineering related fields. University of Peradeniya was founded in 1942 and it was originally known as University of Ceylon before changing to its present name in 1978. --BERNAMA