KUCHING – Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus recently played host to an entourage of school counsellors from Sri Lanka who were on a familiarisation visit to the university and city.
The 10 visitors, led by senior operations assistant manager Iromie Rajaratnam and marketing manager Dilani Wickramasinghe from a student services company were welcomed by the university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor and CEO Professor Janet Gregory.
The company, which has offices in Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna, assists students in Sri Lanka looking to pursue higher education abroad.
The two-day visit enabled the visitors to learn more about the campus including its programs and the professional accreditation process, student support services and facilities.
“Now that we’ve seen the university for ourselves and saw what it has to offer, we are impressed,” said Dilani, who added that the facilities on campus were modern.
Established in 2000, Swinburne Sarawak offers programs in business, computing, design, engineering and science, ranging from foundation and degree to postgraduate studies.
Undergraduate students have the option to transfer to the home campus in Melbourne to complete their studies, although the programs could be completed entirely at the Kuching campus.
Regardless of where they choose to complete their program, graduates are awarded the same internationally recognised parchment.
“Being able to obtain an Australian qualification in Malaysia that is recognised globally at an affordable cost is very attractive,” Dilani said.
She also said that as the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) is popular among Sri Lankan students, the eligibility for CIMA membership is another plus factor as they could apply to join the professional body after completing the Bachelor of Business (Accounting) and the Bachelor of Business (Accounting and Finance) at Swinburne Sarawak.
Equally impressed was student counsellor Sonia Elaine Jayasinghe from St Thomas College in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo.
“I regard it as a top university and its programs are right up there with other top universities that I have visited abroad,” she said after a dialogue session with the respective heads of faculties and student affairs department.
“I would send my children to study here.”
The visitors also toured Kuching, a city of about 600,000 people, and noted its cleanliness and greenery.
“It is a very peaceful, safe and calm city with low population density. Living here will help students concentrate more on their studies with little distraction, compared to living and attending university in a busy city,” said Dilani.
There are currently about 4,000 students pursuing their studies at Swinburne Sarawak with international students hailing from more than 60 countries. For the past several years Sri Lankans make up the biggest international group.