Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) commitment is to produce a significant number of Bumiputera (ethic Malay) professionals, so all the students are Bumiputeras, although the faculty includes other races. Graduates to date number about 100,000. Disciplines include hotel and tourist management , accountancy, communication and media studies, and medical and health technology , encompassing 21 faculties and more than 200 academic programs.

The university has a nationwide presence, with three satellite campuses, 12 branch campuses, six city campuses, 25 franchise colleges and a "smart campus for the future." The main campus is in Shah Alam, the capital of Selangor, about an hour's drive southwest of Kuala Lumpur. The university's faculties comprise about 4,000 academics, scholars and researchers. Diplomas, bachelor's and master's degrees, and Ph.D.s are offered in various disciplines.

UiTM is closely linked to the development of the independent Malaysian nation. It began in 1956 as Dewan Latehan RIDA (Rural and Industrial Development Authority Training Center) in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The school became known as Maktab MARA (MARA College) in 1965. The name change meant that the college no longer operated under RIDA and instead became the most important unit of the MARA Training Division. MARA stands for Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Council of Trust for the Indigenous People).

The school was renamed Institut Teknologi MARA in 1967. Its establishment came as a response to a need in Malaysia for trained professionals, especially among Bumiputeras.

ITM's development took three phases: From 1967 to 1976, ITM was an autonomous body with its own 300 acre (1.2 km²) campus in Shah Alam, operating under the Ministry of Rural Development . From 1976 to 1996, ITM advanced as an institution of higher learning and not only a professional training institute, operating directly under the Ministry of Education. In 1996, an amendment to the ITM Act of 1976 put ITM on a par with all the universities in Malaysia, but its historical name was retained until 1999. Then it became Universiti Teknologi MARA. It is called "UiTM" to differentiate it from UTM, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, which is a wholly separate university, based in Johor.

UiTM recently set up two research institutes, the Institute of Biotechnology and the Science Institute . In addition, UiTM has forged linkages with other universities and professional bodies, such as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), UK; Chartered Institute of Transport (CIT), UK; Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA), UK; Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), USA; Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE), UK; Institute of Marketing , UK; Institute of Administrative Management , UK; Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), UK; and many others around the world. Some of these ties go back a long way, such as with Ealing Technical College in the 1960s and Ohio University in the 1980s, and they have become a benchmark for UiTM's academic programs and research.

External links

http://www.uitm.edu.my/ Universiti Teknologi MARA