KUCHING – Students of Chung Hua Middle School with Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) will be pleased to know that they may continue their tertiary education at Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus.
Professor Helmut Lueckenhause, who is the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the university, said this during when the Committee of Management of Chung Hua Middle Schools No. 1, 3 and 4 visited the campus on 4 November with their chairman, Richard Wee Liang Chiat.
Lueckenhausen said that Swinburne Sarawak’s home campus in Melbourne recognizes the UEC as an entrance qualification into degree programmes, and similarly its Sarawak campus also accepts the same entrance requirements.
“Swinburne Sarawak is part of the Swinburne family. We run the same programmes,” he said.
UEC is regarded as an entrance qualification for degree courses and it is accepted by many tertiary educational institutions in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and Singapore.
Lueckenhausen added that Swinburne offers flexibility in that when students enroll with the university they are not committed to finishing their studies at Swinburne Sarawak but may choose to complete their studies at its Melbourne campuses or come back to finish them, depending on their preference. Swinburne has five campuses in Melbourne.
It is hoped that with this announcement more students with UEC qualification will be aware of the opportunity to further their education at the university.
Wee, whose entourage included school principals from Chung Hua Middle School No. 1, 3 and 4, said that the Committee and Swinburne Sarawak are also looking into other areas of cooperation and collaboration.
“Among them is a training programme for our teachers. We will look into how Swinburne’s programmes can benefit our teachers,” he said, adding that details of the matter still need further discussion.
As it is a big leap for students when they move from school to university, Lueckenhausen said and that both parties are looking to create linkages that would to aid a smoother transition.
“This may be having the students meet us or we could have our people visit the students in their school which may be a more natural and comfortable progression.
“There are many ways we can do these but we have not explored them all yet,” he said, referring to the matter of student collaboration and professional development for the teachers.
Also present to share their experience on moving from school to a university were Swinburne Sarawak accounting students Tan Lee and Leong Kia Chun. Tan and Leong were formerly from Chung Hua Middle Schools.
Tan said the Intensive English programme at the university helped improve the command of the language which in turn enabled her to enroll for a degree programme.
Leong said as he also studied accounting while in school, he was “very familiar” with the programme at university.
Both Tan and Leong will transfer to Swinburne’s Melbourne campus to complete their studies, next year.
Scholarship awards, in particular, the university’s Leadership scholarships were also discussed. This category of scholarship is awarded to deserving students with good academic results and for actively participating in extra-curricular activities while in secondary school.
The scholarships will continue to be awarded to eligible students from Chung Hua Middle schools.