Sunway University College - Stories of Success

An Excellent Score for Sunway University College

aaronh — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:08:59 +0000

Sunway University College has been placed among the very top institutions in the first ever official rating of all public and private universities and university colleges in the nation when it achieved an EXCELLENT rating in the MQA (Malaysian Qualifications Agency) Rating System for Institutions of Higher Learning (SETARA) 2009. The rating system measures quality of teaching and learning at the undergraduate level in universities and university colleges in Malaysia.

Mohamed Khaled said public and private institutions which earned an excellent rating, would be entitled to local and foreign government sponsored students besides government research grants.

Sunway University College was among the 18 institutions in the Tier 5 or EXCELLENT status, placed at the same level as public universities such as Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia and all branch campuses of foreign universities.

The ratings are classified into six Tiers, ranging from Tier 1 as Weak to Tier 6 as Outstanding. There were no institutions in the highest classification of Tier 6.

“The SETARA rating is an official acknowledgment and recognition of the high level of performance of all staff and students of Sunway University College and hence everyone is congratulated on this very fine achievement” said Elizabeth Lee, its Executive Director.

Rising star

editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 07:27:50 +0000

A true blue city lass, Melinda Wong is an aspiring singer-songwriter.

The 21-year-old, who is currently pursuing her Diploma in Performing Arts at Sunway University College, is expecting to graduate in October this year.

Although music has been her main passion from young, she decided to take up performing arts because she wants to explore her other talents such as acting, directing and filmmaking. The guitar – acoustic, electrical and classical — is her favourite musical instrument, although she also plays a bit of the piano, drums and is able to do some beat boxing. To top it up, she sings and
composes her own songs.

She recently won the runner-up of a video competition hosted by Homegrown with her own production featuring her original song, titled, “Escaping the Smaze”, and was featured in the major English dailies.

Q: Besides your studies, what do you do these days?

I am currently doing my internship under Hardesh Singh. I’m based in a recording label called RRecords, and sometimes in Monsoon Records. I help with PopTeeVee as well.

Q: What is your career plan after graduation?

Music is my main passion so I plan to pursue music seriously. Aside from that, I would also like to dabble in film and musical theatre.

Q: Why did you choose to do Diploma in Performing Arts?

I wanted to explore my likings and my capabilities. Performing Arts was always something I was curious about yet something I was always afraid to try. I was an extremely shy kid and through the years, I have made a major leap from how I was to how I am now. If you were to tell me that I would join a course like this when I was a kid, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Q: Why did you choose to do it at Sunway?

It was the only place that offered an overall experience for both theatre and film. So I felt it was the right place for me to explore my strengths and know areas that I may be passionate about. Also, being a pretty active person, I liked the fact that there were so many clubs that I could join.

Cricketeers and swimmers winning big

editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 07:19:40 +0000

Simply one of the best

Sunway’s cricket team: Back row from left : Sudhanshu Rana, Sammeer Ansari, Tarun Gupta, Saqib Raja, Sarang Abbasi, Imran Amin, Eshwar Kumar. Front row from left: Syed Asad Hashmi, Ziaul Alam Rony, Ibrahim Rao and Mohammad Hassan Shahid.

The Sunway University College cricket team participated in a one-day cricket tournament hosted by the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) earlier this year. A total of 12 students from various programmes made up the player list and competed against eight other teams at the tournament. They reached the finals but conceded to IIUM clinching the First Runner-Up place.

Some of the Sunway cricket team members managed to bag individual awards. They were Imran Amin (Man of the Tournament), Ziaul Alam Rony (Most Consistent Player), Mohammad Hassan Shahid (Best Fielder) and Sudhanshu Rana (Best Batsman).

Big win for Sunway swimmer

Sunway University College swimmers swept a total of 4 Gold, 4 Silvers and 4 bronzes in the MAPCU INTI Swimming Competition 2010 held at INTI International University College in Nilai recently. Sunway students Hoh Hui Shan, a Selangor State swimmer in the Australian Matriculation pre-University programme, garnered two Golds, four Silvers and two Bronzes while Dimitriy Sinkov, an International Hospitality Management degree student, who hails from the Ukraine, reaped two Golds and two Bronzes. Dimitriy is also a Selangor State

swimmer.

