COMMUNITY SERVICES PROGRAM BY UTP INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

On 07^th August 2010, Village 4 (V4) committee in collaboration with the UTP International Student Council (ISC) high committee members led by ISC Welfare Exco 2, Mr. Issa Abdramane (Chadian), and the UTP Egyptian student community (ESC) high committee led by ESC President, Mr. Beshoy Safwat, participated in a community services program. The program was cleaning  the surau (muslim madrasah) at Taman Bandar Universiti, Seri Iskandar, Perak. This noble program was organized in celebrating the coming Holy month of Ramadhan.

This program was participated by nine UTP international students, three UTP staff and the local community . The main objective of this program is to generate integration among UTP international students and the local community. 

The program started at 8.00 a.m and ended at about 12.30 p.m. The students also had breakfast together with the local community. After the end of the program, before the students left, they gave the surau committee some items such as prayer mat, “sarong pelikat” (a cloth worn by muslim males to pray) and “telekong” (a cloth worn by muslim females to pray) for the use of the people that comes to the surau.

On behalf of the International Student Unit and International Student Council, we would like to convey our heartiest appreciation and gratitude to our Honorable Rector, Y.Bhg Datuk Dr. Zainal Abidin Bin Hj Kasim, Director of Student Services, Tuan Hj. Mohamed Noor Rosli Baharom and Senior Manager of Student Support Services Department, Encik Muhammad Syazwan Amarjit bin Abdullah, for their guidance and support as well as everyone who contributed immensely in ensuring the success of the program.

PETRONAS Country Managers' Annual Roundtable Dialogue Visit to UTP on 6 & 7 March 2010

On 6 and 7 March 2010 (last Saturday & Sunday), 11 PETRONAS Country Managers (CM) and 3 representatives from 3 PETRONAS Country offices visited UTP for the annual PETRONAS Country Managers’ Roundtable Dialogue Visit to UTP. This was the third time (year) it was organized. The program was organized by PETRONAS International Business Unit (IBU) and UTP.

Those PETRONAS CM/Rep. that were present were, En. Wong Kong Weng from China (CM), En. Ismail Abdul Rahman from Indonesia (CM), Mr. Marcus Allus from the Philippines (CM), Tuan Haji Nusral Danir from Sudan (CM), En. Abu Bakar Salleh from Thailand/Myanmar (CM), En. Izuddin Husaini M Yusof from Egypt (CM), En. Mohd Ridza Md Shariff from Turkmensitan (CM), En. Awang Othman Awang Jaya from Vietnam (CM), En. M Hamid Mohamad from Chad (Rep.), En. Eelasegaran Nadarajah from Uzbekistan (CM), En. Fodzi Bidin from Pakistan (Rep), Tuan Haji A Hamid Hashim from Iran (CM)and En. Amer Syahremy Saifuddin from South Africa (Rep).

The objectives of their visit were as follows :

1. To have an engagement session with the UTP International Student Council (ISC) to learn about its function & roles in UTP and issues on the international students’ welfare.
2. To have an engagement session with all UTP PETRONAS sponsored international students by each respective country in order to motivate them and help solve their academic and welfare issues.
3. To have an engagement session with UTP management team (led by our honorable Rector), PETRONAS Education Sponsorship Unit (ESU) management team (led by En. Shanizam) and IBU management team (led by its GM, En. Yahya Talla) to discuss on matters related to the UTP international students and potential collaborations on various subjects.
4. To have a friendly sports match (volleyball) with the international students.
5. To conduct the structured job interview for final year international PETRONAS sponsored students.

The visit met its objective and on Saturday night, 6 March 2010, all of the respected visitors including the IBU team, were invited to attend and witness the ‘Festival of Colors of the World’ event organized by SSSD of UTP at UTP’s Chancellor Hall. They experienced for themselves the colorful festival of dance from various Malaysian universities and selected universities from Thailand, Indonesia and Korea. They were impressed with the grandness and well- organized event done by our own students.

Finally, special thanks to all who were directly and indirectly involved in making the event a success especially from the wise leadership and guidance of our Rector, Datuk Dr. Zainal Abidin Hj. Kasim and our Director of Student Services, Tuan Haji Mohamed Noor Rosli Baharom.

Kind Regards,

Marfauza Mat Jusoh

Senior Executive

International Student Unit

SSSD

UTP - The Champion of National Novice Debating Championship 2010

UTP English Language debate team had emerged as the Champion in the National Novice Debating Championship 2010. The competition was organized by Universiti Teknologi MARA on 19th to 21st February 2010 in Shah Alam, Selangor. Ninety-six teams from various institutions had participated in the competition, making it the largest English Language debating championship in Malaysia to date. UTP had sent three English Language Debating teams to participate in this championship.

