University of Reading Malaysia 'end of term' report

Monday, 02 July 2012

The Vice-Chancellor's end of term report on University of Reading Malaysia includes an announcement on the leadership of the project, an update on recent progress and a preview of critical dates for the project.

Change in leadership of the University of Reading Malaysia project announcement notice >>>

The 2011-12 academic year has been a fairly momentous one for the University of Reading Malaysia Project. We have signed a development agreement with the Iskandar Investment Berhad, subject to final approval by the Council of the University and established the company under Malaysian law through which the University will operate.

The company has its first employee, who will manage our offices in Malaysia and who has excellent previous experience in the Higher Education sector in Malaysia. We have opened refurbished offices in the centre of Johor Bahru, with excellent teaching facilities attached. We have run our first executive education programmes in those facilities, which were very well received by the delegates and have given us a start on the learning curve about working in Malaysia. 

We have identified the site where the branch campus will be built. Clearly, patience is a virtue, since the site we have achieves one of our main goals of being prominently positioned near the main entrance to Iskandar Educity. Our architects have produced an attractive - indeed, eye-catching - design for the building. We have made a start on profile-raising in the region, and expect this activity to increase significantly after the summer. 

We have a member of staff from the International Study and Language Centre out on a 3-month secondment to Johor Bahru, and we have our first application for a place on a course! Finally, Martha-Marie Kleinhans has been able to step down as co-Faculty Director of Teaching and Learning and is working full-time (and possibly more...) on the Project, while Peter Osborne, our Chief Operating Officer for University of Reading Malaysia, will re-locate with Louise his wife to Iskandar - and more accurately Nusajaya and East Ledang - on 1 September this year.

We will continue to keep colleagues up to date with developments relating to University of Reading Malaysia campus and the developments at the temporary teaching facilities in Johor Bahru through staff talks from the project team and regular information on the staff portal. The University of Reading Malaysia website also includes all the major announcements and landmarks relating to the project. You may already have seen that the ambitious date for opening of late summer 2014 has had to be re-assessed, and we now expect to admit students onto award-bearing courses in September 2015. Although this delay is disappointing, it is more realistic and goes a long way to mitigating the risks attached to rushing the work for a 2014 start.

While the future leadership of University of Reading Malaysia is being considered (see announcement) the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Tony Downes will lead the Project as Chair of the Project Board. This may involve some slight re-alignment of roles in the Vice-Chancellor's Office if and when Professor Downes needs to spend more time on this work.

What comes next?

The next major step will be final approval to proceed from the Council of the University. The business plan and development agreement were seen by Strategy & Finance Committee last month, and it resolved to recommend approval to the council.

I will make my first visit to the region in September, during which I will visit the Kotaraya offices and the site of the new campus as well as meeting other important people in Malaysia.

The International Foundation Programme (business pathway) will launch in October 2012. Henley Business School is also delivering a suite of executive education courses this year. A research symposium on ‘adaptation and mitigation of climate change' is being tentatively scheduled for March 2013 to showcase our leading role in climate science in the region.

We expect that the majority of the necessary accreditations for programmes will be submitted in the second half of this year or in 2013, along with the finalising of teaching resources. Academic appointments will then begin to be made along with commencement of student recruitment for the new campus.

In 2014, teaching schedules will be finalised and the majority of staff will be appointed. The main campus build will complete in 2015 and be kitted out in time for the first intake in the autumn of 2015.

Sir David Bell

Vice-Chancellor