Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)

The Establishment of UTAR began with the story of Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman (KTAR). In 1964 the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) mooted the idea of setting up a college which was subsequently named after the first Prime Minister of Malaysia.

On 15 September 1972, Dato' Hussein Onn, the then Minister of Education handed over the Instrument of Government to the College. A 191-acre piece of land in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur was allocated for the construction of the KTAR Campus. 

The establishment of KTAR subsequently provided the impetus and inspiration to establish a new private university. The proposal of establishing a new private university was then met with approval from the Government.

On 5 July 2001, in accordance with the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996, the then Minister of Education Tan Sri Musa Mohamad invited the MCA to establish Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).

The establishment was timely with the recognition of the private education industry by the Government of Malaysia as a vital engine in stimulating and sustaining the growth of intellectual capital to meet the complex needs of an increasingly knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy.

A steering committee, chaired by Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik was formed to draw up a blueprint. A working committee led by Tan Sri Dr Ng Lay Swee, who was then the Principal of KTAR, prepared the working papers for the formation of the University. After months of meetings, deliberations and research, a framework emerged.

In March 2002, the University announced that it would be offering eight degree courses for its first intake of students for the academic year 2002/03 beginning May at its temporary campus in Petaling Jaya.

The University began by initially offering eight honours degree programmes through the following three faculties:

• Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT)
• Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS)
• Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM)