JOURNEYING WITH INDUSTRY: 40 Years…An Unwavering Commitment

Collaboration and partnership with the industry have long been acknowledged and embraced by universities worldwide and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is no exception. Interacting with industries has been given a high priority by USM’s top management from the time of its establishment in 1969, when students were encouraged to undergo industrial internship. Since then, partnerships with the industry have expanded into a variety of collaborated activities i.e. service contracts, research and development collaborations, commercialisation of research outputs, joint academic programmes, scholarships as well as donations in kinds. In the past 10 years, the accelerated pace of collaborations have been more evident, bringing an estimated monetary value of the total contribution (over the past 40 years) from the private sector to more than RM200 million.


Since its establishment in September 2007, the Division of Industry and Community Network (DICN), USM, has been actively promoting a more cohesive alliance and partnership with the industry in a win-win nature.  DICN has documented, for the first time, the history of collaborations between USM and the industry over the past 40 years (1969 – 2009) in a coffee-table book entitled “Journeying with Industry: 40 Years…An Unwavering Commitment.”  Compiled by DICN, this coffee-table book was launched by the Honourable Senator Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development on 23rd November 2009 during the Opening Ceremony of the University-Community Engagement Conference (UCEC) 2009, also organized by DICN in collaboration with UNESCO-APEID and the Global Alliance on Community – Engaged Research (GACER).


“Journeying with Industry” features short write-ups of approximately 70 major Multi-National Companies (MNCs), as well as local and Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) that have collaborated in various forms with USM for shared mutual benefits. In addition, collaborative efforts from approximately 100 other companies are also presented in this coffee-table book. The 70 major collaborators are subdivided into TWO (2) categories:

• Twenty major collaborators, each of which collaborated in various types of efforts with MORE THAN ONE Schools/ Centres.
• Approximately 50 companies, each of which collaborated with ONE specific School/Centre in specific areas or projects such as biotechnology, clinical trials and bioequivalence studies, information technology, mechatronics, urban and pest control etc.

Besides documenting the records of collaboration and partnership, this coffee-table book is USM’s acknowledgement of the significance of the engagement with the industry as well as a testimony and appreciation to all who have contributed to the promotion of this cohesive alliance and partnership. The active engagement with the industry throughout the 40 long years is certainly one of the major factors contributing to the strength of USM as an internationally renowned research university with an APEX status.