By Salbinous Saribun

THURSDAY, 03 SEPTEMBER – The allegation on Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Orientation Week at its Labuan International Campus were politically motivated was unfounded.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs and Alumni (HEPA), Associate Professor Dr. Ismail Ali said, the programme that was claimed to be politically motivated was actually sketches depicting the life of students in a campus environment, including activities that were prohibited inside the residential colleges on the basis of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (Student Discipline) Regulations 1999.

“A total of eight sketches were presented to educate new students on the prohibition of cooking, gambling and in the possession of hard liquors, change of rooms without permission, dating, reporting to the dorm later than 11.00 pm, smoking within the residential college premises, skimpy dressing, observing of quiet hours in the residential colleges and ban on rallies within the college grounds,” he said in a statement today.

He explained, the student who made viral the video may have not been giving full attention to the explanations on the sketches.

In fact, he said, the video was associated with the BERSIH rally, which was out of the topic as it was just a sketch on the ban of organising rallies in the residential college by adopting the water shortage problem as an example so as to give a better understanding to the students.

“The programme also aimed to inform the function of residential colleges management, Student Representatives Council, Student Welfare Committee as the correct passage to channel their complaints about any problems encountered,” Dr. Ismail added.

He reminded students to always be attentive during the Orientation Week to avoid any confusion. – (fl)

By Salbinous Saribun

THURSDAY, 03 SEPTEMBER – The state government continues to be committed and will work together to improve the level of education in Sabah.

Chief Minister of Sabah who is also the Pro-Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman said, since the inception of UMS, development and state progress work in tandem to support economic and social needs of students.

“It also gives added value in terms of human capital development, raising the living and economic standards of the surrounding communities.

“In short, UMS has generated a rapid development transformation in the shortest time possible,” he said.

He was speaking at the ‘Oath Taking and Pledge’ Ceremony by the new intake at Dewan Canselor (Chancellor Hall), today.

Datuk Seri Musa said, the students were very fortunate to have made it to the ivory tower, which would be the dream and goal of each student.

“Therefore, I hope all students would make full use of this opportunity and always abide by the rules and regulations of the campus, putting responsibility as a students first and work hard to become useful citizens,” he added.

Datuk Seri Musa also witnessed the oath taking and Pledge by UMS new undergrads for the 2015/2016 Academic Session.

Also present were the Vice-Chancellor of UMS, Professor Datuk Dr. Mohd Harun Abdullah, members of the Board of Directors, including Principal and Senior Officers of UMS. – (fl)

WEDNESDAY, 02 SEPTEMBER – The registration process for new students of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Labuan International Campus (KAL) for the 2015/2016 Academic Session went on smoothly.

UMSKAL Director, Associate Professor Dr. Murnizam Haji Halik said, the process went smoothly as planned due to the experience of its officers and staff involved, which included Academic Services Division, Finance Division, Information Technology and Computer Division, Student Affairs Division, Development and Maintenance Division, and Safety Division.

He added, the cooperation and commitment of the 'Peer Advisors' (PSM) had eased students and parents’ movement to and from Labuan airport and the Labuan International Ferry Terminal and Car Terminal.

He was speaking after inspecting the registration process for new students at UMS Labuan Main Hall, yesterday.

Also accompanying Dr. Murnizam and who also briefed the students were HEP Assistant Registrar, Mas Adi Alimin and Academic Assistant Registrar, Asly Buncho.

Parents were satisfied with the welcome gesture and hospitality showed by the PSM, as well as the officers and employees of UMS thus facilitating the movement and registration of their children. – SS (fl)

Source: Azri Onn

WEDNESDAY, 02 SEPTEMBER – A total of 100 students participated in the Infosys Foundation Programme 2015 hosted by Universiti Teknikal Melaka (UTeM) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education Malaysia (KPM), Multimedia Development Corporation (MDec) and Infosys Technologies Ltd India, from 2 to 28 August 2015.

The 27-day programme was aimed to enhance knowledge and students’ employability in the field of Information Technology.

The closing ceremony was officiated by the Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Datuk Dr. Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah at one of the leading hotels in Malacca.

Out of the 100 students who participated, a student from the Faculty of Computing and Informatics (FKI), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Yap Khong Lim excelled brilliantly and won first place.

Five other UMS students from the same faculty, Liow Chern Jung, Lim Wen Ying, Aminuddin Jamaluddin, Ng Lai Cheng and Leow Jia Ren also did well and passed all modules with flying colours.

“The programme was very exciting and we gained knowledge and made new friends during the process,” said Liow Chern Jung.

The Infosys Foundation Programme was introduced in 2007 and had so far trained more than 1,500 students and academicians throughout Malaysia.

This year, it was participated by 13 higher learning institutions namely Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UNIKL), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Kolej Poly-Tech MARA (KPTM), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and UTeM. – SS (fl)

Source: Norhayati Daut, FKI