JOHOR BARU - Prince Andrew the second son
of Queen Elizabeth II opened Johor's latest international institute of
learning, the Newcastle University of Medicine Malaysia (NUMed).
Dressed in a grey suit, the prince gave a
brief speech when he opened the university in a hall that took in only a
selected audience yesterday.
Students strained their necks to catch a
glimpse of the royal guest and to take pictures of him from an upper terrace.
Prince Andrew said the opening of the campus
would popularise the university and draw students from all over the world to
the institution.
"It is an honour to have Johor and
Britain to work together on the university. It is good collaboration," he
added, thanking the state government under Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani
Othman as well as NUmed chancellor Sir Liam Donaldson and vice-chancellor Prof
Chris Brink in their common quest for excellence.
About 80 students have begun a five-year
course beginning September. The university at Nusajaya, near here, is targeting
a student intake of 900 by 2017.
The campus is part of the broader 125ha EduCity
that is being built in the Iskandar Malaysia development corridor and designed
to promote the country as a world-class education hub and to house a range of
international universities in one area.
Prince Andrew, who is also the Duke of York,
arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for a three-day visit in his capacity as
Britain's special representative for international trade and investment.
This is his second visit to Malaysia since
2001.
Abdul Ghani envisaged the university would
become a major contributor to the national effort to raise the number of
trained doctors from 3,000 annually to 4,000 in five years' time.
"The state is proud that NUMed is the
first and flagship campus to be established at EduCity in Iskandar Malaysia
and, therefore, represents a key British investment in this significant growth
corridor," Abdul Ghani added.
Sir Liam said NUMed provided trans-national
access to world-class medical education for Malaysian and international
students, otherwise denied by geographical or financial circumstances.
"In the longer term, we hope very much to
contribute to meeting Malaysia's human capital needs and also improving medical
services and healthcare that people receive in the region," he said.
Yee Xiang Yun
The Star/Asia News Network
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