A total of 20 UTAR students were newly appointed as UTARambassadors this year during the UTARambassador Leadership Programme (UALP) Appreciation and Appointment Ceremony which took place on 11 January 2022 via Microsoft Teams. The ceremony was also organised to acknowledge the previous UTARambassadors for their dedication and efforts toward the University. 

The second UALP Appreciation and Appointment Ceremony was graced by UTAR President Ir Prof Dr Ewe Hong Tat. In his welcome remarks, Prof Ewe said, “Welcome to the UTARambassador Leadership Programme Appreciation and Appointment Ceremony.  We know that the Year 2021 had been challenging for everyone, so we truly appreciate all of you for staying with us as the UTARambassador. On the behalf of the University, I would like to thank you for your commitment, time and diligence as the UTARambassadors. I urge all of you to keep up good practices in leadership, responsibility, discipline and teamwork. Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate the top three performers from the 2021 batch who were nominated by all of you; Teh Jingmin, Hang Zhong Yu and Kan Purple.”

“UTAR will also be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Therefore, I hope you as the UTARambassador will utilise this opportunity to unleash your creativity by sharing your university life experience with our audience via social media,” said Prof Ewe.

He added, “Thank you to those of you who will join us for another exciting year. To all the seniors, please lend your support to the new ambassadors in any way you can. Once again, thanks to everyone, especially the organisers for organising this appreciation ceremony for the UTARambassadors. Stay safe and healthy everyone.”

The Top Three Performers were also invited to deliver their speeches. They were Bachelor of Finance (Honours) Y3S2 student Teh Jingmin, Bachelor of Science (Honours) Environmental, Occupational Safety and Health Y3S2 student Hang Zhong Yu and Bachelor of Communication (Honours) Public Relations Y3S1 student Kan Purple.

Teh enthused, “It is an honour and pleasure for me to be selected as one of the Top Performers for the 2021 UTARambassador Leadership programme. Throughout the year we have accomplished many great things together. I am grateful to have shared this wonderful experience with all of you as we work through the various events such as the UTAR e-leadership Camp and UTAR Open Days. Although we had to overcome numerous challenges, I am pretty sure that we have achieved tremendous success as a team.”

He also expressed his gratitude to his teammate for all the guidance, encouragement and collaborative effort. Teh also welcomed the newly appointed UTARambassadors and hoped that they would have fun and gain useful experience from the marvellous UALP programme.

Hang, on the other hand also thanked his team, coordinator and Division of Programme Promotion (DPP). He said, “I feel very delighted to be chosen as one of the Top Performers for this UTARambassador Leadership programme. It was a wonderful learning experience in my university life. I would like to extend my gratitude to the entire team as well as my coordinator for the guidance, encouragement and teamwork throughout the whole journey. You guys are very accountable and passionate when it comes to collaboration. In addition, I would like to take this opportunity to thank DPP for developing this programme to empower UTARian to be the next leader. I would have not been able to receive this honour without your support.”

He added, “This award will always be significant for me and drive me in achieving success in my future. To all UTARambassadors, please make full use of this great platform to demonstrate your talents and your leadership; make this programme a success.”

Kan felt proud to have received the honourable recognition. She said, “I feel grateful and blessed to be part of such a fantastic team. During my journey as the UTARambassador, I was provided with a platform that allowed me to think freely and perform at my best with my respected supervisors and other UTARambassadors. This has actually been a very great experience for me and taught me numerous things in life. I would also like to recognise the accomplishment of my team, particularly our coordinator who has contributed significantly last year. We initiated various initiatives to accomplish our missions despite our inability to meet each other physically even once. Everyone here was positive, inspiring, creative and intelligent.”

Kan also mentioned that she faced a lot of challenges as UTARambassador. However, she also met a diverse group of people that served as a motivator to strengthen her.  “Everything about our journey has been great except for the fact that we were unable to meet as we used to, for example, holding meetings and brainstorming sessions together. I am just hoping that the pandemic will end and we can meet in person one day. Even though I have completed my service, I am always willing to serve again if needed. I am looking forward to seeing the next batch of UTARambassadors shine,” Kan said.

The ceremony also witnessed UTARambassadors from different batches putting up some fantastic performances. Among the performances were “Performance 1: Ways to Reuse Plastic Bottles?” by 2022 batch of UTARambassadors (UTAR Sungai Long), “Performance 2: Dance in Your Own Unique Style” by 2022 batch of UTARambassadors (UTAR Kampar) as well as “Performance 3: Cup Song" by 2021 batch of UTARambassadors (UTAR Kampar and UTAR Sungai Long).

Apart from the performances above, the event also featured other stunning performances by UTARambassadors. The performances were followed by the appreciation of 2021 UTARambassadors and the appointment of 2022 UTARambassadors. The event ended with a group photography session.

Also present at the ceremony were Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong, Vice President for Internationalisation and Academic Development (IAD) Ir Prof Dr Goi Bok Min, UTAR Registrar Yim Lin Heng, Division of Corporate Communication and Public Relations Director Ong Soo Weon and other UTAR staff.