2,711 graduates celebrate Convocation

A total of 2,711 vibrant graduates, accompanied by delighted parents and family members, occupied the Dewan Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik at Kampar Campus and celebrated their academic achievement together with dignitaries, lecturers and staff from UTAR from 10 to 12 August 2018. The 27th Convocation was a three-day celebration of the graduands’ perseverance, determination and their dedication to the ideals of UTAR.   

Graduands marching their way to Dewan Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik 

A total of 2,711 (Session 1 – 694; Session 2 – 641; Session 3 – 694; Session 4 – 682) graduands from 93  programmes comprising 67 Bachelor (Hons) degree, 20 Master’s degree and six PhD programmes, received their convocation scrolls in four sessions held over the three-day period. Of the 2,711 graduands, 11 received their PhDs, 67 received their Master’s degree and 93 received their Hons Degree with Distinction, while the rest received their Bachelor Hons with Merit and Bachelor Hons Degree. 

Graduands and their parents at the UTAR 27th Convocation

Tan Sri Ting declaring the opening of Session One and Two of the Convocation 

Prof Chuah declaring the opening of Session Three and Four of the Convocation 

UTAR Registrar Yim Lin Heng leading the Chancellor’s procession

From left: Tan Sri Ting, Tun Ling, Tan Sri Rafidah and Prof Chuah during the Session One of Convocation

The Session One and Two of the Convocation were declared open by the UTAR Council Chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Ting Chew Peh; Session Three and Four were declared open by UTAR President Ir Prof Academician Dato’ Dr Chuah Hean Teik. Also present at the ceremony were UTAR Chancellor Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik and other UTAR Council and Boards of Trustees members. 

Guests of Honour, clockwise from top left: Tan Sri Rafidah, Tan Sri Foong, Tan Sri Gan and Tan Sri Chor

The Guests of Honour for the four sessions of the Convocation were Tan Sri Rafidah binti Aziz for Session One, former Judge of the Federal Court of Malaysia Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr James Foong Cheng Yuen for Session Two, Member of UTAR Council Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Chor Chee Heung for Session Three, and Executive Chairman of Brunsfield International Group Tan Sri Dato’ Dr Ir Gan Thian Leong for Session Four. The scroll presenters for Session One were UTAR Council Member Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Chuan and Tan Sri Ting; Session Two were Tan Sri Ting and UTAR Council Member Datuk Lim Si Cheng; Session Three were Tan Sri Chor and UTAR Council Member Datuk Lee Leck Cheng; and Session Four were Prof Chuah and UTAR Council Member Hew Fen Yee.   

Dato’ Seri Ong presenting the scroll to Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) graduate Ong Chu En

Tan Sri Ting presenting the scroll to Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Banking and Finance graduate Sam Yee Kuan

Datuk Lim presenting the scroll to Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Mechanical Engineering graduate Low Jen Hahn

Tan Sri Chor presenting the scroll to Bachelor of Accounting (Hons) graduate Ivan Tay Khai Zhang

Datuk Lee presenting the scroll to Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering graduate Phang Kam Ping 

Prof Chuah presenting the scroll to MBBS graduate Rishvinder Singh a/l Jagjit Singh

Hew presenting the scroll to Bachelor of Science (Hons) Biomedical Science graduate Omnia Anwar Elsir Seedahmed

In his commencement address, Prof Chuah congratulated the graduands and explained to them that the graduation was the culmination of a long and challenging, however, ultimately rewarding journey. He said, “As you exit this formal education in the university, you will be faced with many opportunities as well as challenges. It will not just be the paper degree that propels you further, it will be your own capabilities and the goals you set out to achieve for yourself. There are many ways to walk down the path of life and career but the ultimate goal is to attain success and respectable recognition in addition to monetary gains.” He also motivated the graduands to be highly creative and innovative where they are able to unleash the potential of their minds to conceive new ideas and put their ideas to work. He added, “Try to link your great ideas to the needs of the customers who are the consumers. Having creative ideas is important but it is innovation, transferring the ideas into a product or creation, that helps bring in money and pay the bills.”

Prof Chuah also inspired, “As you venture forth into life and career with new responsibilities, always remember that success takes great effort to achieve and good reputation takes years to build but with poor ethics, low integrity and unprofessional practices, all will come crashing down within minutes when exposed. Success is not always measured by monetary gains alone nor is it about how powerful you are. The greatest wealth you can achieve is the wealth of respect and acknowledgement that comes with practising good ethics and professionalism in all aspects of life. Living a life with integrity and following good ethics while practising professionalism will eventually result in commanding the respect of those around you and bestowing good reputation upon yourself. Good reputation and respect are worth much more than silver and gold. We must not forget that many times, we are judged first by our personality, attitude and our behaviour, not just by the money in our pockets or the rank we hold at work.”

