Berita Kampus

Enlightening Talks from Our UK Counterpart

Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) delegates spoke at the Centre for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) recently. A series of talks were organized by CPE to empower TAR College staff and the general public with useful information relevant to their occupations.

Dr Eugene Lai, an external examiner of SHU led his participants into a "Self and Peer Assessment" workshop. They then took part in interactive activities like drawing posters and playing judge. From his observation made during the assessment session, Dr Lai summarized by encouraging lecturers to understand students' predicament, "Put yourselves in their shoes. Do you know how to get a distinction? If you don't, how do you expect an 18-year-old to know? Get your students involved in assessments. Put it all in paper. Be as transparent as possible."

More advice was received from Dr Simon Brown on the next day. A Senior Lecturer from SHU, Dr Brown has been ardently following unemployment trends in the UK. He was here to share on tips for developing employability, a topic of discussion that is paramount to our country. He recommended a “sandwich degree” of two years of study, one year of work and another final year of study to

Dr Eugene Lai sets tasks for participants to keep them busy throughout the session.

build students’ confidence and resilience in challenging environments. Dr Brown received feedback from participants that were mostly comparisons between the UK and Malaysian structures. “We need graduates who can transform an organization. However, I understand that Malaysian companies do not encourage this,” Dr Brown remarked. Before parting, he generously shared the 10-step SHU Employability Framework with the participants.

Many more talks were held in succession. These talks piqued substantial interest and the lecture halls were full at every session. They were Computer Modelling & Simulation in Business Operation Management by Prof Terrence Perera, Co-operation between Local Business & Educational Institutions by Dr Mike Simpson and Providing Students with Transferable Skills to Enhance Employability by Suzanne Margaret Richbell.

Dr Simon Brown explains that unemployed graduates have been an issue for both United Kingdom and Malaysia.

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