Sustainable Campus Facilities & Maps

At Universiti Sains Malaysia, food quality, affordability, and availability are prioritized, with all campus food outlets adhering to strict hygiene standards and ‘Halal’ preparation guidelines. The university also offers healthy and sustainable food options, including vegetarian and vegan choices, accessible to the entire campus community and visitors.

Refer to the map below for the locations of all food outlets across the campus.

USM has established a campus food bank to support students and staff facing food insecurity, with several locations across campus. It sources supplies through donations from university staff, offering non-perishable items like bread and biscuits to alleviate food-related stress.

Refer to the map below for the locations of the food bank across the campus.

Universiti Sains Malaysia ensures that its campus remains a welcoming and accessible space for the broader community by continuing to share sports facilities with the local community, for instance with local schools or with the general public. This commitment reflects the University’s role in promoting active lifestyles, social well-being and inclusive community engagement.

USM provides free access to all facilities, which are the Bakti Basketball Court, Petanque Court, outdoor gym, jogging and cycling tracks, and kayak facilities. These areas are open throughout the year to individuals, families and school groups, encouraging regular physical activity in a safe and inclusive environment.

These shared facilities also support teaching, learning and co-curricular programmes that strengthen teamwork, leadership and healthy living among students and staff. By offering these high-quality spaces at no cost, USM enhances community well-being while ensuring that recreation remains accessible to everyone.

Universiti Sains Malaysia is dedicated to supporting gender equality and family well-being through its Gender-Prihatin Policy, which includes providing childcare facilities such as FREE lactation rooms. Since 2018, USM has established lactation rooms at various strategic locations, with new rooms added in 2020 at the School of Humanities and the School of Physics. Existing lactation rooms are located at the Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KANITA), the Advanced Medicine and Dental Institute, and USM Hospital.

These facilities are designed to support staff and students, promoting work-life balance in a family-friendly environment.

Universiti Sains Malaysia ensures equitable access to safe and clean water through its campus-wide initiative to provide free drinking water for students, staff, and visitors. This initiative supports the university’s health, well-being, and sustainability goals while reducing single-use plastic consumption across all campuses.

By 2025, more than 110 free drinking water dispensers had been installed across the whole university, strategically positioned in academic buildings, administrative offices, research centres, residential colleges and public facilities to ensure convenient access for all. These dispensers are maintained regularly to guarantee high water quality and compliance with safety standards.

At the USM Main Campus, free drinking water points are located in key buildings such as the Pusat Sejahtera, Hamzah Sendut Library, Chancellory buildings, Desasiswa Indah Kembara, and the Schools of Biological Sciences, Computer Sciences, Arts, Management and Industrial Technology. Additional dispensers serve high-traffic public areas including the Cultural Hall, Museum and Security Department guardhouses. Each unit is strategically installed at accessible locations such as lobbies, student centres, laboratories and office corridors.

Beyond the main campus, the initiative extends to USM’s health and medical facilities, including the Pusat Kanser Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (PKTAAB). These facilities together host more than 25 free drinking water stations located in laboratories, clinics, pharmacy units, daycare centres and staff offices to ensure continuous hydration for medical staff, students and patients.

The Engineering Campus Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin also maintains several water dispensers in laboratories, lecture blocks and student areas, ensuring all major USM campuses provide equal access to free drinking water.

To enhance transparency and accessibility, the interactive map below shows the locations of free drinking water dispensers across the USM Main Campus, and the table below shows the distribution of dispensers by building and cluster. These serve as a guide to help students, staff and visitors locate the nearest drinking water facilities with ease.

This initiative exemplifies USM’s commitment to sustainability and community well-being. By providing free drinking water stations throughout the whole university, USM promotes healthy hydration habits, supports campus inclusivity, and reduces environmental impact through the minimisation of bottled water use.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is committed to fostering an inclusive learning and living environment through barrier-free campus design and accessible infrastructure for Persons with Disabilities (OKU). In 2025, USM enhanced accessibility across its campuses to ensure equitable participation in academic, social, and residential activities. These facilities include wheelchair ramps, accessible toilets, tactile walkways, reserved parking spaces, lifts, and adapted teaching and learning environments located strategically across academic buildings, hostels, and service centres.

USM’s accessibility initiatives are implemented in alignment with the Ministry of Higher Education’s Guidelines for the Implementation of the Inclusive Policy for Persons with Disabilities (OKU) in Higher Education Institutions. The university also provides an Interactive Accessibility Map below, enabling students, staff, and visitors to easily locate OKU-friendly amenities throughout the campus.

As of 2025, USM recorded a total of 147 accessible facilities, including 48 disabled toilets, 64 wheelchair lanes, and 15 lifts — demonstrating the university’s ongoing investment in universal design and inclusivity. Detailed breakdown is presented in the table below.

