Centre for Citra University

In-line with the requirements of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) that mandated the shift to ISO 9001:2008, a merger of the ISO QMS for undergraduate and graduate programmes was implemented at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in 2009. The merger is expected to benefit UKM as it will optimise utilisation of resources. A year later, a study was conducted to assess staffs' awareness and acceptance of the QMS and to assess the effectiveness of the merger. The study was carried out using questionnaires with a Likert scale rating. The questionnaires were distributed to all faculties and four categories of staffs were identified as respondents namely academicians with administrative posts, academicians without administrative posts, administrative staffs and support staffs. Results of this preliminary study indicated that all categories of staffs particularly the support staffs concurred that the merger provides positive implications to time management and documentation. Besides, commands and procedures on ISO have become more effective. Results from this study will be used as inputs for further improvement to UKM's quality management system.

This research aims to examine the level of knowledge, understanding, acceptance and perception among public university students towards the Islam in the Federal Constitution within the context of ethnic relations in Malaysia. This research involves 800 respondents selected from four public universities. The data are collected through a survey with the SPSS to analyze the function of descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, cross tabulation and correlation coefficiency to describe and explain respondents' backgrounds and perceptions of the provisions of Islam in the Constitution. The results show that students' perceptions of Islam in the Federal Constitution are well received by students as Islam has a far better position than any other religion that its religious practices occur in harmony, the fact that Malaysia is an Islamic country and that it does not interfere with the unity of religious differences in the society. The findings also reveal that the e...

The progress of the institutionalization of the People's Religious Schools (SAR) in Malaysia demonstrates that it is laden with diverse challenges to ensure that it continues to be in the national education system. The effort to institutionalise the SAR has actually begun since the early days of independence. Among the measures that have been taken are the creation of the laws of financial assistance, the acquisition of administration, the founding of the Lembaga Penasihat Penyelarasan Pelajaran dan Pendidikan Agama ...

One of the key issues of the country is poor command of certain skills among university graduates from Public Higher Education Institute (PHEI). This matter has increased the rate of unemployment among graduates. This is because the industry as one of the key sectors of the economy generators needs human capital that masters various skills. The industry is facing global competition that requires them to participate and compete. Hence, to ensure that their position remains strong and relevant, human capital that masters skills such as communication skills, decision making, teamwork and others are urgently needed. Hence the emphasis on the aspects of these skills should be incorporated in the national education system. This article discusses the direction of generic skills courses at the National University of Malaysia in fulfilling the needs of Malaysian qualifications framework. This study is performed through analysis methodology on relevant documents in the matter. The study found that the National University of Malaysia has already implemented adoption of generic skills in courses offered, in fulfilling Malaysian qualifications framework. This will produce a student that is equipped with generic skills and further meets the needs of the job market.

Kecemerlangan sesebuah organisasi adalah disebabkan oleh banyak faktor. Walaubagaimanapun ramai pengurus dan penyelidik dalam bidang kepimpinan dan pengurusan cenderung untuk melihat kepimpinan sebagai penyumbang utama atau penyebab langsung kepada ...

Patriotisme yang seringkali dikaitkan dengan cintakan watan adalah satu semangat atau nilai yang perlu dihayati oleh segenap lapisan masyarakat khususnya generasi muda. Antara faktor yang menyumbang kepada kebejatan sosial dalam masyarakat mutakhir ini ialah akibat lunturnya semangat patriotisme yang dihayati khususnya generasi muda. Maka, nilai-nilai patriotisme yang merupakan sebahagian daripada nilai-nilai murni, sekiranya dapat dijiwai dan diamalkan sebaik mungkin, akan dapat menyumbang ke arah pembentukan generasi yang berhemah tinggi dan berakhlak mulia. Oleh itu, sangat wajar khususnya generasi muda menjadikan nilai-nilai patriotisme sebagai amalan atau pegangan serta disemai dalam jiwa segenap lapisan masyarakat Malaysia demi kelangsungan negara dalam menghadapi era pasca modenisme dan dikenali sebagai masyarakat majmuk. Kekurangan penghayatan nilai-nilai patriotisme akan menyebabkan pelajar menjadi mangsa kepada pelbagai penyakit sosial. Justeru, kertas kerja ini akan membincangkan mengenai konsep patriotisme, senario yang berlaku di Malaysia, halangan yang boleh menganggu-gugat penyuburan semangat patriotisme dan cadangan penyelesaian yang boleh dikemukakan dalam mengukuhkan lagi semangat patriotisme khususnya di kalangan generasi muda.

