Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) today celebrated its 16th convocation ceremony where 1469 graduates of different fields were conferred degrees.
From the total, the university conferred 87 PhDs, 138 Masters and 1,244 bachelor's degrees in the fields of engineering and technology.
This is the largest number of graduates that UTP has produced since its first convocation in 2001.
At the convocation ceremony, former prime minister, YABhg Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was appointed as UTP's new chancellor. He also conferred the scrolls to the graduates.
Petroleum engineering graduate Mohd Shahrul Azhar Mohd Long was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Award, Norsyafiqah Salimun (Petroleum Geoscience) and Cheah Zi Chian (Mechanical Engineering) received the silver and bronze awards respectively.
Rahimah Embong, an MSc in Civil Engineering graduate, received the Alumni Postgraduate Award at the Master's level, while Chuah Lai Fatt of Chemical Engineering received the Alumni Postgraduate Award for PhD.
Abakar Hassan Ibrahim Fariss of Chad, a Petroleum Engineering graduate, was awarded the Best International Undergraduate Student award.
The convocation also witnessed two sets of twins graduated. The first twin was Leow Wei Ning and Leow Wei Qin, both graduated with a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering​. Meanwhile, both Abdul Hanif Abdullah and Abdul Haris Abdullah not only graduated with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering but will also work at the same company.
Also present at the event were UTP Pro Chancellors Tan Sri Sidek Hassan and Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, ITPSB Board of Directors, representatives from other universities and UTP Vice Chancellor Datuk Ir (Dr) Abdul Rahim Hashim.
Various events were organised in conjunction with the convocation ceremony.
UTP Acadrex is an event that features the university's academic and research exhibition. There was also an innovation competition and a talk titled 'Empowering Women in Science, Technology and Engineering and Mathematics, Challenges and Way Forward' by Universiti Sains Malaysia Vice Chancellor Datuk Prof Dr Asma Ismail.
UTP also organised a convocation festival at its campus featuring various activities. They included students' performance, aerobic session, kids colouring competition, fireworks show and performances by Noh Salleh and Zamani.
UTP also held the Convo Ride 2016 with the participation of 500 cycling enthusiasts from all over Malaysia. In addition, UTP organised Convo Run 2016 which saw the participation of 200 runners from UTP staff and students as well as the local community. These activities aimed to promote healthy lifestyle in addition to strengthening UTP's relationship with its surrounding area.
UTP also raised fund to donate 200 bicycles to underprivileged school children from 15 schools in the university's surrounding areas.