Tan Sri Rafidah in her speech congratulated the graduands and enthused, “The young graduates who are graduating from UTAR will be joining the pool of human resource and talent which will be an important factor in the nation building processes of our country, Malaysia. There will be some of them finding employment in both the public and private sectors and a number of them will continue to pursue their postgraduate studies, however some will branch into another piece of learning to complement the degrees and qualifications that they already achieved and there are those who are ready to join the world of the business and entrepreneurship and optimise the opportunities in the marketplace. Regardless of where you see yourself in the society, you will find that there is a basic reality in the world out there that requires every graduand to always remember that the only thing constant in this world is change. There are so many major changes in the external environment which will continue to take place and impact all of us. There are multiple changes, among them are changes in the marketplace, changes in all areas of industries, changes in areas of technologies spearheaded by advancements in ICT, changes in social and demographic profile, changes in leading lifestyle and changes affected by globalisation and the erosion of economic and social-cultural barriers. And in fact, we note that ocean of global village is indeed now a reality. Therefore, standard and benchmarks are no longer set in a closed environment. But, benchmarks and standards are becoming regional and global in achievement, in performance and into the pursuit of excellence; and the benchmark keeps moving in upwards. As such, it is important to strive to reach those benchmarks and understand what it takes to be amongst the universally accepted and recognised in whatever positive endeavours you undertake.” 

Tan Sri Foong in his speech inspired the graduands by sharing his life journey, “I have not seen anyone in this world that has experienced success after another without defeats, failures, disappointments and frustrations along the way. I am no exception. The only difference is, perhaps, I was able to, after each disappointment, pick myself up and turn these failures into life lessons for the future. This, of course, is easier said than done but if you desire to move on, this exercise is necessary regardless of how painful and difficult it may be. You must accept your own shortcomings and think of ways to improve yourself. To overcome the agony of failure and defeat requires a lot of determination and positive thinking and this, separates the winners from the losers.” He also advised the graduands on how to deal with new people in the working arena. He said, “In the working world, some of you may get along well while others could find it to be more difficult. And there will be those who may make you sick, in some instances, literally ill but you have to deal with them. You cannot hide away from them like an ostrich. You need to get on with people and to do so you need to know human relationship skills. But before you get into such skills, which can be found in many books or information on the internet, you must come to accept that we humans are not perfect. If we are perfect, we do not need a government to rule over us. Mastering the human relationship skills, against the backdrop of human shortcomings, early in your working life would make your journey of life more happy, successful and rewarding.”

Tan Sri Chor in his speech enthused, “Many employers look for staff that are positive; mainly because their positive attitude can influence those around them and affect the atmosphere and mood of the working environment. Generally, positive staff are welcomed at work because they are deemed to have better confidence and are willing to take on challenges and responsibilities with less complaint. Being positive is also an attribute of a good leader. Many inventors and world leaders are positive people who never give up believing in their visions. Always pursue your dreams relentlessly through sheer hard work and determination and a keen foresight. Success is never free and easy. It’s a lifelong journey of discovery, mistakes after mistakes, disappointments and eventually through lessons learnt, you become better and sharper. He added, “With the use of technologies, processes are also becoming more automated with less need for service staff. So graduates, you need to develop and sharpen your skills to be more creative and innovative in thinking in order to be competitive and be expedient in seeking solutions to problems, especially with tasks that machines cannot handle. Also, as you venture into your career, be reminded that graduation is not the end of learning. To remain competitive, you must continuously learn, improve and create value for your company or organisation through new knowledge and skills acquired. In other words, you have to embrace the philosophy of lifelong learning.”

Last but not least, Tan Sri Gan in his speech, elucidated, “I have wonderful memories of my own university life that was filled with learning and growing friendships that last until today. It was such an amazing and a truly enriching educational experience. It made it possible for me to pursue my dream and led me to my work as a young professional engineer, as an entrepreneur and today, as a responsible corporate citizen in a business institution that I founded 28 years ago.” He added, “You may have heard from your parents and seniors that you are graduating at a time of great volatility, uncertainties, chaos and ambiguities. There is no doubt you are graduating at a time when the world is posing to us the toughest challenges and complex wicked problems. But what I wish to share with you is, you are also graduating at a time of unimaginable opportunities and a time of great optimism about the future. You are graduating at an important stage of positive renewal and vibrant changes in the nation’s social, economic and environmental ecosystem. You are graduating at a time when people are willing to come together to rebuild, to collaborate and co-create the best way to move forward with solutions and innovations that will benefit the communities, society and the nation, embracing progress with positive change for sustainable development.” 

