History[edit]

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the national university of Malaysia was born from the aspirations of
the nationalists to uphold the Malay Language as a language of knowledge. The quest for a national
university was suggested in 1923 by the writer Abdul Kadir Adabi as a move against British
colonisation. This nationalist tide galvanised Malay intellectuals of the time but met British
suppression. The nationalists never wavered and in 1969 the movement again blossomed. A
Sponsoring Committee chaired by Syed Nasir Ismail, a Malay intellectual, was set up to prepare a
report recommending the establishment of UKM. Other prominent members of this committee
include Dr. Mahathir Mohamed (Tun), Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister who was then the Education
Minister, and Dr. Mohd Rashdan Haji Baba, who later became UKM's first Vice-Chancellor.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia opened its doors on 18 May 1970 to 192 undergraduate students in
Jalan Pantai Baru, Kuala Lumpur, a temporary campus housing three main faculties, the Faculties of
Science, Arts and Islamic Studies. In October 1977, UKM moved to its present premises which form
the main campus in Bangi. The campus has a size of 1,096 hectares (2,710 acres), situated in the
metropolis encompassing the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur, the main
commercial centre, and Putrajaya, the administrative capital. The UKM Bangi Campus is 45 km
(28 mi) from KLIA, 30 km (19 mi) from Kuala Lumpur and 20 km (12 mi) from Putrajaya.
UKM has two health campuses, the Kuala Lumpur campus in Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, and the
UKM Medical Centre in Cheras. The Kuala Lumpur campus consists of the Faculties of Health
Sciences, Pharmacy, Dentistry and the Pre-Clinical Departments of the Medical Faculty. With a size
of 20 hectares (49 acres), the Kuala Lumpur campus was established in 1974.
The campus in Cheras consists of the Medical Faculty, the UKM Teaching Hospital and the UKM
Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI). The Cheras campus was opened in 1997. Besides these
campuses, UKM operates seven research stations (RS); The Tasik Chini RS, The Marine
Ecosystem RS, The Langkawi Geopark RS, The Marine RS, The Fraser's Hill RS, The Plant
Biotechnology RS and in the main campus itself, the UKM Campus Living Laboratory, which
comprises the UKM Permanent Forest Reserve, or its Malay name, Hutan Simpan Kekal UKM as
well as the Fernarium and the Herbarium.
Based on a foundation of 30 years of research, UKM was awarded the status of a Malaysian
Research University in October 2006 by the Ministry of Higher Education, a move designed to propel
the four public universities into leading research universities in line with the Higher Education
Strategic Plan 2007–2020.
The year 2006 also saw UKM winning the Prime Minister's Quality Award. This award vindicates
UKM's efforts at quality education and management, as outlined by the objectives of the UKM
Strategic Plan 2000–2020 (PS2020). The Strategic Plan has been augmented by the newly unveiled
UKM Knowledge Ecosystem Transformation Plan, a transformation set to catapult UKM into the
league of leading research universities by 2018.

Academics[edit]
Faculties[edit]
 Social Science and Humanities (established in 1970 as Faculty of Arts)
 Science and Technology (established in 1970 as Faculty of Sciences)
 Islamic Studies (established in 1970)
The three above make up the founding faculties.
 Medicine
 Health Sciences
 Dentistry
 Economics and Management
 Education
 Engineering and Built Environment
 Information Science and Technology
 Pharmacy
 Law
 Graduate School of Business
Service Centre[edit]
 Chancellory Office
 Department of Registrar
 Department of Bursary
 Department of Development & Maintenance
 Centre for Corporate Communications
 Centre for Quality Assurance
 Centre for Research & Instrumentation Management
 Centre for Collaborative Innovation
 Centre for Teaching & Learning Technologies
 Centre for Information Technology
 Centre for International Relations
 Centre of Risk Management, Sustainability & Occupational Health (ROSH)
 Graduate Centre
 Strategy-UKM
 Students and Alumni Affairs
 Sport Centre
 UKM Library
 UKM Press
 UKM Islamic Centre
 UKM Medical Centre
 UKM Children's Specialist Hospital
 PERMATApintar™ National Gifted Center
 Office of the Legal Advisor and Integrity
Institutes[edit]
 Fuel Cell Institute (SELFUEL)
 Institute for Environment & Development (LESTARI)
 Institute for Malaysian & International Studies (IKMAS)
 Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA)
 Institute of Microengineering & Nanoelectronics (IMEN)
 Institute of Climate Change (IPI)
 Institute of Systems Biology (INBIOSIS)
 Institute of the Malay World & Civilization (ATMA)
 Institute of Visual Informatics (IVI)
 Institute of Islam Hadhari (HADHARI)
 UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute (UMBI)
 Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI)
 Institut of Ear, Hearing & Speech (I-HEARS)

Residential Colleges[edit]
 Kolej Aminuddin Baki (KAB)
 Kolej Burhanudin Helmy (KBH)
 Kolej Dato' Onn (KDO)
 Kolej Ibrahim Yaakub (KIY)
 Kolej Ibu Zain (KIZ)
 Kolej Keris Mas (KKM)
 Kolej Pendeta Zaba (KPZ)
 Kolej Rahim Kajai (KRK)
 Kolej Tun Dr. Ismail (KTDI)
 Kolej Tun Hussein Onn (KTHO)
 Kolej Tun Syed Nasir (KTSN)
 Kolej Ungku Omar (KUO)