PETALING JAYA (July 9): The Xiamen University Malaysia campus is slated to open its doors to students in the first quarter of next year.

Xiamen University professor of economics Wang Ruifang said today the construction for a portion of the campus’ Phase 1, which comprises student hostels and a temporary teaching site, is expected to be completed by end of September this year.

The entire Phase 1 of the campus, comprising a main building, four blocks for student activities, a stadium and an Olympic-size swimming pool, is slated for completion by end of September next year.

“We are working very hard to meet the target. With the help of various parties, we are sure we can make it happen,” he told reporters before a visit around the campus site under construction.

Wang said Phase 2 of the campus, comprising seven blocks dedicated to research, is a five-year plan that would depend on the market’s reaction to the first phase of the campus.

The Xiamen University Malaysia campus is the first Chinese university branch campus in Malaysia, as well as the first overseas campus set up by a Chinese university.

The Malaysian campus is situated on 150 acres of land in Dengkil, Sepang. The land was formerly owned by Sime Darby Bhd.

Wang said the total investment of the project is RM1.3 billion, with the first phase to cost RM600 million. He also said the university expects to enrol 5,000 students at the Malaysian campus by 2020.

He said the Malaysian campus of the university will be recruiting 30% of its teaching staff from the parent Xiamen University in China while other “high-grade” teachers will be recruited worldwide.

“They (teachers from parent Xiamen University) will have a distinguished education background from foreign countries, meaning they will be able to speak English fluently,” he said.

“We will also be inviting distinguished professors to deliver seminars here,” he added.

He also said an academic exchange centre will be built at the Malaysian campus, which will be able to accommodate more than 100 event participants.

He said the Xiamen University campus in China has agreed to hold exchange programmes with the Malaysian campus, whereby students for Malaysia will be able to study at the parent university in China for one or two semesters.

However, Wang said the programme is mainly applicable for courses that are taught in English at the parent university in Xiamen, and for the courses of Chinese Studies and Traditional Chinese Medicine, for which the medium of instruction is Chinese.

He said tuition fees at the Malaysian campus will be about RM25,000 per annum, with hostel rent to range between RM300 to RM600 per month.

So far, the Malaysian Qualification Agency has approved subjects such as Chinese Studies, Journalism, International Business, Accounting, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Digital Media Technology and New Energy Science and Engineering to be taught at the Malaysian campus, while other subjects such as Finance and Marine Biotechnology are pending approval.

The establishment of the Xiamen University Malaysia campus was facilitated by Sunsuria Bhd executive chairman Datuk Ter Leong Yap with the donation of other key figures such as tycoon Tan Sri Robert Kuok and IOI Group’s Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng.

Sunsuria Bhd (fundamental: 2.5; valuation: 0) will also establish a township surrounding the Malaysian campus with a gross development value (GDV) of RM900 million, comprising 663 units of residential properties, of which 200 units will be linked houses in the range of RM500,000 and the rest are low-rise apartments priced below RM400,000.

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