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10 September 2025
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20 September 2023
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XMUM Celebrates its Eighth Convocation and Tenth Anniversary
Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUM) held its Eighth Convocation on 10 and 11 October 2026, celebrating the achievements of 1,677 graduands from 23 undergraduate and seven postgraduate programmes. More than 4,000 people, including family members and friends, university staff, and distinguished guests, attended the ceremonies over the weekend. Image The Convocation Ceremonies were held in XMUM Auditorium.His Excellency Ouyang Yujing, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Malaysia, and YBhg. Dato' Prof. Dr. Mohammad Shatar Sabran, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), attended the first ceremony as Guests of Honour and addressed the graduands.Prof. Hu Wenping, President of Xiamen University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, travelled from China to confer degrees upon the graduands. Prof. Wang Ruifang, President of Xiamen University Malaysia, also took part in this joyous celebration.Ambassador Ouyang Yujing highlighted XMUM's role in strengthening educational cooperation between China and Malaysia. Noting the growing opportunities created by closer bilateral ties, he called on graduates to uphold integrity and kindness, pursue lifelong learning, respect cultural diversity, and build connections between different cultures while contributing to society.Addressing the changing demands of the workplace, Dato' Prof. Dr. Mohammad Shatar Sabran reminded graduates that a degree marks the beginning of their professional journey rather than its destination. In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and automation, he emphasised the importance of adaptability, critical thinking, communication and creativity. He further highlighted the need to use technology responsibly while retaining the human qualities that give work its value, including empathy, integrity and curiosity.Reflecting on the graduates' achievements and XMUM's growth over the past decade, Prof. Hu Wenping offered four reflections for their future journeys: lifelong learning, multicultural understanding, addressing shared global challenges, and upholding the spirit of Tan Kah Kee through integrity, perseverance and dedication. He also recognised the graduates’ accomplishments, including the university’s first doctoral graduates, research achievements and competition successes.XMUM President Prof. Wang Ruifang welcomed the graduates into the university's growing global alumni community as XMUM celebrated its tenth anniversary. With artificial intelligence transforming almost every aspect of life, he stressed the importance of sound judgement, curiosity beyond one’s own discipline, and using technology to create rather than simply consume. Integrity, empathy, courage and a sense of purpose, he noted, would remain essential as graduates shape their futures.XMU President, Prof. Hu Wenping, and XMUM President, Prof. Wang Ruifang, turned the tassels for the graduands during the ceremonies.The Class of 2026 comprises 978 Malaysian students and 699 international students. Following this convocation, XMUM's global alumni community has grown to 9,419 members.The year 2026 marks a decade since XMUM welcomed its pioneer batch of students in February 2016. Over the past ten years, the university has grown into an international learning community of more than 10,800 students from 53 countries and regions.XMUM graduates have joined companies across a range of industries, including Deloitte, KPMG, OCBC, CITIC Securities, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Lenovo, iFLYTEK, CATL, Chery Automobile, AirAsia, China Mobile and China Telecom.Many graduates have also received offers for postgraduate studies at universities around the world, including the University of Cambridge and University College London in the United Kingdom; Yale University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University and Johns Hopkins University in the United States; the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney and the Australian National University in Australia; the University of Tokyo in Japan; as well as Peking University, Zhejiang University, Fudan University and the University of Hong Kong, among others.Graduands celebrated this important milestone with family members and friends.XMUM has built up an internationalized, diverse and high-caliber faculty team, with about 400 full-time academic staff from more than 20 countries and regions, of which more than 80% are doctoral degree holders. XMUM faculty members and students have produced 2,611 publications in SCI journals, including 1,330 publications in prestigious Tier-1 journals, such as Science, Nature and The Lancet. Among these, 563 papers are published by XMUM students, including 363 papers published by XMUM students as the first author. 10 XMUM publications have been selected as ESI Top 0.1% Hot Papers globally, while 116 XMUM publications were identified as Top 1% Highly Citied Papers globally.Currently, XMUM is ranked 1st in Malaysia by the Nature Index. According to the latest ESI data, XMUM is ranked 8th among the higher education institutions in Malaysia for total citations, and 1st for citation per paper. In the fields of Clinical Medicine, Neuroscience & Behavior, Engineering, Chemistry, Material Science, and Social Sciences, General, XMUM is selected as ESI Top 1% Highly Cited Institutions globally. In 2025, 14 XMUM academics were identified as World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University.XMUM students have actively participated in all kinds of national and international competitions, consistently demonstrating outstanding performance. XMUM teams have won 1 Gold, 19 Silver, and 40 Bronze Prizes in the China International College Students' Innovation Competition from 2017 to 2026. In 2025, one of the PhD students was the first-ever Malaysian recipient of the prestigious Global IChemE Award, receiving the Young Engineers Award for Innovation and Sustainability.
