Newcastle University

The stage has been set for Newcastle University to establish its first international branch campus in Johor, Malaysia.

The new international branch campus in Johor, Malaysia will be named Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed) and will deliver and award the University’s degrees in medicine and biomedical science.

At a simple ceremony in Kota Bahru on the 28th February, Malaysia’s Minister of Higher Education, Dato’ Mustapa Mohamed, handed over the formal letter of invitation to Newcastle University’s Dean of International Medical Education, Professor Reg Jordan. They are pictured below with Datuk Azman Mokhtar, Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional who is on the left of the photograph.

The NUMed campus, due to open in 2011, will be located in the Iskandar Development Region in South Johor, strategically positioned within the growth triangle of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

‘With the setting up of NUMed in Iskandar, students will be able to study in Malaysia and obtain a Newcastle University medical degree at approximately half the cost of doing so in the UK’, said Dato’ Mustapa.

Newcastle University expressed delight at this major development in its longstanding relationship with Malaysia. ‘We are deeply honoured to be invited to contribute to the development of Iskandar', said Professor Jordan. 'The Minister’s gracious invitation to establish what will be the University’s first international branch campus marks a major landmark in achieving our internationalisation strategy’.

Professor Jordan added that the new campus will offer an exciting opportunity to contribute to meeting both Malaysia’s human capital needs and its national aspiration to become an international higher education hub in SE Asia.

‘For Newcastle, the establishment of the branch campus will further develop our profile as a world-class university’, continued Professor Jordan.

The Chief Minister of the State of Johor, Dato’ Hj Abdul Ghani Othman said, ‘This development is timely and will provide the opportunity for students to pursue their higher education in the field of medicine at a more affordable cost. The collaboration will also enable transfer of knowledge and the expansion of home-grown expertise’.