Other institutions that took part besides the host were Help University College, Taylor’s University College, INTI College Subang Jaya, International Medical University, UCSI University and HELP International College of Technology.

From left: Sean Stubbings, Aiman Haziq, Hoh Hui Shan, Max Lim, Mani Mirabzadeh, Amir Panahi and Dimitriy Sinkov

The right choice

editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 07:05:40 +0000

General Manager of United Everco Marketing Sdn Bhd, Kingston Tiew King Siang was once a student of the American Degree Transfer Program (ADTP) at Sunway University College.

“It was known as the Western Michigan University (WMU) programme back then,” he said.

The 27-year-old, who graduated in 2008, is currently learning and following the footsteps of his father, who founded the family-owned business. ‘We are currently Malaysia’s largest range of exhaust manufacturer and distributor,’ he said. ‘I have worked my way up from rank and file. I have done anything from sales, designing, human resources, public relations, import & export as well as training.’

This was the way his father had helped mould him for the job which he is currently holding. “To be where I am today, I needed to understand how every department in the company works to be able to manage and enhance its efficiency,” he said.

“My plans are to increase the business of Everco and bring it to the next level of expansion, save up decent amount of money
and start my own family.”

Childhood dream

Tiew’s childhood dream has been aviation. “I hope to be able to fly my own planes and travel around the world,” he said. “I am working on it. It is not a very big dream. I believe it can be done. All I need is sufficient time and money to make my dream come true.”

Like most young people, when he came to the crossroad of his life, he did not know what degree programme to take. “I didn’t specifically choose WMU in the first place,” he said. After completing his high school, Tiew joined Multimedia University but decided he wanted to pursue an engineering degree programme instead.

“Since I was living in Sunway, it was a choice between Taylor’s, INTI and Sunway. I chose Sunway’s WMU because it provided me a lot of assurance, flexibility and credibility.”

Nostalgia

His fascination of Sunway is because of the strategic campus location, its facilities and the programmes offered. With a hint of nostalgia, he recollected his fond memories of his alma mater: “There were many amenities like a proper campus with a full scale
football field, library, huge auditoriums, proper lecture halls and even a monorail to Sunway Pyramid back in those days.”

The best part of his student days, Tiew admitted, was the food. “At every corner, there were always different kinds of food easily available,” he said. “Apart from that, student life was the same as work.” Young and energetic, Tiew is a keen follower of
Malaysian politics and his favourite non-governmental organisation is Transparency International. For books, he is currently reading Rustam A. Sani’s “Failed Nation” and “The Tao of Warren Buffet” by Mary Buffett and David Clark.

“The “Tao of Warren Buffet” is currently my favourite book by far, very simple to read and gets your mind thinking,” he said. “It explains words of wisdom by the renowned Warren Buffet, mostly about life’s principle but they way he related them to investments and business ideas is simply astounding.”

New kid on the block pays tribute to lecturer

editor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:35:06 +0000

Kenry and his four sculptures he exhibited at Threesixty Art Development Studio

Kenry Tang Tze Lye did not know his latent penchant for Art when he was mixing potions in a lab as a pure science stream student in school. At the persuasion of an art teacher, he took up Art as a subject in his SPM and that took him on a spiritual journey that led to him completing his Diploma in Fine Art at Sunway University College in 2009. “It could have been hard for me but I was lucky as my parents supported my wish to pursue art” said Kenry, who is an only child.

Shortly after graduating, he did an internship at the National Art Gallery for two months. Soon after he joined the “New Kids on the Block” Group Art Exhibition organised by Threesixty Art Development Studio in Desa Park City on 6 – 21 March 2010. Kenry and 18 other aspiring young artists like himself put their artworks on show. His art piece was an abstract series of four mini sensual sculptures with their convoluted playful forms evoking human contact. “It was about the bonds between humans including erotic ones where humans need to fulfill their spirituality”. He feels really grateful for the chance to show case his art at a young age of 20 and paid tribute to his art lecturers at Sunway University College for his success.

