60 attend talk on commitment and ecotourism management

KUCHING: Some 60 participants including students and staff of UCSI University Isthmus Campus and SATT College attended a talk on ‘Commitment of Sarawak Forestry Corporation to the State; Ecotourism Management’ conducted by Sarawak Forestry Corporation ( SFC).

SFC’s head of Ecotourism for the Kuching Region, Suhaili Mokhtar led a three- member team to present the talk at UCSI University Isthmus Campus’ Learning Haus recently.

The talk was jointly organised by the Malaysian Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Education ( MyCENTHE) and UCSI University Isthmus Campus.

In a nutshell, MyCENTHE is the government’s initiative under the National Transformation Programme ( NTP) previously launched to provide excellent quality human capital for Malaysia’s growing tourism and hospitality industries.

UCSI University Isthmus Campus appointed a cluster leader in the Sarawak region, has been collaborating with MyCENTHE since late 2011.

The main objective of this talk, according to a publicity release yesterday, was to expose students to the role and commitment of SFC to the ecotourism industry of Sarawak under the initiative of MyCENTHE.

Chief operating officer Mukvinder Kaur Sandhu of UCSI University Isthmus Campus and MyCENTHE cluster leader Bernard Jussem were among those present.

Sandhu said USCI as a university is committed to engage with the industry and corporations such as SFC to deliver well- rounded graduates.

“We want to produce graduates who are not only knowledgeable in their fields, but are sensitive to their natural surroundings and able to contribute to sustainably maintain our f lora and fauna even after they graduate,” she said.

Meanwhile, Bernard explained that seminars or educational talks remain one of the pivotal tools to develop and enhance students’ knowledge in certain areas of study - in this case, ecotourism.

“Rest assured that this will not be the last educational talk organised by MyCENTHE and UCSI University Isthmus Campus,” he said.

“This talk on ecotourism has opened the eyes of students and made them realise how critical sustainable ecotourism is, not only to Sarawak but also our nation, Malaysia.”

Among the topics discussed included Ecotourism in Sarawak, Core Functions of Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Global Ecotourism Trends, Totally Protected Areas ( TPA) and their roles, The Uniqueness of Biodiversity as well as Conservation Ecotourism Products.

For enquiries about the courses and events offered at UCSI University Sarawak Campus, call 082- 455255 or logon www.ucsiuniversity.edu.my.

UCSI University Sarawak Campus houses the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management ( FHTM), Faculty of Business and Information Systems ( Fobis) and Centre for Pre U Studies (CPU).

FHTM offers three degree programmes: BA ( Hons) in Commerce, BA ( Hons) in Event and Tourism Management, and BA ( Hons) in Hospitality Management.

Diploma programmes are also available, such as Diploma in Hotel Management, Diploma in Culinary Arts and Diploma in Leisure Management.

Fobis offers the Diploma in International Business, BCom ( Hons) in Accounting & Finance, and BCom ( Hons) in Marketing.

CPU offers Foundation Studies in both Arts and Science, an excellent pathway to furthering studies in Medicine and Health Sciences, Pharmacy, Architecture, Engineering, Social Sciences and Applied Science.