Tri-semester Problems To Be

Tri-semester Problems To Be

It’s been a long and very tiring week. Time flies by very quick at this period of the month especially during the campaign period for general election SRCUTP 2010/2011 session. Quoting from what Acap said when I asked advice from him, ‘you have to win the hearts of people from every aspect using every method that exist’. Frankly speaking, a lot of sacrifices have been made for this campaign.  Hopefully, all goes well InsyaAllah, Gods willing. Previously, I have written about the overview of why tri-semester system is implemented; now I think I’ll share my thoughts on what’s going to happen in UTP next semester.

                One of the problems that I can see is the course structure needs reconstruction again. Logically, with the addition of one extra semester the total credit hours needed to graduate must be revised. As stated by Ahmad Munir’s comment from my previous post, certain program needs to add subjects to increase the total credit hours. Apart from that, I can see the possibility of increasing course that have low credit hours like co curriculum courses can be increased from 2 credit hour to 3 credit hour. This may also lead to problem s for current undergraduate student where I can see that certain academic batch may have to take lots of credit hours for a short period of time. One example is for Jan08 batch, my batch. For our final year maybe we have to take the same total credit hour for final year for a period of approximately six months. That’s a burden and a pain in the neck especially for chemical engineering program as we have our final year project and final year design project. Overall, I hope by then a solution can be proposed but I think we better prepare ourselves for the worse.

                Other than that, I can see that all the events in UTP need to be revised thoroughly.  With the change in the semester period and break period I can foresee that certain events needs be rescheduled and maybe there are events that need to be cancelled. What I can expect is there may be a drastic decrease in the number of events organized in UTP as problems will arise such massive overlap of events due to only six months of teaching semester in one year. Hopefully, a counter measure can be proposed to overcome this.

                Overall, it is assumed that UTP will be unstable for several years of implementing this new system. I hope that things will go well. Lastly, before I stop writing I want to wish all of the candidates of general election SRCUTP 2010/2011 session good luck and may the best person win!!!

Undergraduate Trisemester?!

TRI-SEMESTER OVERVIEW

Bismillahirahmanirahim.

Assalamualaikum wbt,

Things have been busy in UTP these past few weeks and will be more hectic in the weeks to come. It seems that time passes by very quick as we can see the end of the semester just around the corner. If now we are in the middle of the SRCUTP General Election 2010/2011, other students bodies, clubs and society in UTP are also preparing for their Annual General Meeting (AGM) and small number of them led the herd in advance by already successfully organizing their AGM. Focusing on this week we can see the rise of the curtain for Green Concert organized by the committee of National Green Convention and not forgetting Treasure Hunt and Chess Tournament organized by Convofair 2010 committee members. In addition to that, there is also Career Placement Week organized for final year student. Leaving things behind, let’s time travel ahead to the future of UTP. Are we aware of the change that will happen to UTP next semester? Some of the students may have a glimpse of it but most students who are aware of it disagree with the change. What I am talking about right now, is about the tri-semester that will be implemented next semester. Are you aware of it?

Why is it implemented?

After researching around I got a handful of information. Basically, the management are implementing the tri-semester system with a definite purpose. The need to introduce this system is to confirm to the Engineering Accreditation Council’s (EAC) requirement of having 8 semesters of full teaching for all engineering programs. This means, the system right now which is 7 semesters of full teaching and 1 semester of internship; industrial Internship cannot be counted as one of the full teaching semesters, does not comply with EAC. Thus, drastic changes made to have 8 semesters next semester in UTP is most likely to fulfill the requirement by the EAC before the next accreditation visit to UTP. This accreditation is important as no accreditation means that our degrees are useless.

An assumed overview of the tri-semester system

I can assume that the foundation tri-semester system is used as the groundwork for the undergraduate tri-semester system whereby there will be three semester per year. Possibly, there will be 2 full teaching semester and 1 semester holiday break summing up to 8 full teaching semesters after 4 years of study. There are also rumours that the internship period will be shorten but to what extent is beyond my knowledge. What I can expect is total reconstruction towards the current system. Overall, we can expect the management to announce the details of the change shortly.

As a whole, I foresee that the change is inevitable and the management is not at fault. However, what I am concern is about the problem that may arise from implementation of the new system. Currently, the management is working hard to resolve these problems. Therefore, I also invite all of you including myself to also think about this matter. Put ourselves in their shoes before criticizing or disagreeing on this issue.  Let’s open up our mind and think for the future of UTP.

