page_title: Universiti Sains Malaysia
section_title: Academic programmes
hierarchical_section_title: Universiti Sains Malaysia / Academic programmes
context_page_description: Universiti Sains Malaysia is a university in Malaysia. Founded on 1 June 1969 as a statutory body with its own constitution, it is among the oldest institutes of higher learning 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 currently an overseas collaboration with KLE University, India offering the Doctor of Medicine undergraduate degree. USM plans to open a Global Campus in Kuala Lumpur Education City.
  With around 28,300 postgraduate and undergraduate students in 2009, USM is one of the largest universities in terms of enrollment in Malaysia. The number of lecturers is about 1,479, which leads to a student-lecturer ratio of around 19:1.
  USM is the only Accelerated Programs for Excellence government-funded autonomous university in Malaysia.
context_section_description: Twenty four academic schools, 14 centres and 7 units have been established. Of the schools, 12 are applied science and technology-based schools: Civil Engineering, Aerospace Engineering; Chemical Engineering; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Housing, Building and Planning; Industrial Technology; Medical Sciences; Dental Sciences; Health Sciences; and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The three liberal arts schools are Educational Studies, Humanities, and Social Sciences. The pure science schools are Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Computer Sciences, and Physics, all of which offer courses that are similar to those available in other universities. There is offshore collaboration with KLE University, India offering the Doctor of Medicine(USM) undergraduate degree. This offshore five-year M.D. programme is conducted at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (Belgaum), KLE University, Belgaum, India. In India, USM also has a collaboration with the James Lind Institute for conducting Translational Medicine programs.
  In December 1989, the School of Management was set up, having evolved from the Management program within the School of Social Sciences. As part of its continuing expansion, the university established the School of Computer Sciences and the School of Communication as of March 1995.
  In 2008, Professor Maqsudul Alam, set up the Centre for Chemical Biology (CCB) where he became its first Chief Executive Officer and Director, and sequenced the genome for rubber in Malaysia.
  The centres and ancillary services include the Centre for Languages and Translation, the National Poison Centre, the Doping Control Centre, the Centre for Archaeological Research Malaysia, the Centre for Educational Technology and Multimedia, the Computer Centre, the Centre for Knowledge, Communication and Technology and the Islamic Centre. There are research centres, namely the Centre for Policy Research, the Centre for Drug Research and the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies. The distance education program offered through the School of Distance Education was adopted by the university in 1971.
  USM is one of five universities in Malaysia that have been identified as research-intensive universities, with the other being University of Malaya, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
caption: The main gate of the main campus
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