UTP Celebrates Its 10th Convocation (17 Oct 2010)
This year, UTP witnessed a total of 1190 of its students graduated in their respective fields of studies. Out of this figure, 1066 were undergraduates from various programmes i.e Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Business Information Systems and Information and Communication Technology and 124 were postgraduates from Civil Engineering, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Information Technology Engineering, Petroleum Engineering and Petroleum Geoscience.
YBhg Dato’ Shamsul Azhar Abbas, President and Chief Executive Officer of PETRONAS was also proclaimed as the Pro-Chancellor of the University at the ceremony by Puan Juniwati Rahmat Hussin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Institut Teknologi PETRONAS Sdn Bhd (ITPSB) . All graduates received their scrolls from the Pro Chancellor at the University’s Chancellor Hall.
In his speech, the Pro Chancellor urged graduates to recognise the contributions of all those who had made their success possible. He said, “ You will have realised that in life, no success is ever one person’s glorious achievements alone, but that it typically stands on the often imperceptible, yet no less profound, contributions of those around you - just as your achievements today do.” He added, “ If you always bear these thoughts in mind, remain steadfast by their lessons and recall with humility the sacrifices of those whose who have helped you attain success, I am certain you will not go wrong in life.”
He also stressed on the need for graduates to be mentally prepared for the challenges and complexities of working life. All graduates should have a firm set of guiding principles in life and integrity of the highest levels. They should also have the strength and perseverance to hold fast to those values even in the face of adversities. He added, “You will need to know how to strike the right balance between being principled and being practical, when it is that you should insist on the ideal and when yet to relent in the face of life’s limitations.”
He also reminded that the graduates should always be mindful of their conduct as they were effectively the University’s “ambassadors” at large. He said, “ I urge all of you therefore to be mindful of your conduct at all times. Please choose wisely in life and bring to mind always that the good name of the University rests to a large extent upon your shoulders.”
Rector and Chief Executive Officer of the University, Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Haji Kasim in his speech said, “To be a World Class University, UTP must strive and strengthen its Research and Development endeavours. In achieving this, UTP has embarked upon a transformation plan until year 2020, and now it is in the execution stage. The transformation plan detailed out action plans, benchmarked existing and future R&D areas and developed road maps for all research areas in order for UTP to achieve Research University status by the year 2013.
This year’s Chancellor Awards were presented to Vignesh Kumar s/o Munusamy from Chemical Engineering Programme for Gold, Mohamad Iskandar bin Mahbob from Mechanical Engineering for Silver and Nur Iliana binti Ahmad Kamarudin from Business Information Systems for Bronze. The Best International Undergraduate Student Award went to Hossam Mahmoud Gamal El din Mohammed El-Anzeery from Egypt.
The ceremony was also attended by the representatives of the various local universities, members of the University’s board of directors and PETRONAS Management Committee members.
Earlier, some of the graduates that have shown outstanding performance during their studies at UTP were presented with special awards in the Rector Award Presentation Ceremony which was held on Friday, 15 October 2010. The awards which were presented by Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Haji Kasim include:
1. Rector Award – this is awarded to well-rounded graduates for every academic programme who had shown excellent achievement in the academic and non-academic aspects such as leading the societies or clubs, and representing the hostels, departments or university.
2. Final Year Project Award – this is awarded to the best three projects from every academic programme. The recipients had shown original thought and innovativeness in their final year research.
3. Final Year Industry Award for Civil Engineering – this is awarded for the first time to the six best graduates from the Civil Engineering programme.
4. PETRONAS Final Year Design Award – this is awarded to the best two Final Year Design Projects for Chemical Engineering Programme who had met the industry standard for plant design.
Later in the afternoon on 16 October 2010, YBhg Dato’ Shamsul Azhar was brought for a tour of the Academic and Research Exhibition (AcadRex2010) at the Plaza of Chancellor Complex. A convocation dinner which was attended by PETRONAS and UTP Management, and the graduates was also held at the Main Hall of the campus. In commemorative of the 10th Convocation Ceremony, the UTP Alumni also launched the UTP Dinar. It was an emotional yet a memorable event to the graduates when they were presented with a special montage from their first day in the university until a day before their convocation.
In conjunction with the convocation ceremony, UTP and the Student’s Representative Council also organised a four-day festivity at its campus in Bandar Seri Iskandar. The ConvoFair, which was held from Thursday, 14 October until 17 October 2010, was officiated by YBhg Datuk Muhammad Muhiyuddin bin Abdullah, Yang Di Pertua, Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia, Perak. Various activities took place during the ConvoFair which include activities like performances by guest artistes; Hattan and Zamani.