Amid the fact that general studies have been regarded as a holistic education and that they are capable in producing all-rounders, in Malaysia specifically we have only met with the paucity of research that has automatically impeded any validation of the fact. In UKM for instance, the concept of general studies begins simultaneously with the establishment, but just how far it is effective is open to debate. In generality, it can be said that both students and the faculty have underestimated the significance of general study courses. The emphasis on the broadening of this general studies in principle is consistent with the aspirations of liberal education at the initial phase of the establishment of the UKM, which is towards creating graduates who can think laterally and in balance. This study seeks to analyse the views of UKM students on how they understand the philosophy and importance of general studies. This study involves 400 respondents who were chosen among third year students who have registered for the courses. The study data were obtained through a questionnaire using the SPSS program. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, cross-tabulation statistics, and correlation coefficient were employed to explain respondents backgrounds and assess students' views on generic skill courses. The study outcome demonstrates that students have regarded highly over the generic skill courses, in general. There has been an insignificant difference between social science and science and technology students. Based on the study findings, several suggestions have been put forth for the improvement of generic skill courses so that it will produce students who have generic skills needed for the workplace market.

Student inability to explain concepts learnt in lessons using their own words academically and intellectually and their lack of interest in learning the subject are a cause of their incompetence in the development of their personality. This presents a challenge to lecturers that they should not rely entirely on conventional lectures and tutorials. Instead, there is a need to employ a variety of teaching methods to stimulate student minds and encourage them to pursue knowledge. groups were assessed as to their interest and observation to the forum content and its discussion while it was being conducted. The effectiveness of this strategy is based on analysis of student reports on the conducted forum and debates in it. Results show that forum received a positive response among the students. The forum approach increased student skills to relate to current issues in explaining facts they have learnt, encouraged cooperation among them to solve problems and increased interaction skill as well as built self-confidence. Therefore they could sharpen their soft skills and were able to solve problems and human-related issues.

(MPU). Among the goals of this new structure is to improve students' potential ability towards producing holistic students and homogenizing general education curriculum between IPTA and IPTS. This objective is achieved through the appreciation of philosophy, values and history, soft skills mastery, broadening of knowledge according the Malaysian way and the application of soft skills. Therefore, this article will discuss the Islamic Civilization and Asian Civilization course in the new MPU structure in IPTS in comparison with the IPTA. From the discussion, it was found that Islamic Civilization and Asian Civilization course has been applied in the MPU structure towards producing students who appreciate good values and identity. At the same time, suggestions were also presented, so that the elements of science and technology will also be adopted in Islamic Civilization and Asian Civilization course especially in matters regarding the roles and contributions of Science and Technology to world civilization.

Science is a knowledge that has become a tool for technological formation and advancement to ensure the development of the communities and countries. Science is also one of the fundamentals of the establishment of national identity through education. Nevertheless, science which has been taught to the society these days is accepted based on liberal and secular belief formed by the Western. Science at the present time is developed and distributed based on the nature and personality of Western culture. Therefore, effort to change the Western science or specifically called as the Islamisation of Science", is a responsibility that must be held by intellectuals. Islamisation of science is an effort introduced by Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas, Ismail Al-Faruqi, Seyyed Hossein Nasr and many other intellectuals to restore the integration between science and Islam. This study highlighted an intellectual who has contributed greatly in the Islamisation of science as well as his thoughts and ideas in promoting the Islamisation of science. Mohd Yusof who has popularized the "Tauhidik Science" book is among intellectuals who has voiced out his ideas through writing, oral presentation and various activities in which the objective is to islamise the science. Mohd Yusof"s idea has been referred to as an evaluation of thought and effort to restore the identity of Muslims through education.

The current scenario of increasing number of Higher Learning Instituitions (HLIs) in Malaysia, provide us for a need to understand the importance of upgrading their institution knowlegde in order to serve as a reservoir of knowledge apart from mere providing knowledge to students. Much have been mentioned on knowledge sharing, but comprehensive research in the area of knowledge sharing between university faculty academicians, especially among pure sciencies and social sciences groups has been rather less discussed. Therefore, this study is aimed to idenify the impacts of organizational factors on knowledge sharing in HLIs. This study is conducted through a set of survey instrument among acadmicians in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). The findings of this study showed that the organizational factors on knowledge sharing, from the top management support and organizational culture are collectively agreed as important, while organizational rewards are slightly regarded as less important. This findings could provide us with a conclusion that the practice of the top management support and organizational culture in UKM is currently good and nurturing knowledge sharing among academicians, while the aspect of organizational rewards need to be enhanced further.

