Deputy VC: UCTS at your doorstep to help achieve your dreams
SIBU: Aspiring students, including Unified Examination Certificate ( UEC) holders, need not look far to obtain a degree because University College of Technology Sarawak ( UCTS) is at their doorstep to help them achieve their dreams.
UCTS deputy vice- chancellor (Academic) Professor Dato Dr Sabarudin Mohd said students can enjoy the state- of- art facilities, and a conducive learning environment in the first platinum rated green building index (GBI) campus.
Moreover, they can experience the unique GBI features of the campus — energy conservation and healthy environment, he pointed out, adding that the university offers industry-relevant degree programmes.
“Our academic programmes are accredited and recognised by professional bodies such as Board of Engineers Malaysia, Board of Architects Malaysia and Board of Surveyors Malaysia.
“Our curriculum are industrial relevant, fulfilling the demand of sets of skills required by the industry.
“Our focus is to ensure our graduates are highly sought after by employers, competitive in the job market, highly ethical and entrepreneurial.
“Therefore, I don’t see any reason for parents, especially here in Sarawak not to consider sending their children to study in UCTS,” Sabarudin told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He was asked to comment on making UCTS the choice of tertiary education to reduce the cost of sending students elsewhere such as West Malaysia or overseas.
Adding on, he said UCTS recognises UEC qualification as an entry requirement.
Those UEC holders with minimum of five B can apply to enrol UCTS degree programme, explained Sabarudin.
He said, however, those with four B need to follow UCTS foundation programme before they can enrol for the degree programme.
And those who want to do technology or engineering based programme should also have good result in Mathematics and Science.
Sabarudin added: “We encourage UEC students to further their studies at UCTS, and it will be better if the UEC students prepare themselves with a good level of English proficiency prior to enrolling in one of UCTS programmes.”
Turning to financing for the programme, he said each financing agency has its own criteria for a candidate to fulfil.
Generally, those who meet the minimum of cumulative grade point average of 3.0 are eligible to apply for scholarship; otherwise there are a number of private as well as public agencies offering study loan, he said.
On this, the deputy vicechancellor explained that the detailed information on sponsorships can be obtained from their Students Development and Services Department.
He revealed that UCTS presently have a number of UEC holders doing their tertiary education with some doing degree programmes and some doing foundation studies.
He said those in degree programmes are in the field of food technology, quantity surveying, business administration, accountancy and computer science.
UCTS plans to introduce two more new degree programmes to cater for the needs of the industry especially for Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).
He said they plan to introduce Bachelor of Manufacturing and Material Engineering and Bachelor of Business in Marketing next year.
“These two new programmes are in line with the manpower requirement to develop state economic corridor SCORE,” Sabarudin said.
On student population, he said the university has about 1,200 undergraduates pursuing various fields of studies, with 446 in Arts and Science foundation studies, and 848 in degree programmes.
He said UCTS has a staff strength of 201 of which 104 are academic staff and they target for student population of 2,000 in the Sept 2016 intake.