SBM Online: The success of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in obtaining the self-accreditation status from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) will continue to be a catalyst to the University for contributing to the improvement of the quality of national education and realising its mission of becoming the Eminent Management University. Representing UUM was the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dato' Seri Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak, who accepted the affirmation certificate presented by the Minister of Higher Education, the Honourable Dato' Seri Idris Jusoh, at the Self-Accreditation Status Presentation Ceremony at the Za’ba Hall,  Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), recently.

The self-accreditation status entitles universities to accredit their own programmes without having to get the approval of the MQA and the MoHE (they only need to be notified). UUM received the certificate of self-accreditation after undergoing the audit process in November of 2015, and that achievement has been advantageous to UUM in strengthening and improving the quality of the academic and research programmes, as well as promoting UUM as the eminent management university in the eyes of the world.

At the ceremony, seven other private and public universities also received their affirmation certificates, namely, the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), the International Medical University (IMU), Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Multimedia University (MMU) and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).

Apart from this, eight (8) universities that had previously been awarded the self-accreditation status, succeeded in retaining it. These are, namely, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia, the University of Nottingham, Monash University, Curtin University and the Swinburne University of Technology.

The Honourable Minister of Higher Education congratulated both the universities that had newly gained the self-accreditation status and those that had succeeded in retaining theirs. Further, he expressed his hope that the status would prove to be a catalyst to the universities for continuously improving the quality of national higher education.