The Malay Royal Institution has existed for centuries in the social system of the administration of Malay states in Malaysia. In this monarchy system, the sovereign has the absolute power in the state administration. However, during British colonization, the Sultan had to refer to the Resident as advisor except on matters related to Islam and Malay customs. The situation continued until the Malayan Union was introduced in 1946 when the Sultan was only authoritative on the Malay customs and Islam, while the state administration was held by the Governor. When the Malayan Union Constitution was replaced by the Malay Federation in 1948, the Sultan was given the rights to rule the country in accordance with the Constitutional Monarch. This study aims to analyze the perception of undergraduates at public higher education institutions regarding the Malay Royal Institution in the Federal Constitution within the context of ethnic relations in Malaysia. It involved 422 respondents selected from 4 public higher education institutions in Malaysia. The data obtained through surveys was analysed using SPSS program. Descriptive statistics such as frequency was used to describe the background of the respondents and to analyze the students' perception. The findings show that the acceptance level of the students on the position of Malay Royal Institutions in the constitution is relatively and generally high. Based on the findings, several recommendations are put forward to address issues related to the position of the Malay Royal Institution. This study also contributes to the field of knowledge as the methodology employed was quantitative which was different from previous studies which used qualitative methods.

The first visibility of the dawn occurs at a definite angle of the sun depression, D o which is used to calculate the fajr (dawn) prayer time. Dawn observations were carried out using Digital Single-lens Reflex (DSLR) camera in the period from February to December 2017 at several locations in both Malaysia and Indonesia (Lat. between 2.0°-7.0° N, Long. 95.0°-106.0°E). Within the observational period, 64 days of the dawn luminance at horizon were recorded with backgrounds of both sea and land. The purpose of these observations was to determine the sun depression angle D o at the first moment when the dawn is seen using a DSLR camera. The results indicated that D o can be determined using a DSLR camera. The value of D o is between-14.5° and-18.5° with a mean value of-16.67° and standard deviation of 0.9992. This suggests that the new sun depression angle D o for dawn prayer is-17.0°.

This study seeks to examine and evaluate the reality between madzhab and fanaticism in the context of Islamic society in Malaysia. What is the position of the Shafi'i-Muslim community to be regarded as a condition that is required and defended or it may be regarded as a sectarian fanatic society that must be rectified. With the development of the mind and the culture of life at this time the attachment to a sect will raise many questions. Among them is the practice of the Shafici sect by the Muslim community in Malaysia without referring to the views of the sects besides Shafi'i in accordance with current requirements and public interest? Is there any change in the education system and exposure to various schools that have no effect on the practice of madhab? This study looks at whether the Muslim community in Malaysia is strongly devoted to Shafici or simply fanatical to the sect. The study uses qualitative methods by referring historical documents to Islamic developments in Malaysia and Islamic classical books. By making in-depth analysis, the study found Shafii's practice of dominating among Muslim societies in Malaysia despite partly practicing a sect besides the Shafici sect. Shafici's practice in their circles does not indicate that they take blind or fanatical attitude toward the Shafici sect and even the stand is to celebrate the sectarian grip of the sect that has been adopted by the community. There are also some views of the Shafici sect that are not followed fully in the face of current fiqh issues due to fatwas adopt the outside view of the Shafici sect and clearly give the people the choice to adopt any four sect. The study also found that the authoritative parties in the affairs of Islamic religion in Malaysia such as the Mufti department in each state take cautiousness, openness and relaxation and give choice (takhayyur) and talfiq to the community in accordance with the elements of Islamic legal flexibility such as istislah, al-dhara'i' urf and so forth in line with the common interest and maqasid al-shari'ah. This also illustrates the fanatical attitude to the Shafii sect not so noticeable among the Muslim community in Malaysia.

With the growth of the multinational corporation (MNC) has come the need to understand how parent companies transfer knowledge to, and manage the operations of, their subsidiaries. Japanese companies in particular have been pioneering in this regard, with techniques such as the Toyota Production System (TPS) for transferring the ethos of Japanese manufacturing and maintaining quality and control in overseas subsidiaries. A great deal has been written about the process of transferring Japanese manufacturing techniques, but much less is understood about how the subsidiaries themselves, which are required to make use of such techniques, actually acquire and incorporate them into their operations. This paper examines how, from the perspective of the subsidiary, knowledge of manufacturing techniques, is transferred from the parent company. An in-depth qualitative research was, therefore, conducted in the subsidiary of a Japanese multinational, involving three main manufacturing initiatives (or philosophies), namely 'TPS', 'TPM' and 'TS'. The case data were derived from 52 in-depth interviews with project members, moderate-participant observations, and documentations. This study contributes to our understanding of knowledge transfer in relation to the approaches of adaptation and replication of knowledge within the subsidiary, how the whole process is developed, and also how a new mode of transfer, coined as 'innovation' takes place.

