KUALA NERUS, Sept 28 — The realisation of the proposed merger of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) may spark a new era in the country’s higher education landscape.

UniSZA vice-chancellor, Prof Datuk Hassan Basri Awang Mat Dahan said they were always optimistic about accepting the government’s proposal and would be willing to make reforms if the agreement was reached.

"We do not know in the future if the merger of UMT and UniSZA will spur the university further. The merger will sometimes make a university complete,” he told Bernama.

The Cabinet on September 4, had in principle agreed to the merger of UMT and UniSZA as a transformation of higher education delivery.

In an exclusive interview recently, Hassan Basri said the process of merging universities was not something new as it was taking place at world-leading universities including the Paris-Sorbonne University and Pierre Marie Curie University (UPMC) in France specialising in different fields, namely social science and medicine.

"These two universities are world renowned universities and have produced many great thinkers and experts in their respective fields,” he said, adding that through the merger initiative, the two universities in France were able to move more efficiently and to have sufficient financial resources.

Hassan Basri, who took over the leadership of UniSZA in February, said in realising the proposed merger, all parties had to put aside their ego, look ahead and carry out what the government wanted.

Meanwhile, Hassan Basri said UniSZA was also devising several strategies towards generating its own revenue, in response to the government’s call that every university should have the resources to accelerate the development of the university. ­— Bernama