QI University: The Malaysian university producing solutions-driven futuristic graduates

Quest International University, QIU, is a comprehensive research-led university based in the Malaysian state of Perak, in the northwest of Malaysia. It is a distinct citadel of higher learning dedicated to all-round development of students. QIU was established by the QI Group, a diversified multinational entity with a wide range of subsidiary companies in nearly 30 countries.

Call the QIU the ‘Harvard’ of Asia and you will not be far from the truth. As a journalist and editor with one of Ghana’s biggest online news platform, joining journalists from other African countries to tour the facilities and campus of the QIU in Perak, Malaysia was both eye-opening and impressive. I was amazed by the philosophy of the university’s approach to education: it is inclusive, extensive and highly-practical.

“We leave no student behind,” the Chief Operating Officer of the University, Nicholas Goh enthusiastically proclaimed. He was our ‘chief orientation officer’ providing journalists from Ghana, Liberia, Togo, Benin, Senegal and Nigeria with in-depth information about the University and taking us on a tour that I wished never ended.

The knowledgeable and ever-exhilarating Nicholas Goh, who was trained in the United States, spoke passionate about the vision of the QI Group’s Founder Dato Sri Vijay Eswaran to build a university that provides world-class education and practical learning for students that will own the present and the future, wherever they find themselves around the globe.

QIU has six faculties namely: business and management, science and technology, social sciences, research and innovation, medicine and pharmacy. The university’s main aim is to provide theoretical and practical education, with the intention that its students will graduate, ready to take on the job market anywhere in the world.

According to the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Zita Fahmi, a highly respected and experienced educationist, “Any university can provide its graduates with a degree and an education. At QIU, we are here to produce graduates who will change the game, innovators who will leave a legacy in their creations and leaders who push for positive change. And above all, to produce good people who are caring, responsible, competent, ambitious and driven by a passion to provide solutions to the challenges that face the world every day. These graduates are the QIU legacy.”

Professor Fahmi was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). She was also the Special Advisor for the Association of Quality Assurance Agencies of the Islamic World (QA Islamic) and the former Secretary of the ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN). Her legacy in Malaysian education is set in stone, as she was among the few pioneer officers who established the National Accreditation Board in 1997.

Chief Communications Officer for the QI Group, Ramya Chandrasekaran told journalists at a media roundtable that: “QIU has strong partnerships with professional bodies, educational institutions, and industrial firms. Students have the opportunity to gain extra qualifications, industry insight, and real-world exposure through these partnerships. In addition, majority of QIU lecturers have practical industry experience.”

QIU has many facilities including modern laboratories where state-of-the-art experiments take place. Some of these experiments will lead to the creation of top-notch products and solutions in the areas of medicine, agriculture, technology and computing. Students at QIU have the chance to pursue their hobbies outside of the classroom by joining a wide range of clubs and societies on offer. These include dance, sports and games, nature, music, culture and community work.

QIU has a strong commitment to sustainability and it has aligned itself to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.

At the end of the tour Mr. Goh concluded that: “QIU aspires to be a model research-led private university with strategic global linkages to deliver quality programmes and interdisciplinary research of international standing.”

Without a doubt, QIU offers cutting-edge, market-driven undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the Medical and Allied Health Sciences, Pure and Applied Sciences, Engineering, Computer Technology, Business and Management, and Social Sciences fields that impact the local and global knowledge-economy. The university also promotes student-centred learning and impart holistic education through extracurricular activities and soft skills training such as clinical, industrial exposure and technopreneurship training.