KUCHING: UCSI University has been ranked the nation’s best private university for the second year in a row, according to the QS World University Rankings 2020.
Chief operating officer of UCSI University Sarawak campus Mukvinder Sandhu said yesterday UCSI University rose 39 spots to be ranked 442 amongst the world’s universities, once again placing it in the top 2 per cent of the world’s universities.
UCSI had also been recognised as Asia’s fastest-rising university according to the ‘QS University Rankings: Asia 2018’, she added.
“The Sarawak campus of the university houses the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Faculty of Business and Information Science and the Centre for Pre-U Studies,” Mukvinder explained.
She said a notable achievement of the campus was the setting up of the Regional Centre of Expertise Kuching (RCE Kuching), the very first in East Malaysia.
This centre, she said, had been acknowledged by the United Nations University, Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability in Tokyo, Japan to build partnerships and promote action on sustainability in Kuching.
She said the centre aimed to work with a network of local stakeholders to promote education for sustainable development (ESD) and translate global objectives such as the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) into the local context and creating sustainable-literate communities in Kuching.
“SDGs may seem an abstract concept to many, but RCE Kuching is working with individuals and whole communities to simplify these goals and together create sustainable communities here in Kuching and ultimately in Sarawak,” she said.
Mukvinder explained that RCE Kuching recently received awards from the United Nations University for its two flagship initiatives — the 5R campaign in selected schools and The Sarawak River Art Competition.
These awards are granted annually to RCEs around the world for their outstanding contributions to address local Sustainable Development challenges in their regions.
“To ensure we continue our work on sustainability and responsible tourism, the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management is also organising a conference which will be held from Aug 12 to 14 this year.
“This conference, the International Conference on Responsible Tourism and Hospitality, will bring together not just academics but experts and practitioners from the relevant tourism and hospitality sectors to meet and bring together ideas, experiences and resources to realise responsible tourism and hospitality in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2020 and Visit Sarawak Campaign,” she explained.