Requirements and qualifications for any work field play an important role in the sustainability of an organisation including teaching services whether it is a governmental or private organisation. The Requirements and Qualification for Selangor Private Tahfiz Educational Institution Teachers is important to make sure private tahfiz institution become more competitive and relevant. This research aims to study the challenges faced for requirements and qualifications for a private maahad tahfiz in Selangor. This research uses the interview method done with the school board activist who has the experience in tahfiz educational institution management. The documentation method is also used through related fields of organizational management, which are responsible for the teachers including documents from other related organizations. The study found that the approval status for teachers are mainly still low, a dilemma the school needs to fulfill for the requirements of the teachers and government in offering curriculum. Offering this curriculum causes the maahad party difficulties in balancing the requirements of the teaching field with the teacher's study field due to outside factors presented by educational institutions and universities. A pay rate disproportionate to the qualifications of the teacher also pose as a major challenge to the maahad management. This challenge exists due to the imbalance between the true human resources supply and demand in addition to the poor strategic cooperation system between the government and the private parties. In Malaysia, the flexible democratic educational system leans specifically towards non-governmental educational entities. The national educational system and the non-national education system do not seem to support each other. A strategic cooperation mechanism should be developed to solve a majority of the abovementioned problems so that all involved entities may be on the same goal path to ensure the success of future generations of students. For further research, should focus on private Tahfiz Institution in Malaysia.

Knowledge sharing in Malaysian University is a vital driving force to enrich the pool of knowledge as well as offering fresh knowledge to students. However, extensive research in knowledge sharing between university academicians especially with different working experiences has been rather less discussed. This study aimed to identify the contrast between group of academicians with working experience of 10 years and below, with group of academicians with working experience of 11 years and above on three knowledge sharing factors; organizational factor, technological factor and individual factor. This study is conducted over a set of survey instrument among academicians in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Results from this study demonstrated that both groups of academicians approve that all factors are crucial especially knowledge self-efficacy under individual factors, but driving factors that are considered moderately important are organizational rewards under organizational factors and system quality under technical factors. These findings conclude that while there are no main concerns with individual factors of academicians in knowledge sharing, UKM's organization and technology in regards to knowledge sharing has rooms for improvement, specifically on organizational rewards and system quality.

Isu-isu hubungan etnik di Malaysia telah banyak berubah dalam tempoh lima dekad lalu. Pada tahun 1950-an, isu kewarganegaraan dan kontrak sosial mendominasi hubungan etnik, diikuti dengan isu bahasa pada tahun 1960-an sebelum pelaksanaan Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB), manakala kuota dan urbanisasi mencorakkan hubungan etnik pada tahun 1970-an dan 1980-an. Pada tahun 1990-an dan milenium, isu-isu agama begitu kuat mempengaruhi hubungan etnik di negara ini. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis persepsi pelajar Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) terhadap hubungan etnik di Malaysia. Kajian ini melibatkan seramai 618 responden. Data kajian diperoleh melalui soal selidik yang dianalisis menggunakan program SPSS. Untuk itu, statistik deskriptif digunakan bagi menerangkan latar belakang responden dan persepsi pelajar terhadap hubungan etnik. Hasil kajian menunjukkan persepsi pelajar terhadap hubungan etnik diterima dengan baik oleh pelajar seperti masyarakat pelbagai etnik di Malaysia hidup...

General education courses in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) are managed by the Centre for General Studies. The courses were offered as a response to the need to develop graduates who are equipped with communication and thinking skills and other knowledge necessary in order to survive in the modern society. The emphasis on the general education is in line with the UKM’s vision and mission, which is to produce graduates who are broad minded and have balanced perspectives. The objectives of the study were to (a) identify the background and generic skill courses undertaken by UKM students, (b) identify the viewpoint of UKM students on generic skill courses and (c) measure the students’ improvement in generic skills through the generic skill courses taken. The respondents were 240 third year students of various faculties in UKM. SPSS program was used to analise the data. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, cross tabulation and correlation of coefficient were...