As a sustainability-driven university, Universiti Sains Malaysia actively undertakes actions to promote more sustainable commuting by integrating low-carbon, accessible, and inclusive transport systems across its campuses. In 2025, the university continued to enhance eco-friendly mobility through free and subsidised shuttle buses, bicycle parking facilities, cycle tracks, pedestrian walkways, and covered pathways, encouraging walking and cycling as safe and practical alternatives to car use. USM also provides electric bicycles to promote efficient and low-emission travel options within campus grounds.

USM and Rapid Penang operate the T310 bus route, connecting the university to Bukit Jambul and Queensbay. The new service operates daily from 6.00 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. and was introduced to reduce private vehicle usage while improving public access to and from the campus. The route complements the Pas Mutiara My50 and Pas OKU travel cards, promoting affordable and inclusive public transport options for students, staff, and the wider community.

Through the UNEP Electric Mobility Study 2023–2024, researchers from the School of Mechanical Engineering conducted tests on 50 EBixon Bold electric motorcycles to evaluate their performance under Malaysian conditions. This initiative strengthens the adoption of electric vehicle mobility and contributes to Malaysia’s national low-carbon transport goals.

Meanwhile, Bike Commute @ USM organised the Bike Maintenance Workshop on 10 December 2024 and Pedal for People and Planet Vol. 5 on 28 December 2024, engaging students and staff in cycling and sustainable transport awareness. The university also promoted walking and cycling through World Car-Free Day, the Green Ramadan Campaign, and the Penang One Million Trees Project. The Green Ramadan Campaign encouraged the community to walk or cycle to the mosque to reduce vehicle use and promote active mobility during the fasting month. Similarly, the Penang One Million Trees Project incorporated a pedal-powered tree planting activity, where participants cycled to planting sites across the campus, linking environmental stewardship with sustainable commuting behaviour.

Collectively, these initiatives show that USM’s efforts to promote sustainable commuting are active, measurable, and inclusive, reducing emissions, supporting public mobility, and fostering a culture of low-carbon living within the university and the community. Please refer below for the photographs of these actions and the campus map highlighting sustainable commuting routes and facilities.

Universiti Sains Malaysia ensures permanent free access and actively provides free public access to open spaces and green spaces across its main campus. These areas are open throughout the year for recreation, relaxation, and outdoor learning, supporting community well-being and environmental awareness. USM’s Minden campus features open lawns, tree-lined avenues, and preserved natural ecosystems that sit alongside heritage buildings. Visitors and the local community are welcome to enjoy these landscapes as part of the University’s “University in a Garden” identity. At the heart of this effort is EcoHub USM, located inside the USM main campus. EcoHub functions as a community-focused sustainability space and living laboratory, hosting environmental workshops, student-led projects, and outreach on biodiversity, composting, and sustainable living. It is freely accessible to the public and strengthens campus–community engagement with nature. By continuing to provide free public access to open spaces and green spaces, USM reinforces inclusive access to natural environments while promoting sustainable land stewardship for students, staff, and the wider community.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) recognizes the importance of cultural preservation and provides free access to all significant buildings, monuments, and natural landscapes of cultural significance. By offering free public access, USM invites everyone to explore its cultural and natural heritage.

Refer to the map below for the locations of all significant buildings and heritage landmarks across the campus.

In 2025, Universiti Sains Malaysia strengthened its commitment to sustainable campus development by prioritising the reuse and upgrading of brownfield sites rather than expanding into undeveloped green areas. A brownfield site refers to previously developed land that is currently underused or unused, including spaces where redevelopment may be complicated by the presence of existing structures or ageing facilities.

One key example is the redevelopment of the former Matriculation Building (Bangunan No. 88, D33). This site has a long and layered history of previous use. It was originally constructed as a male student hostel, and later repurposed for the School of Chemical Sciences laboratories after the Matriculation Centre moved to the Ministry of Education in 2000. Over time, as academic activities relocated and laboratory operations shifted to newer facilities, the building gradually became underutilised, fitting the definition of a brownfield site as previously developed land that was no longer actively or optimally used.

Instead of constructing a new facility on untouched land, USM chose to adaptively reuse and renovate this existing structure to establish the Graduate School of Business. By revitalising the building, USM preserved the existing footprint, minimised construction waste, reduced environmental impact, and avoided the need for new land clearing. This approach ensured that an ageing, underused building was transformed into a modern academic facility that continues to serve the university community.

This redevelopment demonstrates USM’s sustainable planning approach, which emphasises upgrading and reusing underutilised built assets while protecting green spaces. It reflects the university’s long-term commitment to responsible land stewardship and sustainable campus development.

Please find below the photos showing the building before and after redevelopment.

Before