Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)

A World Leader in New Tropical Agriculture

University Putra Malaysia (UPM), one of the fastest growing research universities in the region, has set its sights on spearheading and revolutionizing the nation’s agricultural sector in order to achieve international recognition and acclaim.

In line with its new vision – ‘A World Leader In Tropical Agriculture’ – the university has mapped out several strategies to achieve this status by the year 2015.

Among its strategies include efforts by UPM’s talented team of researches to explore new formulas and methods, which could play a vital role in the expansion and modernization of the agricultural sector.

In fact, the university has recently embarked on a paradigm shift in its research and professional services by placing greater emphasis and focus on the modernization of the agricultural sector.

UPM aims to add more value to the agricultural sector in order to make it a more business-driven and technology-oriented industry, that will be environmentally friendly, sustainable and profitable.

All these efforts are in line with present global concerns like climatic change and global warming, which have in recent years become a serious and growing threat to food security.

Additionally, food crop production has also become an integral component of UPM’s research and development (R &D) focus, in order to meet the needs and demands of the rapidly growing local and global population.

Maximising harvests has become a primary area of research for research-based universities and as the front-runner, UPM has taken the proverbial bull by the horns to lead the initiative towards realizing this effort.

Thus, UPM aims to not only contribute towards the development of agricultural innovation, but also play an integral role in strengthening the nation’s food sector through the research and development of new products for consumption.

Bearing this mind, UPM formulated 6 areas of research to ensure its worthy goals are met. The focus of the 6 research areas are on:-

• Agriculture
• Food
• Forestry and The Environment
• Health
• Social Sciences
• Science Engineering and Technology

By using these multi-disciplinary fields of research, UPM hopes to formulate an integrated package that is able to satisfy the needs of the agricultural supply chain, by meeting all its respective planting, packaging, processing and marketing needs.

In keeping in line with UPM’s belief of ‘Agriculture Is Business’, the university prides itself in its use of the latest technological advances in agro-biotechnology and nanotechnology to give it the cutting edge needed to achieve the best results in its efforts.

Contrary to past agricultural practices where the majority of research was carried out on farmlands, UPM’s novel agricultural efforts is helmed by myriad teams of researchers in their laboratories, who are governed by stringent rules and protocols.

This gives a fresh twist to the term ‘new tropical agriculture’, as the production and management of tropical resources using the latest scientific advances poses no threat at all to the eco-system or human health and welfare.

To date, UPM is the only local research university that offers programmes which focus on agricultural studies. Among these are the :-

• Diploma in Agriculture
• Diploma in Forestry
• Diploma in Fisheries
• Diploma in Animal Health & Production
• Diploma in Food Estate Management

As for the degree and postgraduate programmes, there are the :-

• Bachelor in Agriculture Science
• Bachelor in Horticulture Science
• Bachelor in Science (Agro Business)
• Bachelor in Agriculture (Aquaculture)
• Bachelor in Agriculture (Breeding)
• Bachelor in Forestry Science
• Bachelor of Wood Science Technology
• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

For post-graduates, more than 36% of the programmes are related to agriculture, with 7 of UPM’s 16 faculties having elements of agriculture in their academic syllabus. These would be the faculties of :-

• Agriculture
• Biotechnology & Bio-molecular Sciences
• Environment
• Forestry
• Science & Food Technology
• Veterinary Medicine
• Agriculture & Food Sciences.

Five of UPM’s nine research institutes also focus on agriculture. They are the :-

• Institute of Bioscience
• Institute of Tropical Agriculture
• Institute of Tropical Forestry & Forest Products
• Institute of Agriculture & Food Policy Studies
• Halal Products Research Institute.

Additionally, further development programmes are carried out by the Centre for Development, Entrepreneurship and Professional Services to help support UPM’s academic objectives.

Source: New sunday Times, July 5, 2009
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