Omar Osman | Universiti Sains Malaysia (original) (raw)

Papers by Omar Osman

Perutusan tahunan 2015 ini masih bertemakan BUKU berpandukan jenama BUKU 2012, BUKU 2013 dan BUKU... more Perutusan tahunan 2015 ini masih bertemakan BUKU berpandukan jenama BUKU 2012, BUKU 2013 dan BUKU 2014 dengan asas “Bersama-sama Untuk Kecemerlangan Universiti” atau BUKU sebagai kata kunci perutusan tahunan Naib Canselor. Ia masih bertujuan untuk membina kekuatan budaya bekerjasama dan bekerja bersama-sama. BUKU 2015 masih berusaha membawa penerapan budaya kecemerlangan kepada keseluruhan warga kampus dalam semua aspek budaya kerja dan penumpuan output dan impak

Mensinergi daripada tema “Mensinergi Ekosfera untuk Kecemerlangan Universiti” bermaksud berhasrat... more Mensinergi daripada tema “Mensinergi Ekosfera untuk Kecemerlangan Universiti” bermaksud berhasrat menjangkaui tema menzahir pencapaian pada tahun lepas, kerana selepas pencapaian amatlah penting untuk kita mesra dengan alam kita, selesa dengan pencapaian dan terus beriltizam menuju ke puncak, tetapi kali ini tidak bersendirian, tidak mengagungkan individualisma sahaja tetapi bersama sesama dan sekata

Kekuatan individu digabungkan bersama untuk membangunkan citra bangsa dan negara untuk membangunk... more Kekuatan individu digabungkan bersama untuk membangunkan citra bangsa dan negara untuk membangunkan negara yang berpaksikan kepada ilmu sebagai satu mekanisme yang diadunkan dengan penuh kebijaksanaan dan wisdom

A good construction plan is the basis for developing the budget and the schedule for work. Develo... more A good construction plan is the basis for developing the budget and the schedule for work. Developing the plan is a critical task in the management of construction and is generally concerned with completing a contract in the shortest possible time compatible with the budget. On the other hand facilities management provides project participants with good coordination, communication and encourages the employees to have personal responsibility in the design and planning process. The objectives of this paper is to explore the role of facilities management in construction planning, to examine the general perception of the local construction industry regarding facilities management principles and practices, and to study how facilities management supports the organizational development, management process and management of the resources, within the two knowledge areas defined by RIBA plan of work (pre-production and production). A questionnaire survey was conducted on those who are involve...

Bersama-sama untuk kecemerlangan universiti.Keterangkuman kecemerlangan dan kelestarian

The Journal of the World Universities Forum, 2008

The construction industry is vital for the development of any country. The pace of the economic g... more The construction industry is vital for the development of any country. The pace of the economic growth of any nation can be measured by the development of physical infrastructures, such as buildings, roads and bridges. Rapid and economy completions of projects depend largely upon the availability of timely funds. Most of the clients hire a general contractor through competitive bidding process to do the entire construction work. The research was done on the industrial projects in Iran. This research conducted by questionnaires survey on those who worked in client consultant and contractor companies. Forty eight sets of questionnaires were posted and emailed to large companies in Esfahan at random. The result indicated that the most important contractual problems were: In the documents of tender, some items of the tasks and works in project are not predicted, In the time of the tender, drawing and plans are not complete, contractors have not enough information about all work items in...

Provide Sustainability of rural water supply all over the developing world is in a stake. Most of... more Provide Sustainability of rural water supply all over the developing world is in a stake. Most of the water supply services are provided by Government organization through community management approach which proves unsustainable for long term. Government of Bangladesh completed a pilot project funded by the World Bank adopting an innovative approach of engaging private sponsors in planning, implementing and operating of their schemes commercially. 21 schemes has been implemented in rural villages of the country, which provides various level of services such as, multi tap connection, single tap connection, shared tap or stand post connection. Schemes implemented through the partnership approach among private entity and government agency in which 70% of the scheme capital cost borne by Govt. through project and remaining 30% by the community and private sponsor jointly. Private sponsors have to recover their investment through collecting monthly tariff from the connection holders with...

