JOHOR BAHRU, 19 May: A big congratulation to Quantity Surveying and Construction Students of Quantity Surveying Department, who managed to win 4 out of 9 awards at the 4th RICS-RISM International Conference for Undergraduates 2012 held on 18 and 19 May at UiTM Puncak Alam Campus.
The conference is a series of annual event jointly organized by Royal Institution of Surveyors (RICS) and Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM) host together with participating Universities on a rotation basis. This year, it was hosted by Universiti Teknologi Mara at Puncak Alam Campus. The conference 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 networking apart from exposing the students to present their undergraduate research publicly.
The 4th RICS-RISM International Surveying Conference for Undergraduate 2012 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 and Taylor’s University, Assumption University (Thailand), Thammasat University (Thailand), Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Hong Kong, ChongQing University (China) and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China).
Our students have managed to monopolise the Best Speakers Award category by grabbing 3 out of 5 awards in the competition. Mean while, for the Best Special Mention Paper category, we managed to grab 1 from 3 awards in the competition. All in all, UTM students have indeed monopolised the awards by grabbing in total 4 out 9 awards competed. The winners for the Best Presenters are Chan Shuk Yan (QS), Tan Jian Siang (Constr.) and Lau Sook Cheng (QS). Lau Sook Cheng also managed to grab the Special Mention Paper Award entitled “Quantity Surveyors’ Cost Estimating Skills as Applied in Consulting and Contracting Firms.
The papers 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. Dr. Azlan Shah Ali (UM) and Dr. Nazirah Zainul Abidin (USM). The adjudicators for the parallel session were randomly selected from the participating universities to choose the
best speaker during each parallel session. All in all, 23 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 Sr. Hj Sihak Ismail (IM Global Property Consultants Sdn. Bhd), Prof. Dean Kashiwagi (PBSRG), Sr. Dainna Baharuddin (RISM), Sr Wong Chong Wei (RICS) and Sr. Low Han Hoe (RICS). Topics presented at the plenary session were in
conjunction with the conference theme ‘Enriching Young Surveyors: Beyond Borders’.
The awards were presented by Sr Teo Chee Hai, the President of International Federation of Surveyors Malaysia. There were 3 categories of award at the competition namely the Best Presenters, Special Mention Paper and Best Paper. The next competition will be hosted by Taylor’s University in 2013.
Once again the students of Quantity Surveying and Construction Programme have managed to outshine other contenders’ prom participating universities within the Asia Pacific region and repeated last year’s success to remain the best in country. Kudos to all!