KUCHING – Twenty-three student-members of Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus’ Civil Engineering Club (SSCEC) had the opportunity to learn more about sustainable urban planning when they visited Shanghai and the World Expo 2010 recently.
The educational trip, made possible with a RM5, 000 cash sponsorship from Yayasan Sarawak as well as assistance in kind from the Swinburne Sarawak Student Council (SSSC), provided the students, many of whom are in their final year, with a taste of what sustainable urban planning is all about when they visited the various technology-based pavilions at the expo. They were also taken on excursions to visit several technology-based landmarks in and around Shanghai.
Two such landmarks were the Lupu and Hangzhou Bay bridges. As the world’s longest steel arch and trans-oceanic bridges respectively, visiting the bridges gave the students insights on structural engineering as they were briefed on the technical aspects of these bridges by their lecturers and guide.
“The trip, especially our visit to Lupu and Hangzhou Bay bridges, has given me a whole new outlook on engineering, specifically structural engineering,” said Chiong Lee, the president of SSCEC. Seeing these structures first hand is a real eye-opener as to what engineers and engineering can do, she added.
The group was also given the opportunity to get a bird’s eye view of downtown Shanghai and the Huang Pu River from the world’s tallest observation deck atop Shanghai World Financial Centre.
At the World Expo, the group gained insights on the various approaches to a sustainable way of living through displays put up by participating countries at the exposition site.
“Queuing for four hours just to enter the Germany Pavilion is extremely long and tiring, but it was all worth the while,” said Jaron Chong, a tour-member who was excited with all the advancement in technology showcased at the expo.
According to Dr Ling Tong Wei, one of the lecturers accompanying the students for the trip, the visit to Shanghai’s structural engineering landmarks as well as the World Expo enhanced the students’ vast engineering-related knowledge.
Dr Ling also said that the trip help expose the students to the culture and way of life of other countries, an understanding and knowledge which he said will come in handy once they embark into the working world. “The Shanghai World Expo help opened the eyes of our students on the importance of sustainable development for the benefit of future generation,” he added.
The week-long study excursion also saw the group visiting the West Lake (Xi Hu), a part-manmade, part natural lake and Sutong Bridge, the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge.