Datin Professor Ir Dr Siti Hamisah binti Tapsir, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Higher Education sounds the 'gong', signifying the official launch of Taylor's PhD Fellowship. Looking on is Professor Dato’ Dr Hassan Said, Vice Chancellor and President of Taylor’s University College

In support of the Government’s vision of producing 60,000 Malaysian Ph.D. holders by 2020, Taylor’s University College (TUC) recently launched its Ph.D. Fellowship Award for outstanding scholars pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Engineering, Science or Hospitality & Tourism at TUC.

The Ph.D. fellowship was launched by Datin Professor Ir Dr Siti Hamisah binti Tapsir, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Higher Education at Taylor’s Lakeside Campus in Subang Jaya. Present were Professor Dato’ Dr Hassan Said, Vice Chancellor and President of Taylor’s University College and staff of the Taylor’s Graduate School.

During the launch, Datin Professor Ir Dr Siti Hamisah presented the Fellowship award to the first two recipients, Choo Khi Khi and Tran Thi Ngoc Lan who are pursuing their Ph.D. studies in Science, and Hospitality & Tourism respectively.  

Choo Khi Khi is a graduate of Monash University Sunway Campus with a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology while Tran Thi Ngoc Lan is a graduate from Taylor’s College School of Hospitality & Tourism with a degree in Tourism Engineering. Tran Thi was valedictorian of the TCHT class of 2007/08. She also won the Marc Combes Award for Best Overall Degree Student in 2007/08 and was voted the Best Overall Higher Diploma Student in 2005/06.

Said Datin Professor Ir. Dr. Siti Hamisah at the event, “In this new era of ‘innovation-led knowledge economy’, the creation and dissemination of knowledge are the focus. Research, being the key source of new knowledge and ideas, is central to the success of the country’s economy. Malaysia is starting to invest more time and resources in educating and training young people, upgrading skills of the workforce and generating new knowledge through research. Equally important, is the ability to innovate – to be able to apply knowledge and exploit it to create new ideas.”  

“Our former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir, envisioned Malaysia to achieve its status as a ‘developed nation’ by 2020. Our present Premier, Dato’ Seri Najib, believes that this is achievable through the fostering of R&D initiatives,” she added.

Earlier in his speech, Professor Dato’ Dr Hassan said, “The Ph.D. Fellowship awarded today provides financial support for the fellow to actively explore her knowledge, while collaborating with leading academics in the field. In this way, we aim to nurture innovators who are able to contribute towards the growth of the nation.”

Noting that Ph.D. study is an important component of the research landscape at Taylor’s, Professor Dato’ Dr Hassan added that Taylor’s had also invested passionately to support postgraduate studies through the new facilities at the Taylor’s Graduate School (TGS).

“TGS is fully dedicated to promoting and enhancing the highest quality of research education and training at Taylor’s, and oversees all aspects of postgraduate research programmes. Together with the academic schools, divisions and the Centre for Research & Development, TGS also provides resources to support the research,” said Professor Dato’ Dr Hassan.  

Taylor’s currently offers opportunities for Ph.D. study in Engineering, Science and Hospitality & Tourism with supervision by internal experts as well as from local and international partner universities. Ph.D. students undergoing research studies at Taylor’s will have opportunities to gain teaching experience, present papers at conferences and publish their work.  

A total of up to 10 Ph.D. Fellowship Awards will be granted by Taylor’s to research students. The minimum academic requirement for admission is a First Class Honours degree or Masters Degree in a related discipline, which includes a significant research component. Equivalent level of studies from a recognised tertiary institution may also be considered for admission.

In addition to the launch of the Ph.D. Fellowship, there was double joy for celebrations as it was announced that the Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology (JESTEC) of Taylor’s School of Engineering (SOE), had joined the ranks of other prestigious public institutions in Malaysia by getting the journal indexed by Scopus, the world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources.

SOE’s Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology (JESTEC), published since 2006, was established as a forum for researchers to share their research findings in all fields of engineering, science and technology.   

“Every academic publication aims at making an impact on creation and dissemination of knowledge. Personally, I am thrilled that we managed to obtain such a high recognition in a relatively short time,” said Dr. Mushtak Al-Atabi, Dean of SOE and Editor-in-Chief of JESTEC, who received a certificate of recognition from Datin Professor Ir Dr Siti Hamisah at the event.

For more information on the Ph.D. Fellowship Awards, kindly contact 03-5629 5000, e-mail admissions@taylors.edu.my or visit www.taylors.edu.my