Campus Happenings

• INTI's Business Leadership Series debuts with IBM at the helm
• TARCians Gotong-Royong Spirit Stay High Amidst the Rain
• Sudanese Culture shines at Limkokwing's Hall of Fame

INTI's Business Leadership Series debuts with IBM at the helm

A concerted effort by the INTI Education Group to help its students understand the complexities of the working world and have a pulse on the needs of employers gave birth to the Business Leadership Series. And this in turn made its debut with none other than the Managing Director of IBM – Mr Ramanathan Sathiamutty – who spent his afternoon speaking to a few hundred students across the INTI network on how the planet is becoming smarter.

During his talk entitled 'Welcome to the Decade of Smart', Ramanathan said: "The world is connected economically, socially and technically, and through this reality of global integration, the planet has become smaller. It is also becoming more instrumented, more interconnected and more intelligent day by day. These changes create amazing opportunities for society as a whole and for every business, institution and individual.

"At IBM, we are embarking to make the world smarter by integrating the way things work -- the basic patterns, principles, and flows that help shape the interactions between man-made systems and nature's systems, between technology and organizations, between individuals and communities," he added.

The Business Leadership Series, which has been in the offing for several months, is part of INTI's efforts to help its 14,000 odd student community engage with the industry in a plethora of ways in addition to having real time dialogues and debates on topical issues.

"We have a commitment to our students that we will set them apart from their peers. And we believe we can do so by giving them access to the country's top minds and help them overcome their barriers by communicating in an open manner with these thought leaders. IBM is the first in our lineup of dynamic speakers who will initiate a whole new thinking process for our students," Mr Graham Doxey, CEO of Laureate Malaysia and Deputy CEO of INTI Education Group said.

Doxey added that the series was part of INTI's Enrolment to Employment (E2E) initiative to bring industry into the classroom and help shape students into becoming more employable upon graduation. In addition to speakers from the industry, adjunct professors from across the Laureate network will also be making regular visits to INTI campuses whereby students can expect to see world-renowned names as part of their faculty.

Following the 2-hour open session that was attended by a few hundred students at INTI International University and streamed live to 7 INTI campuses across Malaysia, Ramanathan had a round-table dialogue with 10 students, where he was quizzed on issues ranging from globalization to what it takes to be part of the new wave of change.

Ramanathan told the students that to be successful in the 21st century workforce, more "T-shaped" people who are interdisciplinary are required.

"We must have deep skills in a specialty (the vertical axis of the T) and sufficient understanding of a broad range of related disciplines (horizontal axis) to allow us to see contextual linkages, to constructively participate in interdisciplinary teams and to continually adapt our visions and our contributions to rapidly changing conditions and needs. When we have become T-shaped, our breadth and depth of capabilities further enable critical thinking, to integrate capabilities, resulting in delivering value at a higher level," he said.

The INTI's Business Leadership series is set to feature Mr. Manoj Menon, Managing Director of Frost and Sullivan, Singapore in the coming months. Please call Kimberlee Baker at 03-5623 2893 for more information.

TARCians Gotong-Royong Spirit Stay High Admist the Rain

May 22nd was an eventful day where the TAR College community, Exco members of School of Arts and Science (SAS) Alumni Society, Rukun Tetangga of Taman Bunga Raya (TBR) and Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) Pejabat Cawangan Wangsa Maju joined forces for the first time in organizing a gotong-royong activity at the TBR neighbourhood.

The College's students, staff and alumni were divided into four groups and were assigned the responsibility to remove the bulk of rubbish in their respective neighbourhood sectors. More than 100 TAR College students, staff and alumni were in high spirits despite of their rain-soaked clothing and wet shoes. Armed with spades and scrapers, they braced through the rain to clean-up their assigned neighbourhood sector. All the rubbish littering the roadsides was collected. Lorries from the DBKL Office were also brought in to remove dispose the collected garbage.

The Principal of TAR College, Dr Tan Chik Heok in his closing speech said, "This meaningful community service activity help to inculcate positive values as well as civic mindedness among our students and at the same time cultivate a caring society." He added that this wonderful concept of gotong-royong would strengthen the spirit of humanity and their sense of belonging to the community and forge closer rapport between TAR College students and the residents of TBR.

Encik Amirhakeem, President of TBR Rukun Tetangga thanked the College and SAS Alumni Society for their support in this project. He was impressed by the strong commitment shown by the College's community.

All the participants were served with a simple luncheon of nasi lemak and refreshing drink at the end of the day. Without a doubt, TAR College's first "Gotong-Royong" activity was a great success.

Sudanese Culture shines at Limkokwing’s Hall of Fame

It was evident that the night would be a visual display of cultural sights and sounds as students thronged to the Hall of Fame in anticipation of the first Sudanese Cultural night held within the University's walls.

With guests coming from in and around Kuala Lumpur, young and old were treated to a night which illustrated the colourful culture that belongs to the people of Sudan.

With some dressed in Sudan's traditional garb, the 'Jalabiya' - a loose fitting dress accompanied with a large scarf worn by women and the 'thobe' - a long shirt worn by men, the night called for patriotism and cultural pride for all.

Consulate of Sudan in Malaysia Tarig al Toom was the night's guest of honour and was welcomed by fellow Sudanese who were proud to display the hard work and effort they put into the event.

'It is my first time here and it is such a pleasure being here to witness the beautiful gathering of students from over 150 countries willing to experience the culture that we are so proud of in Sudan.'

With a history that is closely intertwined to that of ancient Egypt, Sudan is the largest country in Africa which is rich in culture and inhabited with nearly 200 ethnic groups speaking over 900 languages and dialects making it one of the most ethically and linguistically diverse countries in the world.

The night was a culmination of sights, sounds and activity as the blend of music from various regions in the country along with poetry by greats such as Mohammed Wardi and Mohammed el Amin followed by song, dance and skits all demonstrated the uniqueness that is Sudan.

This event was organised by students who took a lot of time to make this cultural night work.

'It was great to see so many Sudanese students come together and join in on this cultural night. This is a good way for other nationalities to experience the wonderful culture that we have,' said Ali Abdel Aziz Ali a Sudanese student studying at Limkokwing University.