This paper examines the role of financial management in the success or failure of construction fi... more This paper examines the role of financial management in the success or failure of construction firms. According to previous studies on the impact of financial factors in the failure of construction projects, poor financial management and lack of capital are the main determinants of construction failure. Failures in the construction industry are experienced not only by developing countries but also worldwide, and the failure scenario is present in the construction industry in Malaysia. The failure rate of construction companies in Malaysia is high. According to the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB), from January 2006 to August 2008, 11,321 construction companies were classified as dormant and non-active. There are very few successful contractors in Malaysia, and most construction projects cannot be completed within the original schedule. The sources of failure are directly related to financial factors. In this case study, 17 financial ratios were used to measure...

World Sustainability Series, 2016

Grappling with the challenges of sustainable development will require a total change in the way w... more Grappling with the challenges of sustainable development will require a total change in the way we interact with the ecosystems that support our lives and the people we live with. This means that all individuals and societies must be equipped with knowledge, skills, perspectives, values and issues that enable them to drive such changes. Consequently, universities across the world have been trying to integrate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into their curriculum. This global ESD commitment gained further strength when the UNESCO World Conference on ESD launched the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD in 2015 with five priority areas. The sustainability journey of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has a lot in common with the experience of UNESCO globally and GAP in particular, in that the University too is convinced, with its long-term involvement in ESD, that a whole-institution (GAP Priority 2) commitment which involves policies (GAP Priority 1) and practices which factor the creativity of educators (GAP Priority 3), and the youthful vigour of students (GAP Priority 4) are integral to promoting relevant changes that befits the needs of all stakeholders (GAP Priority 5) today and tomorrow. These examples that enable the campus ecoshere to align itself to the broader priorities of sustainable development and vitalise the university across the board to promote learner centred and solution focused education. The intention of this paper is to share USM’s sustainability experience with a wider group of practitioners in the hope that it will enhance action toward GAP and a bigger process of institutional learning for sustainability.

Engaging Stakeholders in Education for Sustainable Development at University Level, 2016

Two major initiatives aimed at enhancing University-Stakeholder Engagement (U-SE) are addressed h... more Two major initiatives aimed at enhancing University-Stakeholder Engagement (U-SE) are addressed here. First, we discuss an innovative Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP) introduced by the Ministry of Education in Malaysia in 2011 for which Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) serves as the Secretariat. Since the beginning, KTP has committed approximately USD20 million to the programme split between industry 70 % and community 30 %, with a caveat of 30 % or more input from the partners. Since its inception, 349 projects (industry 219 and community 130) have been implemented throughout Malaysia, with the participation of more than 1400 academic staff, 650 graduate interns, and 3500 employees from Industry and Community. Secondly, we highlight the role of four international/regional Networks USM supports as Secretariat. In this context we wish to provide our experience and best practices involving, APUCEN (Asia-Pacific University Community Engagement Network), SEASN (South-East Asia Sustainability Network), ALKN (ASEAN Local Knowledge Network) and RSEN (Regional Sejahtera ESD Network). This paper will, thus, cover one major knowledge transfer programme partnership involving ‘university-industry/community’, and four specific ‘network’ initiatives designed to promote university-stakeholder engagement at a variety of levels. The range of knowledge transferred, approaches used, and the support provided by the university will hopefully provide replicable ideas to other aspiring higher educational institutions as they position themselves to be more proactively engaged.

SHS Web of Conferences, 2015

Local knowledge (LK) basically refers to the knowledge that people in a given community have deve... more Local knowledge (LK) basically refers to the knowledge that people in a given community have developed over time, and continues to develop, through practices and based on experiences. Local beliefs pertaining to ilmu, a central concept in Malay culture that refers to knowledge, is essential among the traditional healers. The vast repository of knowledge and its relevance to locality and local situation makes the conservation of LK a necessity.However, due to the dominance of modern knowledge, diminished inter-generational knowledge transfer has led to LK being threatened with extinction. The fact that LK is practiced by only a few these days could be due to lack of knowledge transfer to the younger generations from the traditional healers who are knowledgeable in the communities. The common transfer mode of local knowledge, usually via words of mouth, may not be sustainable because the LK could vanish when knowledgeable elders die before it is transferred or during resettlements of individuals or communities. The need to conserve LK through knowledge transfer is also pertinent for the continued sustenance of their culture by recognizing, protecting and enforcing the rights of local communities to have continued access to biological resources as well as by protecting their LK, acquired over thousand of years of experimentation and experience, about the uses of these biological resources in traditional healing. Therefore, it is important to have a governance framework to effectively protect this LK of the local communities for the continued sustenance of their culture. This conceptual paper attempts to highlight the significance of conserving LK in traditional healing via effective knowledge transfer method, which should thereafter be translated into a working governance framework that protects the knowledge as well as the holders of such knowledge.

