Why international students like to study in Malaysia, especially at IUKL?

Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur (IUKL) which was established in 1998 has become one of the most renowned private institutions of higher learning among local and international students in Malaysia today.

The strength of IUKL stems from its rich history of 19 years in providing quality education and excellent professional services in various fields of infrastructure.

IUKL being the first infrastructure university in Malaysia aspires to produce technopreneurs and skilled manpower with outstanding communication, technological and managerial skills. The integration of both hard and soft aspects of infrastructure is emphasized in all the programmes that IUKL offers.

For more insight about IUKL’s strengths and credibility, President and Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Roslan Zainal Abidin, his team, as well as many students have much to share with Malaysia World News (MWN) viewers in a special video featuring the university (watch the video above).

According to Roslan, IUKL has international students from over 55 countries and this is because they recognize the university’s excellence and quality.

“As the name implies, IUKL is good in engineering and architecture. However, we have six faculties namely, Engineering and Technology Infrastructure; Architecture and Built Environment; Business and Accounting; Arts, Communication, and Education; Creative Media and Innovative Technology and Applied Science and Foundation Studies.

“To be at par with the government’s emphasis on innovative technology, IUKL holds innovation and invention competitions annually for staff and students.

“If they win at the university level, they will participate in the national competitions and then proceed internationally,” he said.

IUKL has won a silver medal for the Environmental and Renewable Energy Award and a bronze medal for the materials category at the International Exhibition 2015 (ITEX 2015).Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment has received a gold award for University Garden competition at The Royal Floria Putrajaya 2015.

Meanwhile, final year student in Bachelor of Science (Architectural Studies) Boey Ying Yan was awarded the second runner-up for the 16th Shelter International Architectural Design Competition 2014 in Tokyo, Japan. IUKL also won four awards in the 26th Architectural Workshop (Tiang Seri) 2014.

At the International Engineering Invention and Innovation Exhibition (I-ENVEX 2014), IUKL won a gold medal for the Building, Construction & Materials category and a silver medal in Agriculture& Environment and Renewable category.

IUKL has international partnerships with a number of countries which include Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and China; to name a few. IUKL has an advanced standing arrangement with these institutions which enables students to have the option of studying abroad at these institutions.

“That shows our graduates and our diploma and degree programmes are recognized by other universities in the world,” he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & Internationalisation) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Christiantine Della said, English is the medium of instruction at IUKL and this provides a lot of opportunities for foreign students to study in IUKL.

“We are unlike public universities where a certain percentage of the classes have to be taught in Bahasa Malaysia. This opens up a lot of opportunities for students from abroad as they are quite well versed in the English language. When they come to IUKL, they are in a situation where there is a total immersion in the English Language,” she said.

She added IUKL provides an intensive English programme for international students. “We give them the language support before they embark on the mainstream programmes.”

“The mainstream programmes are conducted 100 percent in English. Here they are able to improve their proficiency and pick up the knowledge of the field they are pursuing,” she said.

She also mentioned that many international students do not end up going back to their home countries to work. Instead, they go to other countries like Australia, Canada, and the US to look for opportunities.

Registrar of IUKL, Md. Mokhtar Md. Piah stressed that local and international students choose IUKL because it offers affordable fees in comparison with other private universities in Malaysia.

“IUKL not only offers good fees but also quality education, experienced lecturers and a multinational campus,” he said.

Head, Planning and Analytics Business Development Division, Jason Andrew Polko, who is also the Head of IUKL’s Library, said the university has a strong focus on learning and teaching.

“Our primary concern is to support students, their learning environment and support lecturers in their teaching activities. We are here to give our services to the lecturers and students.

“We have a strong library collection that focuses on our programmes and provides comprehensive support for all teaching and learning needs,” he added.

Director, Centre for Postgraduate Studies, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Manal Mohsen Abood emphasizes that IUKL has a very high-quality system for monitoring the students.

“We guide the students from the first day they attend the university,” she said.

Director of Student Affairs Division, Selvi Salome said, it is IUKL’s policy not to differentiate between local and international students for example in terms of academics.

“The counselling unit has started a programme on how to improve students’ Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) from a below average academic status to good academic status,” she said.

Executive Dean Faculty of Creative Media and Innovative Technology, Sangeetha Valloo said, the recent graduation has secured about 85 percent employability rate and that shows the programmes offered by IUKL are very good.

“The students have the knowledge in what they have actually learnt and they are able to implement what they have done,” she reiterated.

“More than 80 percent of the graduates are employed within six months of their graduation,” said Executive Dean, Faculty of Business and Accounting, Jun Aida Tasirin.

“We are confident and believe that the programmes offered to our students are suitable to meet the market needs and requirements,” she said.

The Faculty of Engineering and Technology Infrastructure produces at least 600 graduates annually. Almost 50 percent of the foreign students in IUKL are pursuing the engineering programmes.

Executive Dean Faculty of Engineering & Technology Infrastructure, Assoc. Prof. Hon Kah Wye said IUKL’s good linkages with the industry players and government agencies have enabled the students to be trained at the agencies or in those companies that are linked to the faculty’s programmes.

“When our students go out for training, they are able to handle most of the things because we do not only use the laboratories (labs) at the university but also the labs that belong to the companies. Here students can get real practical experiences,” he said.

_ Malaysia World News

Source: Malaysia World News