The memory of the late Mr. Joesph Fernz and future plans

“The Sunway lecturers encouraged my creativity and exploration” he said. One of his lecturers, Joseph Fernz passed away from heart failure in late March. To Kenry, Joseph Fernz, who taught sculpture and art history, was a phenomenal inspiration. Saddened by his passing, Kenry, who eulogized at Fernz’s funeral, shared “Mr. Jo was my art guru yet he was more than a teacher but a friend. He taught us about life and art and his classes were very interesting”. He added “He always believed in me and encouraged me”. Kenry will be following Mr. Fernz’s advice to pursue a degree in Fine Art in India. He will be applying to two universities there. One is Baroda University, in Gujarat, Mr. Fernz’s alma mater and the other is the New Delhi School of Art. He has plans to meet with Fernz’s friends there.

Mean while before he goes to India at the end of June, Kenry has a lot on his plate. He will be representing Malaysia at the Asean Youth Camp in Hanoi from 23 -29 April. He will be required to do some on-the–spot visual artworks at the camp. As an artist, Kenry knows too well that that they have to initiate projects. One that he has spearheaded is the Project Tick Tock Earth which is a week long workshop from May 17 to May 23, and involves artists using their knowledge to make art from recycled materials. “Through this, we hope to spread a green message all over to do more to save the environment” he said.

Kenry with his paintings

One of Kenry’s other inspirations in life is the orchid. Kenry’s interest was kindled when he took care of his mother’s orchids for about 5 years since Form 2 at Secondary school. “I loved to sit and admire them in the garden. They are such interesting living things. They are so sensitive to the environment yet they are survivors”. The orchid naturally features proudly in one of his paintings. “Art is always entertaining and full of meaning”. He added “It is a reflection of what has happened in our lives but most important of all, it must make us happy” he said with a smile.

To follow what’s happening with Kenry, do visit his blog at http://emptybottleken.blogspot.com

Sunway ADTP students score US scholarships

aaronh — Mon, 31 May 2010 03:12:54 +0000

The American Degree Transfer Program (ADTP) at Sunway held a Dean’s List and Completion Award presentation for the August to December 2009 semester students at the poolside area on campus recently.

Dr Sumitha Ganesharatnam (front row, sixth from right) with the proud students

Thirty-six students received their Dean’s List certificates and will be transferring to the U.S. in the summer or fall of 2010. Thirteen students achieved Summa Cum Laude (GPA of 3.9 to 4.0). For the first time, 12 Sunway ADTP students secured the Western Michigan University Haenicke Scholarship. Each student received varying amounts ranging from USD 2,000 to USD 14,000 per year based on their CGPA to transfer for further studies in WMU. Other students Tan Pei Song, John New and Andrew Adudu were offered UMKC Community College Scholarships to University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) valued at USD 10,370. Andrew Adudu also secured a scholarship to the Florida Institute of Technology together with Omer Altuncu. Ricky received a scholarship from University of Central Oklahoma and another student, Amanda Lee was accorded the Presidential Award for International Transfer excellence for Fall 2010 worth USD 7,000 per annum from Iowa State University.

Sunway ADTP students

John Siah Say Yeong received a scholarship from Illinois Institute of Technology to pursue a major in Chemical Engineering. The scholarship is valued at USD12, 000. John said “The Sunway ADTP is not just about studying. I learnt how to be more confident and how to approach other individuals and how to do things as a group which helped me prepare to face the future. Besides that, the lecturers are friendly and helpful. Their creative teaching skills had enhanced my understanding towards subjects.”

Chef Patrick makes it to the World Cup

aaronh — Tue, 25 May 2010 07:27:22 +0000

Head Chef (and lecturer) Patrick Siau from Sunway University College was in the team that clinched 2nd Runner-Up at the Asian Pastry Cup 2010 held in conjunction with the Food & Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge (FHA CC) 2010 in Singapore recently.

The biannual Asian Pastry Cup 2010 is also the official competition in which the best four teams are selected to compete at the World Pastry Cup. The next one will be in Lyon, France in January next year.

Chef Patrick will be the first Chef from a higher education institution to represent Malaysia in the prestigious World Pastry Cup competition.

Chef Chern, Chef Patrick, Chef Gabriel Paillasson (President and Founder of Pastry World Cup) and Chef Elaine

Siau’s team mates were Chef Chern Chee Hoong from Resorts World Malaysia and Chef Elaine Lu from Equatorial Hotel. The team had to produce a sugar sculpture, a chocolate sculpture, 2 chocolate mousse cakes and 18 plated desserts within an 8 hour time limit. The three had been preparing for half a year, honing their culinary skills on a weekly basis prior to the competition. Siau is a sugar expert and created a colossal dragon-shaped sugar masterpiece at the competition. He is known as the “dragon specialist” among the F & B circle.

