98% prefer English when writing answers

8 March 2012

Reports by KANG SOON CHEN, FARIK ZOLKEPLI, HAMDAN RAJA ABDULLAH, AMINUDDIN MOHSIN, JOSEPHINE JALLEH and MOHD FARHAAN SHAH

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 98% of the candidates who took the Science, Mathematics and Computing subjects in the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination last year answered in English.

Malaysian Examinations Council (MEC) chairman Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin said there was a 1% increase of those choosing to answer the questions in English compared to 97.1% in 2010 and 97.5% in 2009.

“Although Mathematics S, Mathematics T, Further Mathematics T, Computing, Physics, Chemistry and Biology are taught in English in Form Six, candidates are offered the option of answering either in English or Bahasa Malaysia,” he said when announcing the analysis of the STPM 2011 results yesterday.

Best of the best: Prof Mohd Noh (4th from left) chatting with the recepients of the STPM outstanding student awards as they showed off their mock cheques.

Prof Mohd Noh, who is the vice-chancellor of Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, said the number of candidates who obtained 5A’s had increased to 12 compared to eight.

The 5A’s scorers were Low Wei Yang (SMK Horley Methodist, Teluk Intan), Teoh Han Kheng, (SMJK Chung Ling, George Town), Mohamad Shahrullnizam Mahamud (SMK Sultan Abd Jalil Shah, Perak), Woon Soon Kit , Gan Wooi Lun (both from SMK Sam Tet, Ipoh), Muhammad Zulhilmi Mohd Salleh (SMK Kota, Kota Baru), Nurul Shazwani Kamarudin Darus (SMK Tengku Panglima Raja, Pasir Mas), Lim May Teng, Eric Khong Mun Kit (both from SMK (L) Methodist, Kuala Lumpur), Malarvili Subramaniam (SMK Ambrose, Ayer Tawar), Lee Jia Chern (SMK Jitra, Kubang Pasu) and Teng Lik Sien (SMK Tendong, Pasir Mas).

Of the total, he said five scored A’s in all papers taken, adding that they were given the best student awards for STPM 2011.

Prof Mohd Noh said that although candidates were allowed to take five subjects, most took four subjects, as the Higher Education Ministry’s requirement for entry into public universities was four subjects, including the General Paper.

He said 298 candidates obtained a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 4.0 compared with 343 in 2010, adding that 53,687 registered for it last year.

Prof Dr Mohd Noh announced that the STPM examination assessment mode would be changed from this year.

Lower Six students now will sit for a semester examination in November, followed by two semester examinations in June and November next year.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/8/nation/10874862&sec=nation

The Star Index 2012

March

• 06/03/2012 - Two Malaysian books up for award

Two Malaysian books up for award

6 March 2012

KUALA LUMPUR: Two books authored by Malaysians are among 149 publications vying for the International Impac Dublin Literary Award 2012, the world’s richest book prize.

Shortlisted titles will be announced on April 12 and the winner, who will take home 100,000 (RM392,962), will be announced at an awards ceremony on June 13.

Deputy Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Maglin D’Cruz said the two books, 21 Immortals by Rozlan Mohd Noor and Days of Change by Chuah Guat Eng, were picked and submitted by the National Library for the prestigious award.

Maglin announced this while launching the ninth Dublin Literary Award For Young Malaysians 2012 essay writing competition at the National Library here yesterday.

The competition, organised by the Irish Embassy in collaboration with the ministry, the National Library and The Star, is open to all schools in Malaysia to students aged between 14 and 18.

Students may submit their essays via e-mail to writeforidla@gmail.com. The competition ends on April 13.

For details, call 03-7865 5166.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/6/nation/10860633&sec=nation

Students protest don’s suspension

Friday, 21 October 2011

By PRIYA KULASAGARAN

KUALA LUMPUR: Student leaders plan to to take their grievances over the lack of academic freedom to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (SMM) chairman Ahmad Syukri Ab Razab said the group planned to hand over a memorandum to the Prime Minister as he is expected to visit the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) next week.

