JOHOR BAHRU , 9 Nov. – Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) post graduate students whom excel in their studies have been celebrated in a grand event in Pulai Springs, here today.

112 excellent students were selected from amongst the most outstanding postgraduate students in their field of study and faculty/schools from Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur campus, where 36 were Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students and 76 were from Master program.

Faculty of Engineering has the most numbers of recipients with 11 PhD and 34 Master recipients.

The event, called Best Post Graduate Students Award, is organized by the School of Graduate Studies (SPS) and it is held every UTM convocation session for each semester.

For the best student of Doctor of Philosophy, Chemical Engineering program, Siti Khadijah binti Hubadillah, learning is like an unrequited love because you need to learn wholeheartedly and never expect anything in return.

“Throughout my studies, I deactivated all my social media,” she said.

Now appointed as an additional research advisor at Nan Yang Academy Singapore, her research focuses on water purification because the world only has three percent of clean water, since another 97% is sea water.

“However, because of the industrial activities, clean water is left with one percent. So my focus of the investigation is to clear water.

The latest project is not to depend on neighbouring countries for clean water,” she added.

She graduated her doctoral program with B1 result in VIVA (oral examination), seven Q1 papers, six Q2 papers and 6 scopus index.

Meanwhile for the best student in Doctor of Philosophy, Educational Technology program, Kew Si Na, she has a special interest to know more about how technology can be used greatly to enhance teaching and learning practices effectively, and this has led to the basis of her research, which is to focus on e-learning to improve learning process of students.

Throughout her three-year learning journey,  she has involved in many interesting activities like Three Minutes Thesis Competition, research exhibitions and competitions, young scholar program, research conferences, research internship in Thailand, international invitation program such as Hong Kong, Xi’an, Shenzhen and Maldives and university visit program in Indonesia.

These were her tips to excel in study:

• To possess passion and curiosity in your research field. With that, you will feel more motivated to read and write more.
• To develop the right attitude. The journey of PhD is challenging, and thus must always be determined, think positively, and never give up no matter how.
• To manage time wisely and have a plan. With that, you will have clearer ideas on what to do and how long you will need to complete the tasks punctually.
• To discuss with your supervisor. Come out with your own ideas and discuss with your supervisor. Don’t simply sit and wait for your supervisor to tell you what to do.
• To have peer-to-peer support and be part of research group. Get your buddy whom you can share thoughts and feelings with. Research group will organize numerous skills development workshops and seminars.

Being a fast track student, she undergone many challenges in life, and one of the unforgettable moments was when she was lack of skills and knowledge in research methodology that she need to put extra efforts and spend much more time to study the related books and articles to cover back what she had lacked.

“I feel proud to be one of the UTM students,” she said, ending the conversation.

One of the other recipients, Dr. Liman Alhaji Saba from Nigeria, a Doctor of Philosophy Architecture student, studying in UTM has changed his lifestyle and he is satisfied with all the services and facilities in UTM.

“I will give a lot to UTM once I am back in my country, such as promoting good names of UTM. In fact, my daughter will come to Malaysia to enroll in UTM in the year 2020,” he added.

All these recipients will also be graduating in the UTM 61st Convocation Ceremony which will be held on 10 – 12 December 2018.

UTM wishes a very hearty congratulations to all graduands!