MERDEKA AWARDS: The Environment Is In His Blood

By: Koh Lay Chin

Source: NST Online

AS one of the prestigious Merdeka Award winners for this year, Prof Datuk Zaini Ujang does not only have ideas as to how he will use his RM500,000 cash prize but has detailed plans. The 44-year-old academic and vice-chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), who has contributed to environmental initiatives and research on water supply, sewage, river rehabilitation and industrial ecology, is bubbling with proposals about his "greatest passion" - the environment. He will be using part of his prize as seed money for the UTM Merdeka Endowment Fund which will support academic and scholarly activities, as well as contribute to the establishment of a professorial chair on environmental sustainability. The fund will also help in the publishing of academic books, their distribution around campus and also to buy bicycles for use around the campus. "We want to encourage a healthy lifestyle and create environment-friendly green initiatives on campus. This is part of UTM's initiative to follow the concept of free bicycle rides in Copenhagen, Denmark" he said in an interview.

And while his main ideas resonate around the university, which he has helmed for the past year, Zaini also has plans for the country's rivers. At the forefront of what he hopes to contribute to the nation is a shift from difficult-to-understand environmental performance parameters into an integrated index that will allow people to know how clean or dirty their rivers are. The idea is akin to giving marks to rivers instead of having complicated data on different aspects of a river's cleanliness. "You see, when it comes to rivers now, there are many different parameters maintained by different departments in our country, whether it is the National Hydraulic Research Institute or the Department of Irrigation and Drainage."I would like us to use an integrated index -- an Environmental Performance Index (EPI) -- that can be understood by the man on the street, and not just professionals or academics." He said UTM would work closely with the government on the index and its related processes, and in collaboration with the University of Yale and Columbia University in the United States. Zaini has also volunteered to start an environmental strategy for the Klang River Rehabilitation Project, and has written to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to offer his expertise to lead the initiative.

He wants the project, he said, because he believes Sungai Klang can be turned into one of the cleaner, more vibrant and beautiful rivers that many developed cities have in their midst. Prof Datuk Zaini Ujang will be using part of his RM500,000 cash prize as seed money for the UTM Merdeka Endowment Fund which will support academic and scholarly activities. "You can see significant improvement in five years if we can focus our efforts on the river. We must put our priority on the tributaries and the causes of pollution. We must look at everything, whether it is construction or even predatory fish which we must get rid off," he said. While his foray into water and wastewater research came as an unintended consequence (he could not bear the smell of benzine as an engineer in the oil and gas field, later moving on to his scholarly pursuits), his love for the environment runs deep."I have been around rivers all my life. I was born and lived between two rivers. My school was near a river and I even married near a river. Even now, when I have time, I love to go horse riding and jungle trekking so that I can be close to nature." Zaini is also the chairman of the Environmental Quality Council, deputy president of the Malaysia Water Association and a commissioner in the National Water Services Commission. He has written books such as Minda Lestari, which he says "puts the environment as a priority and strategic initiative".

The Merdeka Awards, now in its second year, will be held at Dewan Philharmonic at the Petronas Twin Towers on Oct 19. For all the glitz and glamour of the awards, which will also be presented to leading woman leader Tun Dr Fatimah Hashim, lawyer and diplomat Datuk P.G. Lim and scientist Prof Dr Halimaton Hamdan, Zaini sees it as a great opportunity to push for further action."Not many academics have this sort of chance in his or her field, so I do want to take part in the action." He may be the only man on the award list this year and the youngest, but Zaini still maintains he is a simple person who is somewhat obsessed with planning. "To me planning is important because my aim is to deliver and get results. I spend 70 per cent of my time to plan and the rest to implement, monitor and deliver." He also believes in encouraging a result-driven culture among academics and researchers, and subscribes to renowned chemical engineer Kazuo Inamori's precept that "Success > Ability x Effort x Attitude". "If your attitude to life, career, society and nature is negative, you will falter and your efforts will be abysmal. With this equation, all of us, regardless of our IQs (intelligence quotient), can achieve our goals." He admits that he started from humble beginnings and was "neither the cream of the crop in school nor a first-class university graduate". However, he made sure he planned, strategised, prayed and, very importantly, he said, surrounded himself with people who were great thinkers and had the right attitude. Names of many academics and prominent Malaysians roll off his tongue as inspirations, among them Malaysian Nature Society president Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor ("the first PhD holder among my kampung folk"), the late media icon Tan Sri A. Samad Ismail, Prof Sidek Baba, Royal Prof Ungku Aziz, Prof Yusof Othman, cartoonist Datuk Lat and AirAsia head honcho Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.

