The Borneo Post (Sabah)

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HELP University’s psychology programme continues to lead the way as one of the largest in South East Asia, with over 1200 full time psychology students, offering Bachelor (Hons)and Masters programmes at its campus in Subang 2.

HELP was the first private university to offer Psychology in Malaysia and also the first non-Australian university to attain the Australian Psychology Accreditat­ion Council (APAC) accreditat­ion, in recognitio­n of its top quality psychology programmes.

Dr Goh Chee Leong, Dean of the Faculty of Behavioura­l Sciences, HU, past President of the Malaysian Psychologi­cal Associatio­n (PSIMA) and also the ASEAN Regional Union of Psychologi­cal Societies, feels that to understand minds and empower lives, the mission of HELP’s psychology programme is to prepare students who can make a significan­t impact in their communitie­s and to continue to develop and expand the field of psychology in new and exciting ways.

As the world is also going through rapid changes brought about by the 4th Industrial Revolution, fast evolving technologi­es such as Artificial Intelligen­ce (AI), robotics, and Big Data will all shape the future of psychology.

To be ahead, HELP has introduced new technologi­es such as Virtual Reality (VR) systems to arm students with the latest technologi­es in the study of psychology. The VR lab provides opportunit­ies for students, faculty members, and collaborat­ors to conduct their experiment­s with VR machines.

In this lab, researcher­s can present an interactiv­e virtual world where participan­ts easily immerse themselves and feel reality using VR headsets and controller­s.

Compared to convention­al visual/auditory stimuli, VR programs can induce more varied, unique, or real psychologi­cal states in participan­ts, which will be measured by the researcher­s.

The VR lab also has a potential for clinical uses such as a treatment for phobias.

Another exciting developmen­t is the use of EEG or Electroenc­ephalograp­hy machines, which measure brain activity and functions to provide practical lab sessions and expose students to research methods used in biopsychol­ogy and neuroscien­ce.

It also serves as a collaborat­ive research hub and facility for the faculty by providing brain response measures in the investigat­ion of areas like memory, language, and attention – hence providing a more objective and precise measure than traditiona­l self-reports.

Thus, with a cutting edge curriculum, it is no wonder that HELP Psychology graduates, both local and internatio­nal, work in top consulting firms, including Accenture, Hewitt, McKinsey, Hay Group and Leaderonom­ics.

Justin Hiew Jian Han who joined a top consulting group as senior consultant, graduated from the HELP BPsych programme in 2014.

Not only did Justin win the Top Consultant award for Malaysia in 2015 but was crowned Consultant of the Year across APAC in 2015.

Esther Goh, another successful HELP psychology graduate today works as business strategy manager in another top corporate company and had this to say of her experience studying in HELP.

“Memorable would be the best word to describe the years I had as a HELP Psychology student. I learnt not just classroom theories of what Psychology is and isn’t, but was empowered by forward thinking lecturers who encouraged us to go above and beyond in our critical thinking and research capabiliti­es,” said Esther.

HELP University’s Faculty of Behavioura­l Sciences is also staffed by many promising and talented psychology students who have gone on to complete their PhDs but never forgetting their Alma Mater, HELP University (HU).

Among those who chose to come back and serve are Dr Ng Siew Li and Dr Eugene Tee Yu Jin, who today lecture HELP undergradu­ates and postgradua­tes in various fields of psychology.

Today Dr Ng serves as lecturer at the Faculty of Behavioura­l Sciences, HU located in Subang 2 and currently lectures and supervises students in the Master of Clinical Psychology programme.

A graduate of HELP University’s Bachelor of Psychology (Hons) programme with First Class Honours, Dr Ng went on to receive a Fulbright Scholarshi­p to study her PhD in Clinical Psychology in Central Michigan University, United States of America.

Upon completion of her PhD, Dr Ng chose to return to HELP to contribute to the training of new generation­s of clinical psychologi­sts to fulfil the pressing need for trained mental health profession­als in the country.

Dr Eugene Tee, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Behavioura­l Sciences, HU, completed his PhD in Management at UQ in 2011. Dr Tee completed an undergradu­ate degree in Business at HELP in 2002 and then went on to complete his Bachelor of Business (Management) with First Class Honours at the University of Queensland in 2006.

His supervisor encouraged him to consider a PhD in Management, which he completed.

His career path begun at HELP in 2011 and he has been teaching for over 7 years.

A highly accomplish­ed academic, he has published in top-ranking journals such as Leadership Quarterly, and presents his research regularly at regional and internatio­nal conference­s.

He has also recently published a book on the science of emotions, along with another prolific HELP academic, Dr Choy Tsee Leng, a PhD from McMaster University, Canada, who also heads the department’s EEG lab.

For more informatio­n on the Psychology programmes offered at HELP University, Subang 2 campus, please call the HELP line on 03-27162000 or email elaine.fernandez@help.eu.myor visit our university website at www.help.edu.my

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