Chef Patrick with his sugar sculpture of a dragon

Sunway University College students Lee Han Ying won the Bronze medal in the “Dress the Cake” category (cake decorating within 2 hours) while duo Queeny Cheong and Vanessa Boey bagged the Bronze medal in the “Two to Tango” category (preparing 4 cold appetizers and 4 main courses within one hour) in the FHA Culinary Challenge 2010.

A total of 10 teams (one from each country) from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Australia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and the Philippines took part in the Asian Pastry Cup 2010.

First 2 graduates of the MBSW MBA at Sunway are shining leaders

editor — Mon, 24 May 2010 08:39:17 +0000

As one of the first MBA students from Malaysia graduating with the Manchester Business School Worldwide (MBSW) MBA, Kenneth Chin took three years to complete what is known as the accelerated programme, which recognises his accounting qualifications and experience. When he signed up for the programme in 2006, he was given exemption from certain accounting and finance related subjects.

The Manchester Business School Worldwide is a specialist off-campus division of the world renowned Manchester Business School. The Manchester Business School Worldwide opened at Sunway University College (Sunway) in 2006. The Centre is the only dedicated centre in Malaysia and accredited partner of the Manchester Business School in Malaysia. It currently has 200 MBA students enrolled. Only two have graduated so far but soon many others will be following” said Dr Marie Aimee-Tourres, the Head of the MBSW Malaysia Centre at Sunway.

A qualified Australian Chartered Accountant, he is the Chief Executive Officer of Tricor Roots Consulting Sdn Bhd. The company currently provides Risk Management consultancy to major business organizations in the region, besides heading the Software Development team to develop specialised Enterprise Risk Management Software.

Kenneth Chin, Chief Executive Officer of Tricor Roots Consulting Sdn Bhd

Chin shares on why he chose the MBSW MBA at Sunway, “Its high global ranking as an MBA program, as well as the extensive subject matter that it covered gave me options to either expand vertically to go deeper into the areas that I was familiar with as well as horizontally to learn new ideas and broaden my knowledge base.”

He added, “Embedding the lessons learned during the MBA programme to my knowledge base has helped tremendously in both running the business and directly building skill-sets in the area of risk management and IT.”

Vincent Kuan, Human Resource Director

The other graduate is Vincent Kuan who is the Human Resource Director with the largest nitrile glove manufacturer in Malaysia and the second largest in the world. Kuan has seen the company go through tremendous growth over the past five years. A CPA Australia member, Kuan joined the MBA programme in January 2007, and was granted one semester exemption. In total, he took 2 years and nine months to complete the programme.

“The MBS MBA programme was well put together in that it had the right mix of assignments, workshops and exams. Duration of the course is acceptable and the quality of academic staff is good. Course contents were also fresh and relevant. Selection of students was good as most of them have strong academic credentials and many years of working experience to share. The Centre in Sunway was well run by Dr Marie and her team who were always on hand to deal with any queries or issues. Online resources from MBS were comprehensive and fairly easy to access. The MBA has definitely created a conducive environment in learning new skills and knowledge” he said.

Nigel Banister, CEO of the Manchester Business School Worldwide who was here recently said “It is the Schools intention to continue to recruit some of the most talented executive students in a few of the most important locations for business in the world.” He added “This gives us as a school a great insight into global business and our alumni will become influential as the next generation of business leaders.”

The Global MBA (Accelerated) programme offers high achievers with a minimum of six years managerial experience the opportunity to take an intensive programme which can be achieved in 24 months.

The Global MBA is taught by world class MBS faculty and graduates are accorded the same award as those on our prestigious on campus programme in the UK. Banister said “In addition we offer an outstanding Global Careers Service across the world to ensure that our graduates not only have the skills to succeed but are helped to find the right job opportunities”. He added “In that way, our students reap multi-fold returns on their investment with us and hopefully make sterling contributions to the future business community in countries like Malaysia where we are offering our programmes”.

MBSW is currently the largest campus based business and management school in the UK with over 200 teaching staff members and 3000 global students in off-campus programmes.

