Education

Widad University College

The education sector is a resilient industry as it remains relevant and necessary for the nation. It is a sector that can yield returns while enriching the growth of the nation’s youth, a contribution that makes a difference at a nurturing level. Furthermore, there is flexibility within the education sector to cater to different market segments, allowing the Widad Group to explore options to develop a range of services.

Widad University College (formerly known as University College Shahputra) began with the establishment of Institut Fitra on December 24, 1997 and was fully owned by the Shahputra Education Sdn Bhd, a private Bumiputera company. TESL and Accounting Matriculation students from UPM are among the first groups of students of the institute, registered in June 1998. Following the promising increase in the number of students, Institut Fitra moved to an 8 hectares area in Pekan, Pahang.

Background

Concurrently with the transfer, Institut Fitra changed its name to Kolej Shahputra. Kolej Shahputra continued to record impressive number of students each year. Thus, in mid-2007, the institute has moved forward with the transfer of operations to a new campus in Bandar Indera Mahkota, Kuantan. The new campus featured a more complete facilities with modern teaching equipments as well as a more conducive environment for learning. The unique architecture of the new campus has made Kolej Shahputra one of the famous landmarks in Kuantan.

On the 14th of March 2011, Kolej Shahputra reached another milestone when it was granted the University College status, and became to be known as University College Shahputra (UCSA). With the new status, UCSA began developing homegrown programs including the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor of Psychology, Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business (Accounting), to name a few. Today, the university college offers over 20 foundation, diploma and bachelor programs, and has delivered nearly 14,000 graduates. While the growth of UCSA’s number of students and programs offered is positive year by year, UCSA continued to strive in attaining the full University status.

In mid-2016, in line with the effort towards stimulating operational and strategic growth, University College Shahputra and Kolej Shahputra were rebranded as Widad University College and Widad College respectively, under the stewardship of Widad Business Group. Following this, on September 19, 2016, Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mua’dzam Shah was installed as the first Chancellor of Widad University College in a historic inauguration ceremony held in Istana Negara, Kuala Lumpur.

Widad University College is planning to widen its footprint to Klang Valley and expand its program offering to Masters and Doctorate level. Widad University College has outlined its 3-Pillar Strategy (2016-2020) in support of our National Higher Education Blueprint (2015-2025) which aims to create a more comprehensive ‘value-chain’ with establishment of new main campus and Widad Specialist Centre, increase participation of international students and strengthen learning approach and experience via closer collaboration with the industry. The strategies have been put forward to strengthen the institution’s overall quality as well as to inculcate entrepreneurship mindset amongst graduates that will eventually ease marketability of the graduates.

Projects

The Widad Group entered the education sector through the rebranding of University College Shahputra and Kolej Shahputra as Widad University College and Widad College respectively.

Before the rebranding exercise, University College Shahputra was an esteemed higher education institution that began in 1997 at their first campus in Pekan, Pahang. Since then, they have increased their student intakes and improved their facilities in a larger location in Bandar Indera Mahkota, Kuantan. The institution has developed homegrown programs including the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Psychology, Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business (Accounting), to name a few. Today, the university college offers over 20 foundations, diplomas and bachelor programs and has delivered nearly 14,000 graduates.

Widad University College is planning to widen its footprint to Klang Valley and expand its programme offerings to Masters Degree and Doctorate levels. Widad University College has outlined its3-Pillar Strategy in support of our National Higher Education Blueprint (2015-2025) which aims to create a more comprehensive “value-chain” by establishing a new main campus and eventually a Widad Specialist Centre. This is to increase the participation of international students and strengthen the learning approach and experience via closer collaboration with the industry.

The strategies have been put forward to strengthen the institution’s overall quality as well as to inculcate an entrepreneurship mindset amongst graduates that will make them valuable once they enter the workforce.

Taking the Widad Brand a Notch higher with the Groundbreaking Collaboration with PRIST University

In a recent groundbreaking event which sees the Widad brand catapulting to the next level, is when Widad University College (WUC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology (PRIST) as well as Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Institute of Medical Sciences (PRIMS) of India. This collaboration is set to strengthen WUC’s position in the offering of its medical programs.

The collaboration simply means that PRIST will become WUC’s overseas partner for their following programs, namely the degree in medicine, degree in nursing and degree in paramedic. All of which will start in September 2019. PRIST, the parent company which is also known as PRIST University, was established in 1985 and situated in the state of Tamil Nadu and in the city of Thanjavur, India.

It is a deemed to be a university which is approved and accredited by the respective local Indian bodies of University Grants Commission (UGC) and by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC ). PRIMS on the other hand is located in Chennai, India, and is approved by India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The institution has been awarded “A” grade for NAAC assessment and accreditation in 2004. PRIMS is also an approved and trusted institution by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

For WUC, the collaboration marks a breakthrough in line with the aspiration of the Malaysian Government in terms of exporting its education programs to a foreign institution. In this instance, WUC’s academic programs are catered to students in India particularly aspiring medical students. This in actual fact helps the students to study locally instead of going abroad since all medical programs offered by WUC as part of this collaboration is recognized by the Government of India.

India is known for its strong medical programs and Malaysia has sent its students by the thousands every year to India to study. While banking on its quality and high standard medical programs, WUC is set to benefit in revenue growth from exporting its programs where most of it involves WUC’s teaching philosophy and principles, which can be attributed to its well-formulated investment strategies. And on top of that, it has the approval of the Indian Government of all its programs. The strategic partnership will also see WUC acquiring a huge medical faculty at PRIMS and a hospital with 750 beds. With the partnership in place, WUC is the first of its kind to assert itself in a unique proposition where it is rare for the Indian government to accept degree programs from Malaysia, specifically medical programs. The idea came about when Malaysia, which has 33 medical faculties and 44 medical programs, was producing up to 4000 medical students annually. This figure does not include the 2000-4000 overseas medical graduates returning to Malaysia each year. On a wide spectrum, if WUC would to jump on the bandwagon, it would actually compete in a red ocean environment where these medical schools themselves are producing an influx of graduates. So in a nutshell, the significance of this partnership with PRIMS helps create a blue ocean strategy where WUC is entering anuntapped market segment where it does not compete with others.

In that sense, WUC is truly the market leader in this segment. Another significant part of the partnership is that it is heading towards internalization. This is crucial as it is the main criteria for WUC to upgrade its University College status to a full-fledged University status by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. The Widad Education Program is in line with the new government aspiration to internationalize and globalize the Malaysian Education Industry which will lift Malaysia up to join the ranks of the Highest Educational Echelon Nations of the World. WUC is definitely on the winning end when it comes to championing its education mission.

Every strategy has been carefully planned and thought of by the team at WUC and Widad Business Group (WBG). This is to ensure its stakeholders will have the best returns on their investments.