My Manifesto

Thank you to Mr. Chairman, representative from the management, respected candidates, previous MPP 2009/2010 and members of the floor.

Thank you to all for coming tonight.

Quoting from Prof Tariq Ramadan

“I may not like what you are doing, but I respect who you are. You know why? Because maybe who you are tomorrow will be better than who I am today!”

I am Mohammad Khairulanam bin Azeman from Skudai Johor. I am currently in second year second semester Chemical Engineering Program. A bit about my achievement.  In my previous school, I was involved as the academic exco of student representative council for my school and I represented Johor and Kedah state in National Chess Tournament. In UTP, I was involved as committee of various events especially in Residential College Support Unit (RCSU) events. In addition, I was also the Project Manager for Minggu Appresiasi Seni & Budaya – Independence Week (MARSYAIW), PnP department member of RCSU 2008/2009 and the Treasurer of RCSU 2009/2010. Apart from that, among my academic achievement, I got the Gold Award for National Physic Quiz 2007, Bronze Award for National Chemistry Quiz 2007, I was the best student for full boarding school SPM trial 2007 and I was the best student in engineering foundation studies UTP 2008.

Respected brothers and sisters,

It is my highest appreciation if all of you can lend me your ears for a short moment.

‘Willing to Serve’

That is why I am standing in front of you.

For the next seven minutes, I will talk about two aspects that will be focused on two things that I will do for all of you, if I were chosen by all of you to be one of the MPP. The two points that I will do for can be considered simple but I am pretty sure that it can bring a big impact to all of you. Thus, I hereby declare, if I were given the mandate to be part of MPP lineup, first, I will rectify the academic system focused on improving tutorial class and second, I will fight for better facilities focused on roof-covered car parks.

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am going to give a statement and I want all of your cooperation to respond yes or no.

Most/Some of the tutorial class in UTP are not effective. Yes or no?! Apart from no awareness about the importance of tutorial class and inappropriate time of conducting the tutorial class, I believe the main factor is the academic system itself. Tutors are actually paid and they get free money when students are not attending the session. Some tutors do a way better job than the lecturers but a number of them just give the answer without interacting with the students which defies the purpose of having tutorial session as it is the same as getting the answer scheme from the lecturer or tutor. Right? If in other IPT the tutors are from the lecturer to be whereby their performance is assessed. If we apply this, it will totally change the system. My suggestion is that we apply tutors evaluation system like the lecturers evaluation system. Although to an extent that I disagree with the lecturers evaluation system because the ACS should conduct the evaluation through a third party not by using the lecturer to distribute the evaluation as cheating may happen. But, I think that can be changed and it’s the only feasible way to detect tutors who are not doing their jobs properly. Thus, if I were chosen to be part of MPP, I will try my best to improve the academic system especially as preparation for the may be implemented tri-semester system.

Members of the floor,

HOT!!

That is what I can say about the weather nowadays. According to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report the global temperature will likely to rise a further 1 to 6 °C during the years to come. Studies have shown that high surrounding temperature can cause sudden overheat of the engine due to the boiling of the fluid in the car system under hot temperature. Besides that, the car batteries lifespan will also decrease when exposed to heat. Are you aware of the condition of your vehicles under the hot weather right now? No worries. If you choose me to be an MPP, I will fight for roof covered car park in UTP. Apart from that I will also fight for other facilities in UTP including rooms for every club in UTP, better and more sports facilities like more courts, maintenance of facilities like replacement of the mattress in the martial arts room and others. But, why I am highlighting the roof-covered car park issue is because some of you may think it is not possible. I cannot promise it to be built in UTP next year as many things need to be considered but believe me it will be in UTP for the years to come. 

Dear friends,

Up until now I have touched on two aspects which are rectifying the academic system and better facilities in UTP and I have promised two things under these aspects which are improving tutorial class and roof-covered car park. But bear in mind, in a fight, we have winners and losers. I cannot guarantee you 100% that I can win the fight, but I can guarantee you that I will try hard dying to win the fight.    If you find that what I am talking about is crucial and important, than I humbly and cordially invite you to vote for me, Mohammad Khairulanam bin Azeman candidate number 5. Gods willing with all your support we can turn it into reality. Mohammad Khairulanam Azeman candidate no 5. Thank you.