By KAREN CHAPMAN, TAN EE LOO, PRIYA KULASAGARAN, KANG SOON
CHEN and JEANNETTE GOON
educate@thestar.com.my
Special serving: Chef lecturer
Darren Teoh demonstrates how liquid nitrogen can be used to prepare food.
Looking on are Mohamed Khaled (second from left), The Star deputy group chief
editor 1 David Yeoh and chief events officer Iris Tan. When it came to making important decisions about the future, student Kevin Chen Tze Zhiong decided it was best to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.
Instead of relying on secondary sources, Kevin decided to attend the popular “Options after SPM” talk at the Star Education Fair.
The 17-year-old certainly wasn’t let down because the talk turned out to be the highlight of his visit.
“After sitting for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination, it is good for school leavers to understand the various study options by coming to the fair,” he said.
He also took home a Yes Buzz 4G Cloud phone during a lucky draw at the talk.
Kevin was among the thousands of visitors who came from near and far to visit the nation’s largest education fair.
The two-day event was packed with an interesting lineup of experts who shared insights about the challenges and career prospects of the various industries such as medicine and engineering.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the fair attracted many parents and students who came to the one-stop centre to obtain information and guidance on study options and career developments.
Loyal exhibitors who had taken part in the fair over the past 25 years were also recognised at the fair.
For many of them, visiting the fair was a must-do when making important decisions regarding the right programmes and institutions.
A-Levels student Tan Vee Yen, for instance, is no stranger to the annual fair.
She visited the fair last year when she was choosing her pre-university programme.
Now that she is about to complete the programme, the 18-year-old visited the fair again to look for options in degree programmes.
“I want to join the teaching profession so I will be visiting the booths which offer education programmes,” said Vee Yen, adding that her younger brother Vee Keong, 16, tagged along to experience the myriad of courses and institutions on offer.
Mobbed: Counsellors and
institution representatives were busy helping students and parents shop for
tertiary education options. The Christmas spirit was evident with many culinary art schools dishing up delectable treats with the Yuletide theme.
Chef Jochen Kern cut a jovial figure in his immaculately starched chef coat as he sliced smoked salmon for visitors at the Berjaya University College of Hospitality booth.
“Thanks to the popularity of the Masterchef cooking programmmes on TV, there has been a growing interest in culinary art courses,” said Kern who hails from Germany.
The School of Culinary Arts director added that his father-in-law used to scoff that chefs were doing the “servant’s job” but over the years, chefs have been enjoying high salaries.
“The work in the kitchen is very tough though, so that is why you may see more male gourmet chefs around. However, females chefs are equally capable,” he said.
Starting young
It is never too early to start thinking about tertiary education.
Daniel Koh, 15, went to the fair with the intention of attending the series of career talks slotted throughout the two days.
“I play a lot of computer games so I think being a computer games designer might be quite cool,” he said.
Asked on whether he was still passionate about his ambition after attending the Career in Games Development talk, he said “Maybe, why not?”.
SEGi University vice-chancellor Emeritus Prof Dr Muhamad Awang said the education fair is a wonderful platform for parents and students to find out about options in tertiary education.
“It helps for students who want to further their studies because they can obtain more information about the programmes that they are interested in,” said Dr Muhamad.
He applauded the newspaper’s effort in organising the fair and hoped that it would benefit more students in the years to come.
The Star Education Fair was also a platform where students gained insights into the professions that they aspired to join after completing their studies. Taylor’s University institutional marketing vice-president Loy Teik Inn said attending the fair helped students crystalise their thoughts.
“Students tend to see just one side and not the entire picure when deciding on their career pathway. We are here to help them understand what the industry really requires by showing them a realistic picture of the real-world settings,” he said.
Enquiry: Fashion design
lecturer Alex Yeo (second from left) speaking to students (from left) Jack
Cheong, Shen-Nii Choo and Jessie Chan at the fair. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, who opened the fair, said that higher education had an important role to play in driving the nation forward.
Explaining that research, development and commercialisation activities were key to developing a country’s wealth, he encouraged private tertiary institutions to “develop a talent pool of high-level intellectuals in postgraduate studies” in order to spur more research and innovation.
He added that the ministry sought to draw more international students to the country as it would generate income as well as promote knowledge-sharing.
“Based on the 87,000 international students last year, internationalisation contributed to approximately RM2.6bil of our national income.
“The country has awarded a total of 788 international scholarships to recipients from 87 countries, with 292 active students in our local institutions of higher education.
“This scholarship aims to support the government’s effort to attract, motivate and retain talented human capital from abroad,” he said.
