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From Professor Christine Ennew, CEO &
Provost
Towers Watson Salary Benchmarking
We recently received the initial results of the Towers Watson benchmarking study of salaries and terms and conditions for private higher education institutions in Malaysia. The survey participants, among others, include Monash, Taylors, Heriot-Watt, Sunway, Curtin and Inti. While the data still requires in-depth interpretations, figures (salary ranges, averages within ranges, bonus provisions, annual salary increases) suggest that there is considerable commonality across the sector. We have initiated the process of disaggregating the available data further to make meaningful conclusions, there will be updates in the new year.
Accreditation
Congratulations to the School of Psychology for securing the first full international accreditation from the British Psychological Society. And congratulations also to the Faculty of Engineering for securing a range of professional accreditations and ensuring that all of our Engineering degrees are accredited for the next 4 years.
Student Systems (EMS and Project Transform)
We recently launched the Project Transform Network for UNMC, which will bring together staff from across the institution to develop a new student-centred initiative, and more efficient set of systems and processes. We should see the first outputs from this project in the second half of next year, with major changes scheduled for 2016. In the meantime, we will be upgrading our EMS student software to ensure that there is a robust system in place until the new systems are operational.
Student Numbers
While we were expecting a shortfall on international students because of the difficulties around visas for our September intake, our Malaysian student intake turned out to be around 200 less than target. Initial analysis suggests that we have experienced a shortfall in conversions - from offers to accepts and from accepts to registration. We will receive the results of a decliners survey to further help us understand why our conversion rates are falling and what corrective action is needed. Market intelligence suggests that a number of our key competitors are in a similar position with below-target recruitment figures as well.
It is also apparent that while applications have increased, offers have grown at a lower rate and we have a large number of speculative or incomplete applications (data indicates the figure to be as high as 20%). This distracts attention from processing and management of genuine applications. Accordingly and in line with what is common elsewhere, we will be introducing an application fee for domestic students in 2015.
Visas
The challenges with visas continue to persist, where many cases have taken a long time to resolve. A close working relationship with EMGS has helped us to secure some flexible arrangements for a number of the complicated cases, while the visa team has been dealing with complex legacy cases. We hope that most will be cleared in the comings weeks and renewal cases are much more straightforward.in the future.
UNiM Board
The recent UNiM Board meeting reviewed the progress of the University over the past year. It particularly noted some important initiatives in off-campus teaching (Singapore and Sri Lanka), record research income and the successful launch of new research initiatives in sustainability, Islamic finance, aerospace and sustainable palm oil. The Board has approved the 2015 budget overall. Further work is currently taking place with respect to individual unit budgets. Forecasts for the year end suggest a small surplus and while we are still behind budget, this is still an encouraging outcome given the significant shortfall in student numbers. The Board also discussed the proposals for the establishment of Yayasan UNMC and these are progressing well.
Recent Achievements
Congratulations to our staff and students for their recent
achievements. Some
of the most significant awards include:
The World Education Congress (WEC) has conferred “Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education” to Nafis Alam, NUBS in India. This award was presented for his exemplary role in Leadership, Innovation, Academic and Industry Interface and contribution in the Islamic finance education.
Bhamini Bhujun, a PhD student who conducts research on super capacitators, was crowned "EURAXESS Science Slam Winner ASEAN 2014".
The 'Water4Life' project lead by Ting Kang Nee receives PhAMA's Award for Community Impact and Awareness 2014. It recognises impactful initiatives on community health, wellbeing, awareness or standards of care within Malaysia which bears RM8,000 in cash prize.
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