UNIVERSITY TOWNS

UNIVERSITY TOWNS
By Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on March 28, 2011 8:00 AM 1.

I had often wondered why university towns like Cambridge and Oxford do not develop in Malaysia after we build universities in places far from the towns.

2. After much study and thinking things over I have concluded that it is because universities, particularly Government universities, build all the shops within the campus and probably operate them as well. The residences for the students and staff are all built by the University.

3. Developers find no opportunity for developing the surrounding land through building shops and residences for staff and students. There will only be university campuses and no university towns.

4. Universities can be catalysts for new growth areas. That was how Cambridge and Oxford towns were founded. With clever planning these university towns can be very attractive and can attract visitors, especially relatives of the students coming to visit them.

5. Maybe those in charge of university funding and development should think about this.

Comments

By aziz fikry on March 31, 2011 10:09 PM

Dear Tun,

Bukan tak ada lansung Tun. Beberapa Univ telah menjadi catalyst kepada pertumbuhan setempat - UKM & Bangi, UPM & Serdang, UiTM & Shah Alam. Kemungkinan identiti univ. town telah hilang apabila bandar2 tersebut telah berkembang lebih pesat dari pertambahan warga univ., dan ekonomi setempat telah kurang bergantung kepada permintaan dan perbelanjaan dari univ.

We can go a step ahead by building transportation networks linking the universities. As a start the proposed lrt/commuter train from Kajang to Sg Buloh could be extended to link UKM & UPM with UIA & UiTM. That could facilitate the sharing of academic staff(besides through the electronics media)and encourage cross-registration among universities.