The
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
(FMHS) organised a strategic planning workshop on 1 and 2 October 2020
at UTAR
Sungai Long Campus to brainstorm the 2021-2025 Strategic Plan for the
faculty. The strategic plan involves education, community outreach
activities, industry network, and R&D direction in the years ahead. The
workshop saw the participation of dean, deputy deans, faculty staff and
consultants as well as specialists. They gathered to brainstorm and
formulate ideas for strategic growth, innovation and enhanced quality
education to meet future challenges.
The workshop, led by experts from various field, allowed members of the team to work together to create a clear and concise strategy for five areas identified by the faculty, namely Undergraduate Programmes, Postgraduate Programmes, Basic Medical Science Research, Clinical Research and Clinical Trial, and Community Outreach and Industry Network.
Prof Cheong
explaining the importance of strategic planning
FMHS Dean Emeritus Prof Dr Cheong
Soon Keng said, “Welcome to the third strategic planning for the medical
faculty. We feel this is necessary because it is a competitive industry. We
are a not-for-profit medical school and university. In order to continue to
grow and flourish, we need new ideas from everyone. The pandemic is
destructive but it also presents opportunities which we may not have
encountered. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape permanently as
we are on 100 per cent online teaching and learning. The UTAR Hospital is
under construction in Kampar, and will be ready for the Traditional and
Complementary Medicine in a year and in another six months, it will be ready
for commission. Thus, we need to think ahead and plan strategically on how
we can contribute to the University, Faculty and the Hospital.”
He added, “The past two days of
the workshop were fruitful and I would like to thank everyone for your
participation, ideas and contribution during this workshop. A lot was
discussed and we will see how we can implement it to achieve the goal we
have set.”
Prof Lim sharing
her thoughts on the strategic approach to achieve effectiveness, growth and
impact
Head of Programme for Postgraduate
Programmes and Centre for Cancer Research Chairperson Prof Ts Dr Lim Yang
Mooi enthused, “This event was successfully organised and was able to
achieve the objectives of establishing the third FMHS strategic plan. It was
even more meaningful as faculty staff came together to deliberate and decide
on the strategic plans. The strategic plan established is now owned by the
members of FMHS. Furthermore, this was the first time to involve external
consultants to further refine the strategic plan, and outline the strategic
priorities to map the university's drive in achieving educational excellence
with transformative society impacts.”
She added, “Strategic planning
workshop is an important exercise that allows faculty to identify its
threats, opportunities, weaknesses and strengths. This is critically needed
to let faculty to know its current status and help faculty to
position its future destination. The strategic priorities established during
the workshop are useful guides to direct the way forward that the faculty
should commit to achieving realistic initiatives and measurable targets. The
most important aspect that the faculty can focus to achieve a greater level
is to fully engage and support all faculty members with the same strategic
mindset to implement the strategic priorities that are owned by all faculty
members.”
Ongoing discussion
among faculty staff and panel consultants
The highlight of the second-day
workshop was the strategic plan presentations which centred on five areas,
namely Undergraduate Programmes, Postgraduate Programmes, Basic Medical
Science Research, Clinical Research and Clinical Trial, and Community
Outreach and Industry Network. The presentations were led by Centre for
Research on Non-Communicable Diseases Chairperson Prof Dr John Paul Evangel
Judson, Centre for Research on Communicable Diseases Chairperson Prof Dr
Ngeow Yun Fong, Centre for Stem Cell Research Chairperson Prof Dr Alan Ong
Han Kiat, Prof Lim and FMHS Deputy Dean for Academic Development and
Undergraduate Programmes Prof Dr Ng Teck Han.
Prof John Paul discussed the
strategic plan for Undergraduate Programmes where he focused on
internationalisation education, cyber classroom, online teaching and
learning and interprofessional education. Prof Lim, on the other hand,
presented six strategic priorities for Postgraduate Programmes which focused
on global exposure and networking, diversity of student composition,
diversity in teaching, learning and assessment methods, developing taught
course postgraduate degree programmes, developing postgraduate degree
programme by research and initiating connection with industry partners. Prof
Ngeow shared the strategic priorities for Basic Medical Science Research
that included effective communication of science to the public and policy,
attract talented postgraduate students by increasing the website visibility,
hire postdoctoral researcher, form key research clusters, develop a core
facility that houses equipment and provides service to prevent damage to
expensive instrument, establish a mentor-mentee system for staff, establish
and strengthen research with national and international collaborators,
establish and strengthen each research centre as an incubator for interested
industry partners and provide education, training, knowledge transfer via
workshops, conference and etcetera.
Prof Ng discussed the four strategic priorities of Clinical Research and Clinical Trial which included human capacities building in good clinical practice workshop and interdisciplinary networking, improving existing facilities to support clinical research, increasing the visibility of FMHS in clinical research and establishing key research area in digital health device with AI technology, occupational health and fundamental research. Prof Alan presented the strategic priorities on Community Outreach and Industry Network which included establishing a strategic alliance with FMHS alumni through a formal structured database and networking platform, developing fact-finding needs and relevance through online surveys, developing and executing targeted alumni activities, developing a strategic alliance with health care and health-associated industry and partners, organising holistic wellness workshop and training sessions to improve community health and awareness, and organising virtual inbound and outbound activities.
Prof Cheong (third from right) with (from left) Prof Lim, Prof Ng, Prof Ngeow, Prof John Paul and Prof Alan
From left: Prof Datuk Awang, Dato’ Goh, Prof Dato’ Raymond Azman, Prof Cheong, Prof Tan, Prof Lee, Dr Marzuki and Dr Lim during the presentation of token of appreciation ceremony
Prof Ng (left)
presented the Clinical Methods Handbook to Prof Cheong
The strategic planning workshop saw an interesting interaction between the presenter, external consultant specialists and participants. It was followed by a Q&A session before it adjourned.
External consultant and specialists giving feedback during the Q&A session
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