World Sustainability Series, 2014

Recognising the importance of strengthened institutional arrangements for the promotion of sustai... more Recognising the importance of strengthened institutional arrangements for the promotion of sustainability, Universiti Sains Malaysia has been taking steps to respond effectively to integrated approaches involving all the major stakeholders, especially the students. Over the years, USM has made strong commitments to internal and international efforts to prevent further irreversible environmental change and to promote sustainable development through a host of on-going activities such as Kampus Sejahtera, 2000, RCE-Penang, 2005, University in a Garden, 2006, Research University award, 2007, and the APEX University award, 2008. In order to create an enabling environment within which different sections of the university could implement sustainability depending on the demands of their discipline and special circumstances; USM has developed a new ‘sustainability integration model’, an innovative ‘sustainability assessment methodology’ and a new ‘Policy on Sustainable Development 2013’. In order to facilitate smooth and effective operationalisation, the policy is accompanied by an implementation log frame and a user guide. While there are major barriers for the enthusiastic integration of sustainability into the core activities of universities due mainly to the lack of awareness, understanding, workable models, difficulty in monitoring progress and above all, the apathy of senior level administration, the USM experience will show how in a modern university it can be practiced through committed and systematic approaches. What is innovative here is the use of a new SD-ESD concept model developed by USM, a new computerised methodology to assess sustainability, and a proactive management that promotes sustainability through targeted programs, new policies and procedures and focused financial support. The intention of this paper is to share USM’s model and working experiences to a wider group of practitioners in the hope that it will contribute to a process of institutional learning for sustainability.

Intergenerational learning and transformative leadership for sustainable futures, 2014

Modern Applied Science, 2013

This paper evaluated performance of private sponsor's in implementing piped water supply schemes ... more This paper evaluated performance of private sponsor's in implementing piped water supply schemes through partnership approach in rural villages of Bangladesh. Structured questionnaire were administered and collected data by using an interview method from 21 scheme mangers. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Time, cost and efficiency were used as evaluation criteria for both implementation and operation period. The study findings revealed widespread incompetence of sponsors in preparing project proposals. Time spent for construction shows 19% (4 sponsors) complete earlier than planned/required completion period; and 29% (6 sponsors) within the stipulated time whereas, remaining 52% (11 sponsors) with some delay. 5% (1) sponsor started commercial operation with 100% connections whereas, 10% (2), 25% (5) and 15% (3) commissioned the scheme with 60%, 50% and 40% of their target connections. 35% (7) of the sponsors operated their schemes with profit. This planning and management approach may be suitable for implementing sustainable rural piped water supply schemes in countries with similar context like Bangladesh.

Journal of Sustainable Development, 2013

Rural water supply sector is urging for sustainability for long time. Till now sustainability is ... more Rural water supply sector is urging for sustainability for long time. Till now sustainability is a dream. Enormous efforts for obtaining sustainability become fading due to improper selection of management model for delivery of water in rural areas. Demand driven approach, community participation, community management of services are well known and widely applied in the sector. Community management has proved itself as a good tool for short term and simple point water source management in rural areas. With the advent of technology and due to desire of rural community for more improved services, water supply sector seeks for new models like private or other form of hybrid management. This article attempts to review the merits and demerits of both community management models and private management models in line with sustainability concept. This paper further conceptually provides ground of selection of appropriate management model for sustainability based on the reviewed literatures.

Model Checking Procedures Adopted 240 9.4.1 Choice of variables measures 241 9.4.2 Model fitting ... more Model Checking Procedures Adopted 240 9.4.1 Choice of variables measures 241 9.4.2 Model fitting for the purpose of model checking 9.4.3 Test for suitable scale for checking linear relationship with response variable 254 9.4.4 Checking the link function 256 9.4.5 Checking the variance function 276 9.4.6 Outliers 286 9.4.7 Other considerations 292 9.5 Model Selection 296 9.5.1 Model selection in GLMsome notes on the differences between the Classical Linear Regression (CLR) 297 9.5.2 Procedures and test in selection 298 9.5.3 Parameter estimation testing of significance 301 9.5.4 First order interaction 9.6 Model Selection-Theoretical Model A 9.6.1 Main Effects Variables 9.6.2 First order interaction 9.6.3 Optimum model for theoretical model A 312