UTM students capturing their moment of victory after the prize giving ceremony held at Taylor’s University, Lake Side Campus, Subang Jaya.

UTM students capturing their moment of victory after the prize giving ceremony held at Taylor’s University, Lake Side Campus, Subang Jaya.

SUBANG JAYA, 19 May 2013: A big congratulation to Quantity Surveying and Construction Students of Quantity Surveying Department, who managed to won 2 awards at the 5th RICS-RISM International Conference for Undergraduates 2013 held on 19 and 20 April at Taylor’s University, Lake Side Campus, Subang Jaya.

The conference is a series of annual event jointly organised by Royal Institution of Surveyors (RICS), Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM) and Association of Authorized Land Surveyors Malaysia (AALSM) hosted together with participating Universities on a rotational basis. It provides a platform for undergraduates from the various accredited surveying courses in Malaysia as well as Asia Pacific Regional Universities to share and exchange ideas, promote understanding and build their networks amongst the participants from the various surveying disciplines and universities apart from giving the opportunity to the students to present their undergraduate research publicly. This year, it was hosted by Taylor’s University at Lake Side Campus.

The 5th RICS-RISM International Surveying Conference for Undergraduate 2013 was opened to both national and international participating universities within the Asia Pacific Region. The participating university comprises of Universiti Malaya, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Taylor’s University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong), Tong Ji University (China), Chong Qing University (China) and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China).

Our students have managed to win two of the Best Speakers Award category. The winners for the Best Presenters are Farah Azwanee Aminuddin and Dayang Afiqah Abang Mohammad Shibli. The students were also given the opportunity to send in their resumes to several future employers who participated in the career booth during the conference. From the responses gathered, it was found that many of them have managed to secure a job during the walk-in interviews.

The papers presented were judged by both academicians and prominent industry players that includes Dato’ Mani Usilappan (RISM), Prof. Omar Munir (UTAR), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ting Kien Hwa (UiTM), Sr. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Azlan Shah Ali (UM) and Dr. Mastura Jaafar (USM). The adjudicators for the parallel session were randomly selected from the participating universities and had been given the task to choose the best speaker during each parallel session. All in all, 27 papers were vetted and presented.

The plenary session of the conference was chaired by Bill Jones, the President of RICS Asia Pacific Region and the presenters includes Ar. Ben ThumMun Cheong (SIACAD Pte Ltd), Prof. Sr. Dr. Hjh Wan Maimun Wan Abdullah (Khalid Ahmad Architects), Sr. Ho Chin Soon (RISM), Sr Ong Hock Teck (RICS) and Prof. Dr. Ting Kien Hwa (RICS). Topics presented at the plenary session were in conjunction with the conference theme ‘Empowering Young Surveyor: Technologies of Tomorrow’. The awards were presented by Sr Kwan Hock Hai, the Chairman of RICS Malaysia. The next competition will be hosted by Universiti Malaya in 2014.

Once again the students of Quantity Surveying and Construction Programme have managed to outshine other contenders’ from participating universities within the Asia Pacific region. Kudos to all as this year is the 4th year in a row that the participating students from the Quantity Surveying department have managed to win in the conference.