High Commissioner to Malaya, Sir Donald MacGillivray. The technical college conducted engineering courses at diploma level in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Radio Engineering, Land Surveying, Building Architecture and Quality Surveying, while a special Automobile Engineering course was offered to transportation enforcement officers. The enrolment for the 1958 / 1959 academic session was 320 students.
On March 14, 1972, the college was renamed Institut Teknologi Kebangsaan( ITK) with three main faculties namely, Engineering, Architecture and Surveying.
ITK was eventually elevated to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia( UTM). UTM later moved to a new 2,400 acre campus site at Skudai, Johor in 1978, built at the cost of RM 1 billion.
Compound of Technical Institute Kuala Lumpur situated at Jalan Kolam Ayer in the 1960s offering technical courses in Civil, Mechanical and Electrical programmes to students with LCE qualification as entry requirement. The courses were initially conducted over three years but later changed to two years by 1965.
From Trade School to Technical Institute( Sekolah Menengah Teknik)
In 1926, a Federal Malay State Trade School was set up at Jalan Kolam Air, Kuala Lumpur to train mainly tradesmen for various industries. There was only seven staff consisting of four trainers, one clerk, one steward and one office boy. It was upgraded to the Junior Technical Trade School in 1946 with only 80 students.
Following the Razak Report, the school was upgraded again as the Technical Institute in 1956 offering three-year
Students in the Civil Engineering class in 1966.
programmes to prepare students to be technicians in preparation for Malaysian Independence in 1957 which would require teams of technical staff for the development of the country.
The Technical Institute was renamed again in 1962 as Sekolah Menengah Teknik when the Government decided to introduce two-year sessions with graduate students sitting for MCE( Malayan Certificated of Education) and SC( Senior Cambridge) examination. The graduate students would then have the choice of entering Technical College or to pursue Sixth Form for direct entry to universities. Many entered the job stream as technicians.
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