The Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Hub at the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM) has attained a 5-star ranking at the annual Malaysia Research Assessment (MyRA) for the year 2020. This comes as an improvement from the university’s 4-star ranking last year.
MyRA was introduced by the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) to measure the achievement of all Malaysian universities in the fields of research, development, commercialisation and innovation (RDCI).
The universities are required to submit detailed reports which are scrutinised by a panel of independent auditors appointed by MoHE. Each report considers a wide range of indicators including the quality and quantity of research and knowledge exchange activity, portfolio of commercialisation and innovation work, as well as the on-campus facilities to support research. The rating is a composite score that reflects performance on all of these indicators.
The report is submitted by UNM’s Research and Knowledge Exchange and work started in early December 2020 through the collecting and collating the initial data, which were then finalised during the Internal Audit on 15th April 2021 led by Professor Ir Dr Law Chung Lim, the Lead Internal Auditor and Interim Dean of Faculty of Science and Engineering and his team members.
Professor Law said his team was very happy with this year’s submission and the orderly data management and hoped that this momentum could be maintained in the coming years.
“The involvement of all researchers in contributing their research output is a very important instrument in enhancing UNM’s scores in MyRA. Therefore, as the Vice Provost of RKE, I have in place some strategic planning and a few interventions to tackle our weaknesses and allow for better achievement for the coming years. The support and commitment from everyone involved are important to ensure these initiatives are carried out as planned,” said UNM Interim Vice Provost of Research and Knowledge Exchange Professor Andy Chan.
MyRA was first implemented in 2006 and UNM achieved its 5-star ranking in 2014 in recognition of its growing research reputation. With 280 academic staff, UNM’s world-class research portfolio centres around Future Food Malaysia and Developing Sustainable Societies, with further expertise in Nanotechnology, Inclusion in the Workplace, Data Analytics and Artificial intelligence, South East Asian Studies, and Green Technologies.