A bounty of 14 awards for Sunway A-Level students

editor — Tue, 04 May 2010 07:43:36 +0000

Twelve outstanding Cambridge GCE A-Level students of Sunway University College recently swept a total of 14 Cambridge International Fellowship Awards awarded by the University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). This is the first time that Sunway University College bagged 14 such awards, the largest number for the institution so far.

The students scored the highest, 2nd highest and 3rd highest marks in the world for various subjects based on their A and AS Level examinations in 2009. Out of the 12 students, 7 scored the highest marks in the world for a subject.

The 7 students are:

Oh Coyin (Physics),
Sarah Chew Jink Sian (Psychology),
Kuan Kai Yuan (General Paper),
Charmaine Leong Sook Yee (Mathematics),
Lee Kin Wai (Mathematics),
Chua Hui Ling (Mathematics) and
Lee Jian Ren (Further Mathematics).

Oh Coyin also had the 2nd highest for Biology and Lee Kin Wai also earned the 2nd highest for General Paper.

Front row (left to right) Charmaine Leong, Jessica Ooi, Sim Hui Wen, Oh Coyin, Chua Hui Ling. Back row (left to right) Dr Wong Yoke Chen (Director, A-Level programme), Thong Ming Sen, Ng Hui Sin, Lee Kin Wai, Kuan Kai Yuan and Justin Ooi

The others, Sim Hui Wen (Mathematics), Thong Ming Sen (Law), Ng Hui Sin (Further Mathematics), Jessica Ooi Sui Ying (Psychology) and Justin Ooi Seng Geap (Psychology) attained one award each for scoring either 2nd or 3rd highest marks in the world for a subject.

Oh Coyin has been offered a place to study Medicine at the University of Cambridge and University College London. She was also offered a place at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Ng Hui Sin has been offered a place to study Actuarial Science at the London School of Economics. Sim Hui Wen is studying Medicine in Monash University, Sunway Campus Malaysia.

Thong Ming Sen said of his studying experience in the A-levels at Sunway “The A-Level programme was well-conducted and the lecturers were very helpful. The materials were very relevant and comprehensive”. Thong is hoping to pursue Law at the National University of Singapore.

These awards by the CIE were first given out last year and are exclusively for Cambridge International Fellowship A-Level centres. CIE centres around the world are only given this honour if they have established an excellent track record of academic achievers. Sunway University College earned this status in 2005.

The A-Level programme at Sunway was established at Sunway in 1987. Sunway University College belongs to the prestigious group of around 60 Fellowship centres in the world, and is one of four in Malaysia among the more than 1,100 CIE centres worldwide.

Business Tycoons in the Making

editor — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:28:23 +0000

Sunway University College’s Young Entrepreneur Society (YES) emerged as the overall winner in the Inter-Universities Business Tycoon Simulation Game 2010 recently. The competition was organised by the Wall Street Society of The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. YES who fielded three teams comprising 3 students each, contended against teams from other private universities such as Taylor’s University College, Monash University and HELP University College among others.

Participants had to apply their economic knowledge to analyse fluctuations of prices and demand in a virtual steel market. There were 3 categories which were Car Manufacturers, Bankers and Car Dealers. Sunway University College came up as the Champion in the Bankers category and First Runners-Up in the Car Manufacturers and Car Dealers categories respectively. The Sunway students who were the champions in the Bankers category were Leong Ji Kin, Chua Vi Vern and Hong Xingwei who are all studying in the Bachelor of Accounting and Finance (honours) degree programme at Sunway.

Sunway’s champion team in the Banker’s category. From right to left : Leong Ji Kin, Hong Xingwei, Chua Vi Vern receiving the cheque from Ms Pat Aw of ICAEW and Febianto Salim, organsing chairperson (centre)

Heri Gunawan, the Sunway University College YES President said “The Game was a fun and exciting way of applying economic knowledge in a simulated competitive environment. It was a good learning experience and challenge for all of us”.

The competition’s aims were to provide an opportunity for students to apply the theories they had learnt into practice and for students to enhance their negotiation and analytical skills and to promote interaction among students.

Sunway won a total of RM2,000 for being the champion and the first runner-ups in all the 3 categories. The competition’s sponsor was The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).