Fifth from left: Tan Sri Ting and Prof Chuah with some graduates of Session One 

Prof Chuah (middle) with some graduates of Session Three

Prof Chuah (middle) with some graduates of Session Four

Sivaraj thanking UTAR for giving him the best platform to excel

Bachelor of Communication (Hons) Journalism graduate, L. Sivaraj in his graduation speech said, “I would like to thank my parents, family members, friends and all the helpful lecturers who have taught me in my journey of four years in UTAR. I realised it was indeed the best choice of mine to be part of UTAR which has provided me with a holistic education. Today, I am proud to stand as UTAR alumni. Public speaking has always been a skill that I love very much. I am glad that UTAR has given me the opportunity to represent the university in multiple public speaking competition. Thank you UTAR. I would also like to thank UTAR’s Centre for Foundation Studies lecturer Gangadurai Ganeson for your support and guidance throughout my journey as a speaker in UTAR.” 

Tan advising the fellow graduates to be thankful to parents, family members and friends

Bachelor of Communication (Hons) Advertising graduate, Tan Xin Yi advised, “Be kind to your family because they are your pillars of strength. They are the people who are always behind you. Always love them and show your gratitude to them for making you who you are today. Also, be kind to your friends because they were there to give you moral support and they stood by you during rough moments. Lastly, be kind to yourself. We are the masters of our own destiny, we have sailed the journey so far and today we are standing proud as graduates. Believe in yourself, love yourself and be kind to yourself.” 

Mansour advising fellow graduates to be determined and persistent

Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Biomedical Engineering graduate, Mansour Ayman Alawi in his speech said, “Thank you very much, my wonderful parents, for your unconditional love and support. Thank you for giving me the chance to be independent in this world. On behalf of all the graduates today, I would like to thanks all the parents for raising us and giving us the love and care. To UTAR management, lecturers and staff, thank you for providing a great learning platform and passing all the knowledge and skills throughout my years in UTAR. As an international student, I learned a lot of new things and I learned to be more determined and persistent.” 

Yong sharing valuable tips with other fellow graduates

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) graduate, Yong Jia En Amelia enthused, “First of all, I would like to congratulate all my fellow graduates. To my classmates, after spending five years together, we finally graduated green and raw and all set to learn more. As believed, the journey is more important than the destination. Reflecting on the past five years spent in UTAR, I realised that the challenging journey we faced has moulded us into the graduates we are today. The fact that it was a difficult journey, makes today’s celebration all the more meaningful, but we could not have succeeded without the help and support of those around us. I would, therefore, like to take this opportunity to thank our parents, families and friends. Also, a heartfelt thanks to the eminent professors and lecturers who mentored us. Our appreciation also goes to UTAR especially to our President and Dean for your committed leadership.” 

Bachelor of Communication (Hons) Public Relations graduate Chai Kar Yen with her family members

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences graduates (from left) Rishvinder Singh, Choo Yuen Seng, Michael Joshua Dev, Thong Ching Fung, Nga Rou Yi and S. Lidiapriya

Master of Engineering Science graduate Vaidyanathan Josephraj Joliz Anton (second from left) with her family members

Graduates in jubilant mood throwing their mortar boards as a sign of celebration 

Bachelor of Accounting (Hons) graduate Chiew Bor Jinn Eugene with his family members

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) English Language graduate Rishon Shun with her family members

From left: Public Relations student Esther Koh Khai Qi and Psychology student Chong Qi-Qi singing Kita Punya Malaysia

From left: Psychology student Rebecca Pang Sing Vun and Public Relations student Veronica Pang Syn Ni singing Dream it Possible 

From left: Bachelor of Finance (Hons) graduate Tay Jor Jun and Marketing alumna Foo Ching Ling, Evelyn singing Zhu Fu 

From left: Psychology student Xaviera Yih, Sing Vun and Syn Ni singing Setia

From left: Yih, Sing Vun, Syn Ni and Chong singing The Shining Light

 Koh singing Because of You 

From left: Chemistry students Lim Vi Xuen and Tan Ie Huang singing BFF

 From left: MBBS student Chan Qing Yan, MBBS graduate Lee Yong Hong, MBBS student Chan Pei Tong and MBBS graduate Thong Ching Fung singing Setia 

Lim singing The Climb

From left: Biotechnology student Ong Yee Yang, Biotechnology graduate Teo Jeng Yee and Computer Science student Huang, Songjiang singing Peng You 

From left: Lim, Tan, Qing Yan and Pei Tong singing The Shining Light 

Mace bearers, clockwise from top left: Logistics and International Shipping student Soh Yi Ren, Marketing student Sow Wei Teng, Chinese Studies student Yin Shiqiang and Accounting student Loh Jia Hui 

Chinese orchestra performance