Info Universiti Malaysia Kelantan

A BRIEF HISTORY OF UMK

The Prime Minister of Malaysia announced the government’s approval to establish a university in Kelantan under the Ninth Malaysia Plan on 31st March, 2006. The establishment of the university was stipulated in this plan with the intention to support the development of quality human capital in the higher education sector.

On 14 June 2006, a Cabinet Meeting approved the establishment of the University. The Cabinet also specified that the philosophy of the curriculum in UMK should be based on entrepreneurship education and enterprises in all the study programmes. Therefore, taglines such as “Entrepreneurship is Our Thrust” and “Entrepreneurial University” are widely used to promote the philosophy of the university. Specialised studies for short and medium term developments are grouped into three fields of study :

Entrepreneurship and Business ; Creative Technology and Heritage; as well as Agro-Industry and Science of Natural Resources

Apart from the three fields of study, significant emphasis is also given to acquiring language and soft skills.  All programmes aim to produce high-quality human capital with first class mentality complete with exemplary entrepreneurship attributes. This human capital will contribute to global prosperity by improving the capability and capacity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), while contributing towards the development of a highly entrepreneurial commercial society. In all areas of study, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is employed as an enabler.

The Growth of the University

The temporary campus of UMK at Taman Bendahara began its official operation on 1 July 2007 with the registration of 295 pioneering students. On its second year of operation, beginning July 2008, the University had successfully registered 332 students.

The first Vice-Chancellor of University Malaysia Kelantan was Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Zainai bin Mohamed, who was appointed on 1 October 2006