“We have been told the Prime Minister will be visiting IIUM next week so we plan to hand over a memorandum then.

“This is a serious issue as our academics need to be given the space for critical thinking and debate,” he said during a press conference here Friday.

Meanwhile, SMM staged a demonstration after prayers at the IIUM mosque, calling for the reinstatement of law lecturer Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari.

Ahmad Syukri said he managed to pass a memorandum to a member of the management staff. He claimed four students were arrested.

Ahmad Syukri said the group would take action again next week if the university did not do anything.

IIUM has issued a show cause letter to Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari for allegedly making controversial statements against the Sultan of Selangor.

The letter said Prof Abdul Aziz had been given a week to explain why action should not be taken against him.

In the meantime, he has also been barred from entering the campus without the dean’s permission.

In a statement, IIUM said it was giving Prof Abdul Aziz a chance to explain the statements which had implicated him.

He is reportedly being hauled up for saying that Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah’s intervention in a church raid controversy was “unusual and inconsistent”.

The Sultan had decreed recently that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department did not run foul of the law when it conducted checks on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church.

The Sultan added that there were attempts to proselytise Muslims, but no group should be prosecuted over the controversial church search in August.

 

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/21/nation/20111021153500&sec=nation

Income through research

Sunday 16 October 2011

By Winnie Yeoh

winnie@thestar.com.my

THROUGH various researches and projects, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is working towards generating enough income to become self-sustainable.

USM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Omar Osman said the university’s plan now is to deliver the various programmes under its World’s First Initiatives project.

He said USM is constantly looking for more opportunities to increase the university’s ability to generate its own income to be able to launch more research projects instead of depending on funding from the government.

Under the project launched this year, USM has several initiatives in the pipeline including the Bukit Bunuh archaeological discovery, the Sungai Batu Archaeological Complex project, and the natural rubber genome discovery.

Other projects to be developed are halal collagen, halal meningococcal tetravalent vaccine and an online system to teach Braille in Bahasa Malaysia called eKodBraille.

Over to you: Prof Dzulkifli (right) handing over duties to Prof Omar in a ceremony at the university.

“We will work on delivering the potential excellence that we have identified and maybe a few more projects that we have to go through to become the icon as well as an example of best education.

“We also want to achieve a good level of community engagement through these initiatives,” he said in an interview recently.

Prof Omar, who took over as vice-chancellor from Prof Tan Sri Dzulkifli Abdul Razak on Sept 28, said he will enhance the university’s transformation through social innovation. He added that he would continue Prof Dzulkifli’s plan of improving administration efficiency under USM’s new constitution.

“We will strengthen our administration structure as well as set a long-term plan for the next 10 to 15 years,” he said.

Prof Omar said foresight and planning were crucial in the administration of a higher education institution.

“USM took an approach of institution transformation through apex (accelerated programme for excellence) from a normal comprehensive university into a research intensive one in seven years from 2001,” he said, adding that the ultimate aim is to become a world renowned institution.

He said Prof Dzulkifli and his team had laid a strong foundation for that purpose.

Prof Omar, 53, was born in Penang obtained a Diploma in Quantity Surveying from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

He obtained his undergraduate degree in Quantity Surveying from the Polytechnic of Wales (now known as the University of Glamorgan).

Subsequently he obtained his Master’s degree in Construction Building and PhD in Project Management from Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom in 1985 and 1989 respectively.

In a simple handing-over ceremony recently, Prof Dzulkifli, 60, who was USM vice-chancellor for 11 years said he was confident his successor will lead the university to greater heights.

“USM is where I studied and served. I spent the last 40 years here and I have forged a very close relationship with my colleagues.

“I know I’m leaving it to a capable person who knows what’s going on,” he said.

He added that one of his fondest memories of working at the university was building a cohesive team.

 

http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2011/10/16/education/9663116&sec=education