Lay Soo Yuen: A Gemologist Goes Back to University
At 5am, while her family was still asleep, Lay Soo Yuen was already getting ready to leave home. She would take a bus, then a train, then change again before making her way to Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUM) for her 8am class.The journey took nearly three hours.She did it for four years.Now in her forties, Lay is graduating with a bachelor's degree in Data Science. She joined the programme in April 2022 as one of its first students and completed her studies this April. This weekend, she will join more than a thousand graduates on the stage of the university auditorium.Returning to university after years of work is not unusual at XMUM. Starting an undergraduate degree in Data Science after already building a career is less common.However, for Lay Soo Yuen, the decision was not complicated. Image A GIA-certified gemologist, she had spent years working in the gem and jewellery industry and running her own business. As technology continued to change the way businesses worked, she saw the growing importance of data and artificial intelligence.“At the time, I thought that whether for the development of my industry or for my own personal growth, I needed to keep learning to adapt to the times.”She also had a longstanding interest in science and mathematics. So in April 2022, she went back to university. As one of the first students in a newly established programme, Lay Soo Yuen had no senior students to turn to for advice. Her lecturers filled that gap.“Whenever we had any problems, they were always willing to help us.”She enjoyed many of her courses, from mathematics and programming to statistics and artificial intelligence. Her favourites were Big Data Analytics and Advanced Data Analysis, where she explored how different kinds of data could be processed, modelled and interpreted.Data, she discovered, was much richer and more complicated than she had expected. It was not simply numbers in a table. Images and other forms of information could also become data, each requiring different ways of processing and analysis.When she talked about what she had learned, Lay Soo Yuen became noticeably animated.The classroom was not the only place where she learned from others. In group projects, she was often the “big sister” of the team, bringing her years of professional experience into discussions. Her teammates came from China, Indonesia and other countries, and their different perspectives gave her new ways of looking at things too.Over four years, her interests ranged from statistics and machine learning to artificial intelligence. She worked on projects involving e-commerce user behaviour and even built an AI agent for a pickleball competition.For her final-year project, she turned to something with a wider public impact: heatwave prediction.Using international climate data and machine learning, she explored ways to improve heatwave forecasting in Texas and better understand the effects of extreme heat.“AI is gradually being applied to weather forecasting systems, but you can imagine how complex weather is, and how demanding it is in terms of data quality.”“If we can improve prediction and forecasting capabilities, we can better protect people around the world.”Enjoying university did not mean it was easy.Lay Soo Yuen was studying while continuing to manage her work and family responsibilities. Time was always limited. Her answer was simple: focus.At the beginning, she found herself having to spend extra time catching up with new knowledge after being away from formal education for many years. So she planned each semester carefully, breaking her goals into short-, medium- and long-term tasks and crossing them off one by one.Every spare moment became study time.Even her long commute turned into a mobile study room. Instead of scrolling through her phone, she would take out her study materials and read.She believes being older actually helped her.“When I was in my twenties, I felt that my time belonged entirely to me. I didn’t have the same sense of responsibility or urgency.”“But now I know that I have other things to do afterwards, so I study very seriously and with much more discipline.”“There was definitely pressure, but I was very happy because I was learning new knowledge and new technologies.”Lay Soo Yuen completed her studies in April and has since returned to her usual work and family life. On the surface, little has changed. But she now has more choices.“I will apply what I have learned here to my current career. I am also considering entering the field of data science.”A master's degree is another possibility, and if she decides to pursue one, XMUM would still be her first choice.Four years ago, XMUM had been her choice for a simple reason. It was a chance to study at a Chinese university without leaving Malaysia.“I felt close to Chinese culture, and I had confidence in the Xiamen University brand. When I learned that I could study at a Chinese university here in Malaysia, I was very happy.”That decision gave her the courage to begin again.Now, four years later, she has something else to leave with: a new set of skills, new possibilities, and a place she knows she will miss.On a bright Saturday morning, sunlight falls through the windows of the study area on the second floor of the library, one of her favourite places on campus.She looks out at the familiar view.“It would be a lie to say I’m not going to miss this place. My four years here were far more wonderful than I ever expected.”
SOC Students Experience Summer Camp at Xiamen University
From 7 to 18 September 2026, 20 students from the School of Communication (SOC), Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUM), participated in a two-week summer camp at Xiamen University (XMU)’s main campus in Siming District, Xiamen, China.Hosted by XMU School of Journalism and Communication, XMU, the programme included academic sessions, creative activities, campus visits and cultural experiences. The students also had opportunities to interact with XMU students and academic staff and experience university life at the main campus.Hu Tianjing, an Advertising student, said the classes, market research and creative activities helped her develop a more systematic understanding of advertising, while exploring Xiamen helped her connect what she learned in class with everyday experiences.“The journey gave me a broader and more concrete understanding of communication,” she said.The experience also gave students a chance to look at their own university life from a different perspective. Penny Cheng said that studying at XMU and interacting with students from another campus gave her a new perspective on her own journey. As a first-time visitor to China, she was also impressed by Xiamen’s convenient transport, vibrant daily life and coastal scenery.Beyond the classroom, the students explored Xiamen, tried local food and experienced aspects of the city's culture and daily life. Wong Zhi En said the experience gave her a deeper understanding of Xiamen, Minnan culture and life at the main campus, while strengthening her sense of connection between XMUM and XMU.For Ainsley, the two weeks were also about the people and everyday experiences that became part of her memories."From exploring the campus and the city to trying different food and meeting new friends, every experience became part of my memories," she said.Launched in 2025, the summer camp is part of Xiamen University's efforts to strengthen educational exchange and provide opportunities for cross-campus learning. The 20 SOC students were selected based on their academic performance and other achievements.