Mohamed Khaled also lauded The Star for being an “enthusiastic proponent of education” for organising the fair as well as offering scholarships through the Star Education Fund.
“Even though the government has always strived to address this need by providing scholarships and study loans under the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) for qualified students, additional support from the private sector is greatly appreciated and welcomed.
“In this respect, the Star Education Fund is an important endeavour that serves to help talented young people realise their dreams,” he said.
The Irish Minister of State for Education, Training and Skills Ciaran Cannon came to support the Irish institutions that took part in the fair.
Cannon said his department would be coming up with proposals next year on potential areas that could bring the relationship between Ireland and Malaysia to the next level.
He said the two countries had a successful partnership in medical education and Ireland was keen on expanding beyond that relationship.
“What we want to show is that these universities also excel in other areas like computer science.
“Our educational institutions have strong industrial linkages. That’s one aspect of the Irish education system that the whole of Asia finds attractive.
“Malaysia is emerging as the global economic powerhouse in the area of ICT. It’s going to need world-class graduates who understand the industry well and can make immediate contributions once they graduate,” he said.
Citing an example of collaboration, Cannon said 10 Malaysian lecturers recently started a three-month intensive training programme in Ireland to learn how to teach entrepreneurship, an area that Ireland is known for.
He said it was a pilot project between the Higher Education Ministry and Dublin City University.
Financial concerns
There was a hive of activity at the booths for the Star Education Fund, Higher Education Ministry and PTPTN.
A representative from PTPTN said the team received many enquiries from both students and parents on the loan process.
Choong Ah Kin and his wife Tan Gin Cheng were interested to know how their younger daughter could apply for a loan.
“She is waiting for her PMR results but we would like to prepare early as education is very expensive and we are worried it could eat into our retirement savings,” said Tan.
Choong hoped the government would consider extending the loans to students without SPM results.
“My eldest daughter was offered an Asean scholarship in Singapore after Form Three. She obtained very good grades in the A-Levels but could not get a PTPTN loan when she wanted to continue her tertiary studies here,” he said.
Amalina Hashim was at the PTPTN booth to enquire if she could reapply for another loan to continue with her studies.
“I have completed my diploma in business and want to continue with a degree in the same area,” she said.
She added that she had visited other booths to find out about available degrees.
Pamela Victor who is a recipient of the Star Education Fund, was a volunteer at the fund’s booth.
“We have been advising prospective students on the scholarship process as well as sharing our own experiences,” she said.
Pamela is a second year International Communications student at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC).
Ne’ryez Singh Randhawa just completed his Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination and is “looking into studying for a medical science degree either locally or overseas.”
Meanwhile, a representative from the Scholarship Division at the Higher Education Ministry’s booth said he received enquiries on the MyBrain15 programme. “It is a programme to finance postgraduate studies for Malaysian citizens,” he said.
Another programme being promoted was the Malaysian International Scholarship, he said, adding that it is to attract the best brains from around the world to pursue advanced studies in Malaysia.
British education
As a partner in education for the Star Education Fund, Prof Stephen W. Doughty said the UNMC is committed to giving deserving Malaysian students a chance to pursue higher education in a British institution.
“Even if some students may not be able to afford it, they will have the opportunity to experience what British education has to offer,” said Prof Doughty who is UNMC vice-provost (Teaching and Learning),
He added that students studying at the local campus will be able to go to the United Kingdom campus or the China campus for a semester during the duration of their undergraduate programmes.
He also pointed out that UNMC offers art and social sciences courses in international relations even though only a small number of students signed up for the programmes.
“We realise that like engineering and business, programmes in arts and socials sciences are very important and we want to give students the opportunity to further their studies in this field should they be interested to do so,” said Prof Doughty.
Career testing
The fair was abuzz with activities like free personality and interest tests, psychology games, and eye and health screenings.
HELP University Psychology lecturer Justin Yap who facilitated the career testing, began the session by asking students to think about their hobbies.
“What if there was a job that lets you do your hobby? The interest test helps you identify jobs with elements that you’re interested in,” he said.
The test consists of statements about specific activities, for example, tending flowers, managing money for a company and so on. Students who took the test had to rate their interest in each activity on a scale of one to five.
A high rating meant that the student had more interest in that activity while a low one meant the opposite.
Jayse Lee, 17, said that in terms of personality, the test was accurate but she was uncertain of what she wanted to do. She explained that while the test indicated her interests were more arts-related, she was a science student.
Yap said that students should not take the interest test as the ultimate truth about themselves.
“Your interests will keep changing as you get older and usually stabilises in your 20’s,” he said, adding that the test can be used for students to explore further options.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2012/12/23/education/12474295&sec=education
No comments:
Post a Comment