George Town, 27 July 2019 – THE northern region is set to receive the first Australian-quality tertiary education following an acquisition of UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College by the University of Wollongong (UOW), a public university in Australia.

The acquisition, which was approved by the Education Ministry on April 22, will see UOW Global Enterprises taking up a 65% stake of UOW Malaysia KDU University College and UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College besides a 70% stake in UOW Malaysia KDU College. Paramount Corporation Group CEO Jeffrey Chew said they embarked on the partnership with UOW in order to enhance and grow their tertiary institutions.

“As a pioneer in Malaysian education, UOW Malaysia KDU shares UOW’s spirit of innovation and focus on producing career-ready graduates to meet real-world needs. Thus, we strongly believe this partnership will enable UOW Malaysia KDU to leverage on UOW as a global multi-campus university and its array of programmes,” he said at a recent press conference at UOW Malaysia KDU Penang.

UOW Malaysia director and chairman Noel Cornish Am said the university aimed at introducing new undergraduate and post-graduate programmes based on high quality standards of curricula, teaching and assessment.

“UOW is here for the long run, as we plan to develop UOW Malaysia KDU University College at Glenmarie, Shah Alam, and UOW Malaysia KDU University College in Penang into private universities within the next five years,” he said.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy said, “We believe there is great future for UOW here as Penang has always enjoyed a high degree of foreign investments.

“This partnership would not only bring great benefits to Penang, but also to the northern region.”