Universiti Sains Malaysia

Universiti Sains Malaysia

The Crest of Universiti Sains Malaysia
Motto	Kami Memimpin
Motto in English	We Lead
Type	Public
Established	1969
Chancellor	His Highness the Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin ibni Almarhum Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail
Vice-Chancellor	Prof. Dr. Asma binti Ismail (October 2016)
Location	Penang, Malaysia
Campus	Main Campus (Minden, Penang), Health Campus (Kubang Kerian, Kelantan), Engineering Campus (Nibong Tebal, Penang)
Affiliations	ASAIHL, ACU, FUIW,APUCEN
Website	www.usm.my

University of Science, Malaysia (Universiti Sains Malaysia; acronym: USM) is a publicly-funded Autonomous university in Malaysia. Founded in 1969, it is among the oldest institute of higher learning (IHL) in Northern Malaysia. It has three campuses, a main campus on the island of Penang, a health campus in Kelantan, and an engineering campus in Nibong Tebal. There is offshore collaboration with KLE University, India offering the Doctor of Medicine (USM) undergraduate degree. USM plans to open a Global Campus (Kuala Lumpur Campus) located at Kuala Lumpur Education City (KLCE). With around 28,300 postgraduate and undergraduate students in 2009, USM is one of the biggest universities in terms of enrolment in Malaysia. The number of lecturers is about 1,479, which leads to a student-lecturer ratio of around 19:1.

The idea of a university in Penang was first mooted by D. S. Ramanathan in 1959 in the State Assembly and later crystallised when he was nominated chairman of the Penang University Project committee. The acquisition of a piece of land in Sungai Ara was then followed by the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone by the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Y.T.M Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj on 7 August 1967.

USM was established in 1969 as the second university in Malaysia. It was first known as Universiti Pulau Pinang. The university operated on borrowed premises at the Malayan Teachers' Training College at Gelugor. In 1971, it moved to its present 239-hectare site at Minden (formerly Minden Barracks of the British Far East Command) in Gelugor, 10 kilometres from the city of Georgetown.

There are two other USM campuses: one at Kubang Kerian in Kelantan, known as the Health campus, and the other at Seri Ampangan in Penang, known as the Engineering campus. The former houses the School of Medical Sciences, the School of Health Sciences and the School of Dental Sciences, while the latter houses the six engineering schools.