Site visits beneficial to students
THIRTEEN students from Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia’s) Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) were accompanied by lecturers Dr Garenth Lim, Dr Raymond Chiong and Dr Kelvin Yong, recently went on site visits to three industrial sites in Kuching.
The visits to the Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) headquarters, Sejingkat Power Plant and SACOFA Telecommunications Network Operation Centre were part of initiatives to extend the students’ learning to industrial sites where they can gain firsthand insights and connect what they have learned in the classroom to real-life industrial operations.
At their first stop at the SEB headquarters situated at The Isthmus, the students and lecturers were met on arrival by Corporate Communications Senior Executive (Campaign & Project Management) Md Rafique Hafeedzy Muhammad Agus, who brought them on a tour of SEB’s gallery and museum.
This was followed by a briefing on the energy company’s operations by senior engineer II Nurul Zarizi Shapiee, which included a visit to its State Dispatch Centre, the heart of SEB’s operations.
The students and lecturers also had the opportunity to engage in discussions with some SEB engineers on their roles in the company.
At the Sejingkat Power Plant, the group was briefed on the setup and operations of the plant by the plant engineer. This gave the students a valuable insight into power generation and factors that must be considered in the operations of such a plant.
The visit ended with a tour of the plant, which gave them a better idea of the various components of the plant.
The third and last stop was to the headquarters of SACOFA where the group was briefed on the company and its operations and taken on a tour of its control room where the status of its networks are monitored. This allowed the students to better understand the network architecture and observe real-time monitoring via monitors in the control room.
Following this, they visited one of SACOFA’s communication towers to get a close-up look at the structure and associated communication components.
Vice organising chairperson for the visits, Chen Yun Kiat, commented that he found the visits to the three sites most informative and interesting. He said he was very excited to see how the latest technologies are used in the industries.
Dr Chiong remarked that such site visits are very beneficial to students as they give them firsthand insights into real working environments, help them relate theories learned in the classroom to real-life scenarios, and give them a better idea of career opportunities available to them in the industries.
Meanwhile, Dr Yong commented that the trip was a great success as the students got to learn a lot and the knowledge acquired would help them in their future careers.
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