Birth of a University

Star Online: Education

Birth of a university

The Star, Sunday, October 3, 1999

THE Maclean Commission was formed in 1939 to look into the establishment of a university in Malaya.

The commission recommended that as a precursor to being given full-fledged university status, the two institutions of higher learning already in existence in Singapore, -- the King Edward VII Medical College, established in 1905 and Raffles College, which was set up in 1929 -- be merged to become a university college, prior to being given full university status.

In 1949, the Carr-Saunders Commission studied the establishment of a Malayan university in greater detail, and made several recommendations, namely the setting up of the University of Malaya, with full-degree granting status.

The other recommendation was for English to be the medium of instruction and that three faculties be set up -- Science, Arts and Medical faculty. A permanent site was identified in Johor Bahru.

The High Commissioner Malcom MacDonald was appointed the first Chancellor while the pro-chancellors were Sir Henry Gurney, Sir Franklin Gimson, Datuk Onn Jaafar, Sir Han Ho Lim and the first vice-chancellor Dr G.V. Allen.

UM's official launch on Oct 8, 1949, at Raffles College was attended by the Sultans of Perak, Kelantan, Pahang and Selangor, the Raja of Perlis and the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan. The new university took in its first intake of 162 students that year.

The Kuala Lumpur branch of Universiti Malaya, which was housed in the Technical College, was officially launched in 1957 by the then Education Minister (Tan Sri) Khir Johari.

The permanent site for UM -- 160ha in all at Pantai Valley, Petaling Jaya -- was personally chosen by the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

After agitation from both sides of the causeway, a bill was tabled in Parliament in 1960 to establish a separate university in Malaya while similar legislation was passed in Singapore.

The new entity came into being in 1962 with the KL branch maintaining the name Universiti Malaya while Singapore's new university was known as the National University of Singapore.

Tunku was named Chancellor while the first Vice-Chancellor was Prof Datuk Sir Alexander Oppenheim. UM has had four other Vice-Chancellors since then: Royal Prof Ungku Aziz, Dr Syed Hussein Alatas, Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Taib Osman and Tan Sri Dr Abdullah Sanusi Ahmad.

Since establishing a campus in Lembah Pantai, Malaysia, UM has had 80,000 students graduatewith first degree and postgraduate qualifications.