BY all accounts, the last twenty months have been challenging for individuals and organisations across the country, as a result of the pandemic and movement controls imposed to curb its spread.
For those graduating from institutions of higher learning during this period, the pandemic meant that many were deprived of the opportunity to mark this significant milestone in their lives, as convocation ceremonies were either held virtually or passed over altogether.
The Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) convocation ceremony for the class of 2020, to be held over five days from Dec 18-22, is a welcome opportunity for the university’s undergraduate and postgraduate holders to celebrate their successes.
UTP vice chancellor Prof Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib: “We’re looking at how technology can be used to heighten the student experience.”
Held in strict adherence to all the standard operating procedures - prioritising safety and health precautions as well as physical distancing – UTP vice chancellor Prof Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib says to date 1,238 graduates (out of the total 1,732) in the class of 2020 will be attending the convocation.
In addition, 12 international students from Indonesia, India, Sudan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Yemen, to name a few, have also confirmed their attendance.
“This 20th convocation ceremony is also a meaningful one for UTP because of the appointment of two new pro-chancellors, Petronas chief executive officer Datuk Tengku Muhammad Taufik and board member Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim, who was previously chief judge of Malaya,” he said.
Newly appointed UTP pro-chancellors Datuk Tengku Muhammad Taufik (left) and Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim.
Emerging from the pandemic
For UTP faculty and staff, the convocation is the first in-person event to be held since the start of the pandemic.
It is therefore of great significance, as it marks a kind of healing from the challenges of the past two years.
Mohamed Ibrahim said that although UTP was not spared the challenges brought upon by the pandemic and various lockdowns, thanks to investments going as far back as 2012, into digitalisation, the university was able to move from face-to-face delivery of its academic courses to online delivery in less than a week.
“Our plans to enhance the teaching and learning meant that we had the infrastructure required to take the academic delivery online,” he elaborated.
“It was just a question of getting the staff and students to migrate online and acquaint themselves with the infrastructure and related software.”
Through UTP’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETaL), courses were conducted to assist lecturers in the migration from physical classrooms to virtual ones.
“It was important to make the virtual contact as exciting as possible, so lecturers needed to know how to capitalise on the available software to make the lectures as interactive as possible,” he added.
UTP also took the opportunity during the lockdown to upgrade some classrooms and lecture theatres to allow for hybrid delivery of courses in the future.
“We have equipped some classrooms with computers, cameras and audio-visual systems - backed by a very large bandwidth - to allow for physical lectures to be broadcast to students who will be attending the classes virtually,” he announced.
He further added that these investments have prepared the university for post-pandemic new norms of reduced occupancy requirements in indoor spaces.
“Going forward, although face-to-face learning is still needed for physical interaction and networking with lecturers and fellow students, we want to spice up delivery by providing materials, discussions and lectures online,” he mentioned.
The last two years also saw the completion of two new academic buildings to house the Geoscience Department and Petroleum Engineering Department, which also feature new generation classrooms.
Returning stronger
Mohamed Ibrahim credited the team at UTP in enabling the university to weather the challenges of the past two years.
“We were able to make significant changes to our teaching delivery thanks to the perseverance, commitment and support of the staff," he said.
"An organisation can easily crumble without such support, but they put up such a strong spirit and I think it’s because of their passion for the students that many went the extra mile to overcome initial challenges."
He pointed out that UTP’s support staff were also under immense pressure to ensure that the transition to virtual learning was as smooth as possible.
By capitalising on technology, UTP has also been able to improve alumni engagements.
“In the past alumni networking and engagement sessions would involve travel, which involves time and money," explained Mohamed Ibrahim.
"By moving online, we’ve found that we’re able to carry out more engagement with our alumni.
"The feedback from the alumni has also been positive as such virtual sessions allow for greater networking among the alumni themselves,” he said, adding that 10 such sessions have been carried out since the start of the pandemic.
“The pandemic has also taught us the importance of investing in infrastructure. So, we’re doing more forward sightings.
"We’re looking at how technology can be used to heighten the student experience.
"If previously the focus was on the physical experience at UTP, going forward we’ll see more application of technology and digitalisation, for example online booking of facilities and cashless transactions, which will appeal to the younger students,” he said.
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> Malaysia’s top private university and ranked 78th in the Times Higher Education Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020 > Ranked 42nd in the Top 50 QS World University Rankings by Subject for Mineral and Mining Engineering 2020, the only university in Malaysia with this distinction > UTP's Petroleum Engineering Programme ranked 21st in the world and first in Malaysia in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020 > The only private university in Malaysia to receive the 6-star rating (the highest performance level) in Malaysia Research Assessment (MyRA) 2020 > Rated 6-star (outstanding) for Rating System for Malaysian Higher Education Institutions (SETARA) 2018/2019 > UTP Vice Chancellor Prof Ts Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Abdul Mutalib received The Amity Global Academic Excellence Award from Amity University India for his contribution to education > UTP Director for Institute of Health and Analytics Assoc Prof Dr Tang Tong Boon received The Mountbatten Medal, one of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Achievement Awards. He was the first Malaysian to receive the award > UTP Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) emerged first runner-up in the World PetroBowl Championship 2020, the first team ever from Malaysia and the Asia Pacific region |