He smiles as he mentions his family, thanking his children and especially his wife, whom he says has sacrificed her career as a medical doctor to ensure the home remains an "intellectual eco-system" while he is often away or busy. And what does he think of the current scenario in Malaysia in light of this year's Merdeka, and what does he hope for? After pausing briefly to reflect on the question, Zaini said he hoped that Malaysians would continue to contribute to the nation in their own ways and expertise. "I think people should concentrate on their own fields, and not think of politics as everything or the destination for change. If you are good, remain where you are, contribute and build up your expertise." Contributions to the country, he said, do not need to be big or flashy. "Sometimes, we put people where they should not be in the name of promotions. However, I think we should allow people to develop their main expertise. "Achieve the best in your field, benchmark yourself against the best, and as you grow, mentor the young ones around you. In your own little way then, you are contributing to society and the nation."

Note: I love the last quote "Achieve the best in your field, benchmark yourself against the best, and as you grow, mentor the young ones around you. In your own little way then, you are contributing to society and the nation".

UTM Lancar Laman Web Baru

JOHOR BAHRU: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) melancarkan laman web baru dan polisi mengenai teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) bagi membolehkan pengguna internet terutama di universiti berkenaan mendapat maklumat dengan pantas. Naib Canselor UTM, Datuk Prof Ir Dr Zaini Ujang, berkata laman web berkenaan dimuatkan dengan pelbagai kemudahan selepas mengambil kira maklum balas daripada pengguna yang mahukan maklumat yang tepat dan pantas bagi membuat keputusan segera. Beliau berkata, dengan paparan baru serta beberapa tambahan elemen terkini termasuk pautan kepada rangkaian laman web sosial seperti University's Facebook, University's on Youtube dan University's on Twitter bagi mendekati golongan sasaran bagi memperkenalkan perkhidmatan dan produk yang ditawarkan UTM.

"Antara golongan sasaran ialah remaja, pelajar, mahasiswa dan penyelidik yang sedang mencari tempat sesuai untuk melanjutkan pengajian di institusi pengajian tinggi," katanya selepas mengadakan perhimpunan bulanan kakitangan UTM di Dewan Sultan Iskandar di sini, kelmarin. Mengenai polisi ICT, Prof Zaini berkata, ia untuk menetapkan peraturan supaya warga kampus dapat menggunakan kemudahan yang disediakan dengan teratur dan mengikut peraturan serta mengelak universiti daripada menghadapi sebarang implikasi undang-undang. Beliau berkata, pihaknya sudah menyediakan kemudahan ICT dengan memiliki kelajuan tertinggi iaitu 135 Megabit persaat serta diiktiraf sebagai universiti mempunyai kemudahan WiFi terbesar dengan mempunyai 700 titik akses di seluruh kampus.

"Pelajar selalu mengadu internet yang digunakan perlahan... walhal kemudahan itu tidak digunakan untuk pembelajaran tetapi untuk memuat turun fail lagu dan filem hingga menyusahkan pengguna lain yang ingin mendapatkan maklumat dan ilmu. "Oleh itu, setiap pelajar akan dihadkan untuk mengakses video kepada hanya kira-kira 20 jam sebulan. Polisi ini diharap dapat meningkatkan kesedaran sosial dan tanggungjawab intelektual di kalangan warga kampus ke atas penggunaan ICT," katanya.

Selain itu, Prof Zaini berkata, pihaknya juga melancarkan Pelan Pembangunan Pelajar untuk membolehkan pelajar UTM memiliki kemahiran insaniah dengan menjalankan aktiviti secara bersepadu Bahagian Hal Ehwal Pelajar dan Akademik. Beliau berkata, dengan pelan yang akan dimulakan bulan depan itu, pelajar dan Alumni akan bekerjasama membentuk kemahiran insaniah di kolej seperti kemahiran berucap, berorganisasi dan etika kepimpinan untuk mengelak kerugian sumber dan masa. "Kita tidak mampu untuk mengajar mereka memiliki kemahiran berkenaan hanya di bilik kuliah. Oleh itu, UTM melantik profesor dan pensyarah menjadi felo akademik untuk membolehkan kolej menjadi pusat pembelajaran seperti di Universiti Oxford dan Cambridge. "Ia menjadikan UTM satu-satunya universiti tempatan yang memberikan kemudahan kewangan kepada felo akademik terbabit untuk membimbing pelajar di kolej," katanya.

