Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) has recently held the 2024 Annual Award Ceremony (MAT2024) to show appreciation to staff who had shown full dedication and performed excellently. With the theme “Perkhidmatan Cemerlang Teras UMT Terbilang”, MAT2024 underscored the importance of commitment, focus, and creativity as the reasons for UMT’s success.

The theme was selected to reflect the traits of excellent UMT staff, who always aim to achieve professioal excellence, build excellent reputation, and maintain top-level work performance. UMT believes that a university’s success not only depends on academic excellence but also on the ambitiousness of all its staff in facing the challenges of the education world that is becoming complex.

“The year 2023 saw a significant improvement in the performance of UMT staff in general,” said UMT Vice Chancellor Prof. Ts. Dr. Mohd Zamri Ibrahim in his speech during MAT2024 at Sultan Mizan Hall.

“The percentage of staff who received excellent performance appraisal in 2023 was 61.76%, which was higher than the 60.26% in 2022.

“For academic support staff, 74.75% had excellent achievement, an increase from 74.25% recorded the previous year. Overall, 70.05% of UMT staff performed excellently in 2023, which was better than the 69.33% recorded in 2022”.

At the event, a total of 140 staff were presented with the Excellent Service Award for their great contribution to UMT.

According to Prof. Zamri, the awards presented are a form of appreciation to the staff to serve as motivation for them to constantly improve their performance and cultivate the eagerness to innovate.

“The awards are not only as a symbol of appreciation, but they are also a motivation to the staff  to continue doing their best when carrying out their duties.

“In the fast-developing digital era, speed is an important element in maintaining the ability to compete. Therefore, staff is urged to innovate and generate new ideas to fit in the ever-changing environment, in line with the government’s policy that stresses the importance of efficient and effective services.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Malaysia has recently urged government officers to practice integrity, honesty, and professionalism when carrying out their duties.

This policy is line with UMT’s vision of producing university’s staff that are not only excellent in terms of work performance  but also possess high moral values.

In its role as a higher education institution, UMT always supports the government’s aspirations by providing various training and upskilling programmes to its staff to maintain their relevance in the digital world.

MAT2024 was more than just an event to recognize the achievement of UMT staff, it was also an important platform to strengthen their competitive spirit.