Catalogue 2022 UiTM Press

Initially established as the Text Preparatory Bureau (BIROTEKS) on January 10, 1981, the publication arm began its services very humbly, understaffed, and with a total quantity of less than 10 publication materials to process, as writing was not Institut Teknologi MARA’s forte at that time.

Over time, the bureau went through significant changes with the formation of the UiTM Consolidation Strategy, changing its name to Academic Publication Unit, or, as it is fondly remembered and called, UPENA (it is the Malay acronym for Unit Penerbitan Akademik). Even today, most UiTM staff still call the press by this name! It remained a unit for not more than five months when a former vice chancellor gave a directive for the unit to be upgraded, from a unit to a centre. Despite the change, UPENA remained its name.

The objectives were to: encourage the UiTM academic fraternity to write scholarly materials as teaching and learning references at the institution; champion the Malay language as the language of knowledge; stimulate the publication of academic materials such as books, journals, proceedings, monographs, and manuals, particularly those written by the institution’s academics. It was a prerequisite for the university’s academic staff to be considered for a promotion, as writing was not a popular practice amongst them—a method to instil a love for spreading knowledge; now it has become a widespread culture across the university’s nationwide campuses.