KYS BEGINS ITS QUEST TO BECOME UNIVERSITY COLLEGE NEXT YEAR

KYS begins its quest to become University College next year

KOTA KINABALU 20th April, 2012: The new campus Kolej Yayasan Sabah (KYS), a private higher learning institution established in 1990, is taking shape as it begins its quest to become a University College next year.

The new complex will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities which can accommodate up to 4000 students, said KYS CEO Dr Dayang Aminah Ali.

KYS was initially founded as Institut Pembangunan Insan and built upon the objective of Yayasan Sabah Group which is to emphasise on the education development of the State, the name was later changed into Kolej Komuniti Yayasan Sabah (KKYS) on July 30, 1994.

In tandem with the requirements of IPTS Act 1996 (Act 555), the name was changed on January 4, 2001, into Kolej Yayasan Sabah, to what it is today, as a wholly-owned entity of Yayasan Sabah Group.

“KYS is taking a big step in allocating priority to education hoping to address further opportunities for local students to gain quality tertiary education,” she said.

As a catalyst in the mainstream of human capital development through the State’s aspiration, KYS highlights its effort by offering many interesting programmes in the area of skills, technical, vocational, professional, and academic studies.

Under the chairmanship Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman cum Chairman of Yayasan Sabah Board of Trustees, an allocation of RM45 million has been approved for KYS’ new campus building towards achieving the University College status, Dayang Aminah said.

With the inauguration of KYS as University College as aspired by the Chief Minister by 2013, it will be the first of its kind in Sabah as a state owned private university following the steps by other state foundation in Peninsular Malaysia, such as, Yayasan Selangor, Yayasan Pahang and Yayasan Melaka.

“The positive performance as shown in terms of management was addressed as one of the factors that contributed to the idea thatKYS should take up the challenge to take one step further in competing with other higher learning institutions across the region,” she added.

Spurred by the commitment towards becoming a centre of educational excellence, KYS is now embedding on a vigorous effort to support the human capital development in Sabah by providing programmes geared towards fulfilling the objective of blending academic and skills vocational education (TEVT) in tandem with the strategic thrust under the 10th Malaysia Plan and the Government Transformation Plan (GTP) as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in the 2011 national budget towards making Malaysia a high-income and developed nation by 2020.

“With the University College title, KYS strives to a greater height, in line with its objective which is to provide quality education for all.

“With the development of Sabah under the Sabah Development Corridor (SEDIA) there are bigger expectations for Kolej Yayasan Sabah along with other private higher institutions and training centres in the state to play a bigger role towards contributing to the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) in the Transformation Programme (ETP) which was announced by Minister in the Prime Minister in the Govenrment Economic Trasnformation Programmes,” she said.

Being one of the 12 National Key Economic Areas, Education is one of 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) and is a critical driver of Malaysia’s transformation into creating significant high economic impact serves as a strong engine for growth and provides higher lifetime earnings for the people.