Malaysia has a number of famous universities, three of them are University of Malaya （马来亚大学）、Universiti Putra Malaysia（布特拉大学）and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM 马来西亚理科大学). Below is a description a these three great universities
马来亚大学
Universiti Malaya, or UM, Malaysia’s oldest university, is situated on a 750 acre (309 hectare) campus in the southwest of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. It was established in April 1949 in Singapore with the merger of the King Edward VII College of Medicine (founded in 1905) and Raffles College (founded in 1928).
The growth of the University was very rapid during the first decade of its establishment and this resulted in the setting up of two autonomous Divisions in 1959, one located in Singapore and the other in Kuala Lumpur. In 1960, the government of the two territories indicated their desire to change the status of the Divisions into that of a national university. Legislation was passed in 1961 and the University of Malaya was established on 1st January 1962.
On June 16th 1962, University of Malaya celebrated the installation of its first Chancellor, the Rt. Hon. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, who was also the country’s first prime minister. The first Vice-Chancellor was Professor Oppenheim, a world-renowned Mathematician.
布特拉大学
Universiti Putra Malaysia can trace its origins to the School of Agriculture, which was officially instituted on 21st May 1931 by John Scott, an administrative officer of the Straits Settlements then. The School was located on a 22-acre spread in Serdang. The School offered two programs then, namely a three-year Diploma Program and a one-year Certificate Course. By 1941 the School succeeded in training 321 officers - 155 obtained the Diploma and 166 the Certificate. This school was, on 23rd June 1947, declared to be the College of Agriculture Malaya by Sir Edward Gent, the Governor of the Malayan Union. In the year 1948 it was proposed that this College be upgraded to a university status. The proposal, however, was shelved with the declaration of the Emergency in the middle of the same year. In the year 1960 the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Malaya was established, and on 1st January 1962 a statute was approved to make the Council of the College of Agriculture Malaya an authority of the University of Malaya.
The creation of this University was based on merging the College of Agriculture Malaya with the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Malaya. Dr. Mohd. Rashdan bin Haji Baba was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor by virtue of the provisions of section 18 of the Universities and University Colleges Act, 1971.
Universiti Pertanian Malaysia started its first academic session in July 1973 with three foundations faculties: the Faculty of Agriculture, the Faculty of Forestry and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science. Beside the three faculties there was a Basic Sciences Division. The student enrolment at the time was 1,559. In the early eighties, however, UPM has expanded its area of concentration by including the field of Science and Technology (S&T). In 1994 UPM embarked on its ambitious plan to develop as a futuristic university which will provide better and up-to-date skills and systems for science and technology education by taking full advantage of the rapid development in information technology (IT). UPM thereafter transformed into a borderless campus, its name and reputation stretching far beyond the national boundaries. The climax of the transformation came with the changing of the name from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia to Universiti Putra Malaysia as officially announced on 3rd April 1997 by the Honorable Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad. This was a strategic way of portraying the status of UPM as a center of higher education capable of providing various fields of study, especially in information technology, necessary to facilitate national developments in the new millennium.
马来西亚理科大学
Founded in 1969, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is one of the most established public university in Malaysia. Celebrating its 35th Anniversary in 2004, USM is recognised as a research university and fast gaining global recognition as evidenced from the numerous international awards granted to its researchers over the last decade.
Boasting highly relevant study programmes, USM has so far attracted graduates and postgraduate students from more than 50 countries all over the world due to the excellent track record in maintaining world class education quality with global recognition. To date, the total enrolment is more than 30,000 students.
USM main campus is located within a tropical island of Penang, Malaysia. There are two USM branch campuses, one at Kubang Kerian in Kelantan (approximately 300km from the main campus) known as Health Campus and the other at Nibong Tebal (approximately 30km from the main campus), known as Engineering Campus. The former houses the School of Medical Sciences, School of Health Sciences and School of Dental Sciences, while the latter houses the six Engineering Schools.
USM has established twenty-four Schools of study, eleven centers and six units. In the field of research, the emphasis is on function oriented or interdisciplinary research. Attention is focused on areas that integrate academic interest and practical relevance, thus directing the scientific thrust towards breakthroughs in problem areas crucial to the quality of lice and national development.