In this competition, it was compulsory for the debaters to go through 6 preliminary rounds before the top 16 teams were ranked and moved into the octo-finals. UTP-Team-1 and UTP-Team-2 managed to break to the octo-finals and UTP-Team-1 won against Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia hence qualified themselves to the quarter-finals. UTP-Team-1 won over University College of Technology and Innovation (UCTI) and advanced themselves to the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, UTP-Team-1 won against International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM-team-3), with the motion ‘This House would use genetically modified food to feed impoverished countries’. UTP had emerged as the Champion and won against IIUM-Team-1 in the final round. The motion for the final was ‘This House wants to support Iran's rights to develop nuclear weapons’. Kong Fook Ann, 1st Year 2nd Semester, was the Best Speaker in the final round. We are also proud to share that two UTP student adjudicators: Ismal Ishak and Vignesh Kumar had qualified themselves as adjudicators from the beginning of the competition right to the semi-final round. The list of UTP debaters are as follows:

UTP 1 (Champions)
Mukhariz Muhamad
Business Information System 2nd Year 1st Semester
Kong Fook Ann
Petroleum Engineering 1st Year 2nd Semester
Mohd Ashraf Bin Nor Azrol
Petroleum Engineering 2nd Year 1st Semester

UTP 2
Mohd Shafiq Bin Shaffa'ee
Chemical Engineering Foundation 1st Semester
Sean Suraj Jeremiah
Chemical Engineering Foundation 1st Semester
Ahmed Ali El-Fadil Hassan
Petroleum Engineering Foundation 1st Semester

UTP 3
Lee Yin Yin
Petroleum Geoscience Foundation 1st Semester
Chin Yong Bao
Chemical Engineering 1st Year 2nd Semester
Alex Liew Vun Ping
Electrical Engineering 1st Year 2nd Semester

We would like thank En A Mutalib b Embong (M&H) for his support and assistance as the Accompanying Officer throughout the competition.

The UTP Debate Club would like to express our heartiest gratitude to YBhg. Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Hj. Kasim and the Management of the University for being very supportive. We also would like to thank Tn Hj M Noor Rosli, the Director of Student Services, for his continuous encouragement. With the support from YBhg. Datuk Rector, the Management and the Student Support Services, we hope to develop more students to excel in the debating arena

Education Trip To Sabah - Part 1

Educational Trip to Sabah (ETS) will be schedule on 13th – 20th March 2010. It will be organized by Student Support Services Department (SSSD), Student Representative Council (SRC) and International Student Council (ISC).

The objectives of the program are to expose UTP students with industry in East Malaysia, expose international students to the diverse culture, history and traditions of Borneo, familiarize students with the incredible diversity of the eco system, understand its importance and enhance the love for it and encourage a caring society by reminding students of their responsibility towards the surrounding community through community service activities.

ETS program is very unique and different from any other educational trip especially on 16th – 17th March 2010, of which the participants will climb Mountain Kinabalu. The Mountain Kinabalu height is 4095 meters (13,435 ft) above sea level, ETS participants will try their best to climb the mountain with one objective to conquer the peak of Mountain Kinabalu with a group of 40 people (UTP students and PETRONAS officials).

The organizing committee has scheduled few phases of selection process to select qualified candidate to participate in the ETS. This includes interview sessions, fitness tests and climbing Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill), Taiping Perak. The Bukit Larut (Maxwell Hill) height is 1036 meters (3,398 ft) above sea level.

For the interview sessions and fitness tests about 120 turned up after the committee screened the applications. Among them 56 candidates qualified to climb Bukit Larut after passing the fitness tests. On 05th – 06th February 2010, all candidates went to Kamunting to climb Bukit Larut, Taiping, Perak. The delegates stayed at Youth Complex Kamunting and were warmly welcomed by Mr. Kahiruddin Bin Abdullah, Assistant Youth Officer Taiping who guided and gave some advice and tips to climb Mount Kinabalu. They will again climb Berincang Mountain, Cameron Highlands, Pahang schedule on 26th – 27th February 2010 for the final selection. The Berincang Mountain height is 2031 meters (6666 ft) above sea level. Those successful candidates will be announced on 01st March 2010 to represent UTP and their countries.

International Student Unit would like to give our utmost gratitude and thanks to our Vice President of Education PETRONAS, Y.Bhg Puan Juniwati Bt Rahmat Hussin, Honorable Rector, Y.Bhg Datuk Dr. Zainal Abidin Bin Haji Kasim, Director of Student Services, Tuan Haji Mohamed Noor Rosli Bin Baharom, Senior Manager of Student Support Services Department, Encik Muhammad Syazwan Amarjit Abdullah, Sports and Recreation Unit of Student Support Services and others who were involved directly or indirectly in making this program a success.

Student Selected to IOGCEC

Lim Hwei Shan (Shanny), 2nd year 2nd semester, PE student, has been selected to represent UTP to International Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition in Beijing, China (IOGCEC) from 6th till 10th June 2010.

IOGCEC will cover travel and accommodation expenses for the invited
Student Chapter President in the Asia Pacific Region.

Shanny is the only scholar of UMW Oil & Gas, a 4 flat scorer in every semester, held various extra curricular positions including SPE-UTP-SC President and Asst. Project Manager CASFUMAL 2009.