This study examines the growing importance of obtaining a research university status among Malaysian higher education institutions. Public universities in particular, have been encouraged by the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) to focus more on research activities to ensure the high standards of quality can be achieved. Presently, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) has also placed a strong priority on becoming a research university; however, some fundamental changes are anticipated but these are inevitable without issues involving institutional autonomy, finance autonomy, human resource autonomy and academic autonomy. Academicians are focusing more on research activities rather than heavy teaching loads. Many studies have emphasized their limitation in doing research; however only few have addressed the obstacles faced by administrators in supporting the objective of various research policies. this study addresses three main questions. first, the study examines what is the level of readiness among the administrators of UiTM towards becoming a research university. Next, it explores how principles of good governance are perceived to have an influence on the level of readiness. lastly, it examines whether a university leadership influences the relationship between the principles of good governance on the readiness among the administrators towards UiTM Shah Alam becoming a research university. the 83 respondents among the Assistant registrars of grade N41 and senior assistant registrars of grade N44 participated in this study. This study reveals that the level of readiness is high, therefore it indicates that the administrators are ready to support for a research university objective.
