10.6.6 : Support for underrepresented groups
Mentoring For Excellence (M4E)
UTM formally supports the development of its academic staff through a structured program called Mentoring for Excellence (M4E), which directly provides mentoring and professional development to underrepresented groups defined by their career stage and experience gap.
Structured Mentoring for Staff Development
The Mentoring for Excellence (M4E) program is a structured mentoring program managed by UTMLead and aimed exclusively at academic staff. It functions as a talent development initiative that provides guidance in key areas essential for career advancement, thereby supporting staff who are new to the university or who lack specific professional experience.
Key aspects that address the support for underrepresented staff include:
- Targeted Support for Staff with Limited Experience: The program’s stated objectives are to "assist the development of academic staff" and, critically, to "reduce the experience gap between the young staff" (Reduce the experince gap between the young staff). This explicitly targets staff who are underrepresented in terms of seniority or professional standing, ensuring they receive the necessary guidance to achieve parity with experienced colleagues.
- Comprehensive Mentorship Scope: Mentors, identified by the University as role models in their field, provide guidance across four core areas:
- Institutional Leadership
- Teaching & Learning
- Research & Innovation
- Professional Practices
- Succession Planning and Talent Profiling: A primary goal of M4E is to create a succession plan and assist in the profiling and development of academic staff talents. This mechanism ensures that a diverse pool of younger or less experienced staff is systematically nurtured to become future academic leaders at both the university and national levels.
- Formal Recognition: Staff involvement in M4E is formally recognized by being taken into account for CPD points and recorded in the university’s HR system (UTMSMile). This incentivizes participation and formalizes the mentorship structure as a legitimate element of career progression.
In summary, M4E is UTM’s planned program to provide mentoring support for academic staff who are underrepresented by experience and career seniority, ensuring they receive the skills, knowledge, and network required for long-term professional success and leadership roles.
Source :
https://sites.google.com/utm.my/m4e/home
Huawei Malaysia and UTM Unite to Empower Malaysian Students with RM60,000 Annual Sponsorship Programme
UTM provides significant Support for underrepresented groups by securing a dedicated and substantial financial aid program that explicitly addresses the economic barriers faced by financially deserving students. This program, in partnership with Huawei Malaysia, focuses on empowering Malaysian students to complete their studies and transition into the workforce.
Targeted Financial Support for Deserving Students
The partnership between Huawei Malaysia and UTM establishes an annual sponsorship programme that commits RM60,000 annually to financially support six outstanding and deserving Malaysian students pursuing higher education at UTM.
Key elements of this program that provide critical support to underrepresented groups include:
- Direct Financial Aid: Each recipient receives RM10,000 per year to cover their tuition fees. This direct financial intervention helps to level the playing field in terms of opportunity to higher education for financially deserving students, effectively acting as a scholarship for those who may be underrepresented due to socio-economic factors.
- Focus on 'Deserving' Students: The program’s explicit goal is to support "outstanding and deserving" students, ensuring the aid is directed towards those facing financial need, a defining characteristic of underrepresented groups like the B40 (Bottom 40) household income group.
- Career Pathway Support: Beyond financial aid, the program offers a mentoring/career support component by guaranteeing a potential employment opportunity: "Upon graduation, sponsored students can choose to embark on a rewarding career with Huawei, committing to a minimum of two years of service." This provides a vital, stable pathway for underrepresented students to transition from academia directly into a high-demand industry, further bridging the socio-economic gap.
- Industry Collaboration for Talent Development: Huawei emphasizes that by addressing the opportunity gap, they are "unearthing talent and addressing skill mismatches," confirming that this initiative is a planned action to actively support the successful educational outcomes of diverse talents.
This sponsorship program demonstrates UTM's commitment to providing tangible support—combining financial aid and career development—to academically excellent students who might otherwise be financially underrepresented in higher education and the digital workforce.
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