KUCHING – Two Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus undergraduates were awarded scholarships by Maxis in Kuala Lumpur, recently.
The recipients, Ivan Ling Ting Yang, a first year electronic and electrical engineering student, and Daniel Vong Wei Ling, who is majoring in robotics and mechatronics, and computer science and software engineering, were among 30 students who were awarded scholarships by the telecommunication giant.
“It’s a real honour to be one of the 30 to be awarded. It’s once in a lifetime experience to be chosen for this prestigious award,” said Ling, 20, adding that it was a stressful time for him from the day he put in the application to finally receiving the result after the interview.
“Being interviewed alongside other students who were applying for renowned universities in the UK and Canada was also intimidating, but I was determined to see the process to the end,” he said.
For Vong, the scholarship has solidified his commitment to his studies and aims to graduate with a robotics, mechatronics and computer software engineering degree.
“I want to invent sophisticated robots capable of functioning beyond human capabilities,” said Vong, who since his secondary school days has been dabbling in robotics and has participated in the F1 in Schools Technology Challenge.
He said his passion for robotics was spurred on by supportive family and friends.
Vong advises scholarship applicants not to give up easily.
“With a little perseverance and persistence, anything can be achieved. What is important is a good foundation; being an all-rounder is necessary as society now do not want book-worms,” he said.
“When applying for a scholarship, never think that you are inadmissible,” Ling concurred. “If you think you deserve to be awarded and have proven this academically, then you should apply.”
The scholarships were awarded by Maxis to first and second-year students who plan to pursue careers in business, engineering, computer science, actuarial science and law, amongst others.