BANGI: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), in facing the highest percentage budget cut among public universities next year, will embark on more privately-funded research collaborations, said its vice chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali.
This follows Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announcement on Friday that public universities will see their combined operating budgets for 2017 slashed by an average of 20 per cent, or RM1.5 billion, a deeper cut than this year’s budget.
Out of 20 public universities in Malaysia, 10 will face deep budget cuts ranging from over 10 per cent to over 31 per cent.
UKM is facing the biggest percentage cut in operating expenditure with a 31.16 per cent drop from 2016 allocation.
"Let's view this positively. We receive close to RM1 billion a year from the government. The fact that UKM will face the biggest budget cut next year shows the government's confidence in UKM being the most resilient child among the family of public universities," he said.
Noor Azlan said this after UKM's post-Budget 2017 forum held here today. Also present were 14 UKM academicians giving their views on various aspects of government measures on the economy and public wellbeing.
It was reported Malaysia’s 20 universities' combined operating expenditure in 2017 will be RM6.12 billion, which is RM1.46 billion or 19.23 per cent less than this year's allocation of RM7.57 billion.
The UKM vice chancellor took pains to explain that under the Higher Education Blueprint, public universities are required to be less reliant on public funding and embark on more industry relevant collaborative researches with the private sector.
"UKM has the highest pool of professors, with 14 per cent of academicians being professors. I have faith in my team's intellectual abilities to embark on more collaborative work with the private sector. It is a win-win arrangement," he said.
"Currently, 25 per cent of UKM's operating expenditure is self-funded through endowments and collaborative work with the private sector. By 2020, this percentage will widen to 30 per cent," he added.
Noor Azlan highlighted that the move is a structural shift, of which all public universities are moving towards self-sufficiency.