UMT’s background and achievements qualify the university to help realize Tun Mahathir’s aspiration of turning Malaysia into a maritime nation as mentioned in the agenda Malaysia: a Maritime Nation. UMT’s role in the field of marine science at the national level is duly recognized, as evidenced by its Institute of Oceanography and Environment given the status of Higher Education Centre of Excellence for Oceanography and the status of Industry Centre of Excellence for the Maritime cluster by the Malaysia’s Ministry of Education. UMT’s involvement in maritime transport and logistic is also recognized by the professional body The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport following the establishment of Malaysia’s first Maritime Logistic and Transport Centre by UMT. UMT has also set up the Expedition Centre and is actively establishing UMT Teaching Port and National Marine Repository Centre.

UMT’s expertise contributions (85% PhD holders) at the international level through strategic collaborations are recognized by various bodies, such as the UNESCO International Oceanographic Date and Information Exchange, who has appointed INOS as the Regional Training Centre for Asia Pacific for the Ocean Teacher Global Academy Programme. Marine data management system at INOS was certified as being in compliance with the international standards when it became the sole recipient of the Associate Data Unit accreditation status. UMT will be entrusted to manage the National Oceanographic Data Management System (MyNODC) by the Ministry of Energry, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC).

UMT, as a public university first established in 1979 as UPM’s Centre of Fisheries and Marine Science, has played a huge role in the country’s higher education development. To date, UMT has expanded rapidly and has become a university focussing on marine science and aquatic resources. UMT has contributed towards the country’s development in marine education and the sustainability of marine resources by providing skilled workforce in related fields.

UMT is in a strategic position to support the development of the country’s maritime industry, the new seed for Malaysia’s economic growth which was termed Blue Economy by Tun Mahathir in his keynote speech during LIMA’19 National Maritime Conference 27 March this year.

UMT has produced 30,180 graduates who are now employed all over the country and overseas, with a sizable few holding significant posts including Director General of Fisheries of Malaysia, policy makers at ministries, senior manager of port operation and supervision, successful agropreneurs, and curator at World Maritime Museum, Dubai.

UMT’s teaching and research facilities especially in maritime are of international standard. It has four nature research stations situated on an island, by the lake, and near the coastal areas in Terengganu and the first vessel navigation simulation centre in the East Coast. UMT is the only university that owns a research vessel (RV Discovery), mobile laboratory, and 17 servicing boats that have been successfully utilized in several research and oceanographic data collection expeditions, carried out in collaboration with overseas universities in the United Kingdom, the USA, Japan, Australia, Belgium, France, China, Thailand, and Indonesia.

UMT has become a point of reference for multinational companies dealing with marine and aquatic resources such as PETRONAS, Schlumberger, REPSOL, Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Kuantan Port Consortium, Blue Archipelago Berhad, Mhk Aquaculture, World Wide Fund Nature Malaysia, Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Malaysia, Sime Darby Sdn. Bhd, Exxon Mobil and Shell.

UMT has also forged regional collaborations in fishery and maritime with renowned international universities such as University of South Brittany (France), National Taiwan Ocean University (Taiwan), Incheon National University (Korea), Shantou University (China), University Bung Hatta (Indonesia), Heriot-Watt University (UK), Korea Marine Equipment Research Institute (Korea), Busan Technology Park (Korea), SAMWOO Immersion (Korea), Australian Maritime College (Australia), Mokpo National Maritime University (Korea) and others.  

UMT’s contribution in research has helped the country prepare policy outlines for 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially SDG14 Life Below Water, for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development it adopted in 2015 as a member of the United Nations.

For 2019, UMT produced 495 high-impact publications.  

UMT is committed to helping the island and peripheral communities improve their quality of life through innovative social programmes. It has organized various knowledge transfer programmes, including fish and prawn breeding technology, fish and crab catching equipment design, creation of artificial reefs, tips on identifying optimal fish location, and building of floating jetties for fishermen’s convenience. UMT’s contribution in the form of various knowledge transfer programmes has benefitted more than 50,000 people, especially the Terengganu locals. In 2017, UMT received the strategic research fund from the Ministry of Education for the purpose of implementing the Translational Research projects. Fifteen projects were approved, with the total allocation of RM8.7 million.

UMT has succeeded in achieving the aim of improving the socioeconomic standard and the welfare of the community by implementing high-impact translational projects including the Social Innovation Project-Stingless Bee Stevia Honey, Community Based Ecotourism (CBE) Development and Local B40 Community Empowerment, Integration of Expressive Arts Therapy Module towards the Wellbeing of Single Mothers, Improving Setiu Fishermen’s Quality of Life Based on Tourism Activities, Female and Setiu Flora Social Entrepreneurial Project, and Translational Programme of Culturing of ARTEMIA for Kuala Nerus and Setiu communities in Terengganu.