Sumber: Berita Harian Online

Global Academic Network

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and its partners recently explored ways to improve their research and academic partnerships, writes SUZIEANA UDA NAGU

Zaini Ujang envisions that each partner university will fit in one of UTM's 11 research themes

11 April 2009 - INTERNATIONAL collaboration may be the buzzword in tertiary institutions globally but discussions on how universities with similar interests can work together are rare. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) vice chancellor Datuk Professor Zaini Ujang, for one, has attended numerous meetings centred on “improving university ranking or sharing best practices on university governance”. But “very seldom do university heads get to sit down and talk about how their institutions can work together,” says Zaini, a professor of Environmental Bioengineering.

Zaini recently invited some of the institution’s long-standing partners to attend a two-day University Presidents Forum For Global Academic Network at the Skudai campus to do just that. The discussion was timed to coincide with UTM’s recent convocation week. Among other things, Zaini introduced his guests from some 20 universities in 11 countries to UTM — ­its vision, mission and future direction — as he considers it vital that the university communicates its brand to partner institutions effectively. “We may have worked with each other for a long time but (they) may not be very clear about our vision. Hopefully, by experiencing the campus and getting to know its strengths first-hand, they will be more confident of our capabilities and accept us into their network,” says Zaini. Further, Zaini also sat down with university representatives — ranging from presidents, vice chancellors and rectors to heads of departments — to consider ways of improving cooperation with the participating institutions.

Internationalisation efforts in UTM began as early as 1975. The university may not have a proper mechanism for promoting global networking then but the institution solicited advice from prominent foreign academicians on matters such as curriculum development and recognition of academic programmes. Zaini concedes that the practice of establishing a relationship with a foreign university at UTM is often done on an ad hoc basis. This needs to change. The planning of international collaborative efforts has largely been the responsibility of individual professors who do so when they attend conferences abroad. They may visit a university in the country where the conference is held to discuss potential partnerships with their counterparts. Denmark Technical University’s Institute of Environment & Resources Professor Mogens Henze, for instance, has teamed up with Zaini in water management research since the last decade. Henze and Zaini have so far co-written two books together — the Municipal Wastewater Management for Developing Countries and Environmental Biotechnology: Advancement in Water and Wastewater Applications in the Tropics. The presence of “our partners on campus has finally enabled us to design a proper framework to govern the cooperation”, says Zaini, adding that the mechanism will be improved as they “go along”.

Zaini envisions that each partner university will fit in with one of UTM’s 11 research “themes” — sustainability; energy; water; biotechnology; nanotechnology; information communications; cybernetics; k-economy; transportation; materials and manufacturing; and frontier sciences. With the new framework in place, the Malaysian university will be well placed to plan future joint efforts with each foreign institution. For example, UTM will give priority to its partner universities when sending staff abroad for postgraduate studies. “We also need co-supervisors from other universities for our PhD candidates because we don’t have enough (supervisors) from UTM. We can invite professors from our partner universities to fill the gap.” In addition, some research grants require international group effort and this underlines the necessity of forming partnerships with universities abroad. Indeed, closer ties with foreign universities will raise UTM’s international profile in line with the government’s aspiration to make Malaysia an international hub of higher education. “In order to be published in refereed journals, you need to collaborate with international peers. With publication comes citation (one of the determinants of how well a university fares in international rankings),” says Zaini.

The outcome of the forum is positive. UTM and its partners can expect enhanced academic and research collaborations. UTM signed two memoranda of understanding with DTU and Universitas Indonesia and have began early talks about future staff and student exchanges with the rest. “The agreement with DTU, for example, stipulates that it will work only with UTM in this region.” With UTM located near EduCity in Nusajaya, Johor’s next administrative centre, it is likely that more universities will choose to work exclusively with it. Zaini extended an invitation to its partner universities to participate in what he terms as the Iskandar Research and Academic Partnership which may fall under the Iskandar Malaysia-UTM Research Centre (IMREC) initiative. A partnership between UTM and Iskandar Regional Development Authority, IMREC will oversee research and creative activities in areas such as the environment, water management, energy development and nanotechnology being spearheaded in the southern economic region known as Nusajaya. One of the signature developments in Nusajaya is the EduCity, an integrated educational hub which will house offshore faculties or campus of world-class universities such as Newcastle University of Medicine (one of UTM’s existing partner universities) and University of Southampton Malaysia.

“We are happy that Newcastle University will be our closest neighbour after Singapore’s National University and Nanyang Technological University. Perhaps this will facilitate even closer ties between these universities in the future,” says Zaini.

Source: NST Online