MoU with BQSM

From left: Dato' Aziz and Prof Goi at the signing ceremony

UTAR and the Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia (BQSM) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the Sri Pacific Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on 28 February 2018.

Signing on behalf of the parties were Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science Dean Prof Ir Dr Goi Bok Min and BQSM President Dato’ Sr Aziz Abdullah. The signing was witnessed by Head of Surveying Department Assoc Prof Dr Chia Fah Choy and BQSM Registrar Sr Roziyah binti Ismail.

Present at the signing ceremony were BQSM Secretary Sr Jamisah binti Ibrahim, Board of Engineers Malaysia Representative Ir Ishak bin Abdul Rahman, board members of BQSM and the recipients of Best Dissertation Award and Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia Professional Certificate.

Previously, only public universities, namely Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia have signed such MoU with BQSM. UTAR follows as one of the first private universities to sign this MoU with BQSM.

Dato' Aziz during the opening speech

Dato’ Aziz said, “The latest number shows there are a total of 3,721 registered quantity surveyors altogether; 888 Consultant Quantity Surveyors (QCS), 700 Professional Quantity Surveyors (PQS), 2,127 Provisional Quantity Surveyors and six Quantity Surveyor Technologists.”

The MoU aimed to assist final year Quantity Surveying students to be registered in BQSM as early as their graduation date. The assist will consist of registration procedures, required documents and requirements for renewing the registration for the first year.

“On UTAR’s side, we are volunteering to assist graduating Quantity Surveying students for the pre-registration by getting everything such as the documents and transcript ready before BQSM comes to verify and register the students. We took a similar initiative before with the Board of Engineers Malaysia. We are helping the fresh graduates to be registered as Provisional Quantity Surveyor (PvQS) because they may not be aware of its importance. Some graduates with professional degrees may have already started practising without getting registered with professional bodies. Not only it is illegal, it also wastes the time and effort spent as it is not recognised,” said Prof Goi.

To be a fully registered member of the board, the PvQS will be subjected to the 2-tier registration. The PvQS is required to fulfil certain requirement under the Assessment of Professional Competence to become the first tier or PQS and shall be subjected to further test to be eligible for second QCS. It is important for quantity surveyors to have these recognition especially to be promoted in most organisations.

Dato’ Aziz also added, “If you have friends [who are unregistered quantity surveyors] please convince them to register with the board.”

Second from left: Prof Goi giving the token of appreciation to Dato' Aziz

After the MoU, the event proceeded with an award presentation for Best Dissertation Award and Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia Professional Certificates.