Proud.

Earlier today, a three-person panel from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) paid a visit to my university as part of the process to get accreditation for its Foundation in Engineering (FIE) program. They had done this before, and had interviewed some of the lecturers and other staff members. This time round, though, they went for arguably the most important part of a learning institution - the students.

A number of students from the FIE program, including a few of my housemates, were selected for the interview session, as were the five main council members of the Student Representative Council. Being the Secretary of said Council, I was made to dress formally on the day and attend the group interview.

In truth, I didn't end up doing much speaking at all. The questions asked by the panel members were mostly routine - role of the Student Representative Council, activities we had planned for in the future, main problems faced by students, etc. - and were rather calmly answered by the Council President (they just asked the same questions as "last time", he later said). All the rest of us had to do was just sit there quietly and smile and nod in polite agreement.

At the end of the interview, one of the panelists asked: "Are you proud to be a student of MIU?"

The reply from each of the other Council members can be summarized as a big, collective 'meh'. I, however, said that I was "very proud" to be a student here. Which I was. Or am, rather.

Okay, perhaps at the time I confused being very proud with very happy. And indeed, I am very happy at MIU, in spite of everything.

It's understandable if the students here are mostly unhappy with studying at Manipal. The campus is still in its infancy stage, and is hence largely lacking in decent facilities. Tiny library with too few books, tiny cafeteria with too little choice of food, tiny building that can barely contain its expanding number of students and staff - the list goes on.

I'm quite content with what I have here, though. I'm enjoying my studies, and I have good friends around the place. What more could I need in this university, when my main objective in coming here is to obtain as much knowledge as possible?  Sure, there are things that I want, but since they're not nearly as important as what I need, then I'm willing to wait.

Anyway, upon reflection, I realized that I'm not really "very proud" to be a student at MIU, mainly because there's not much to be proud of. I can't even claim to be proud of being one of the very few Malay students here anymore either, with our number due to at least double with the incoming September intake.

What I can be proud of, though - or potentially proud of, anyway - is that I'll be part of one of the first batches to graduate from MIU. I have the chance to blaze a trail; to set a standard of excellence to be used as a benchmark for all the university's future students - and even more so with my position in the Student Representative Council.

So maybe I'm not very proud of being a student of MIU right about now. But here's hoping that there will soon come a day that I will be.

Revamped.

Image courtesy of Facebook.

In my last post I wrote about the upcoming election for my university's Student Representative Counil (SRC), and that I had been uncontested for my post as one of the two Secretaries.

(On a side note, what does a secretary do, anyway? I've always thought that their job description was mainly to write things down. But then again, that just sounds too easy - there's a reason why this post was uncontested.)

The election was held last Wednesday, 28th August 2013, and the results were supposed to have been announced the very next day. Well, this did not transpire, for some reason or another. On the afternoon of the scheduled results day, an e-mail was sent out from Student Affairs to all the students which stated that a re-election was to be held. 

Apparently, it was decided that this would be done in order to "clear questionable doubts on the process of election" - whatever that meant. Conspiracy theorists would conclude that an 'undesirable candidate' had gotten the most votes for President, but I'm not one to stir up such controversy.

So anyway, the re-election was held on Monday, and the results announced the day after. As expected, the favorites for each position all won - although one might argue that the Zimbabwean who won Treasurer was a shock pick; he did only win by one vote, after all.

I was glad that the guy won, though, and not just because he's a friend and batchmate of mine. His presence on the SRC meant that the numerous Africans in the student body would have a voice; a say in whatever the SRC comes up with. Also, the fact that both Secretaries are Malay and one of the Committee Members is Chinese means that there is more diversity in the Council this time around. If all the SRC members had been Indian, like last time, it would be much harder to achieve what is arguably our main objective - to instil unity among the students. I'm not being racist or anything, but people do tend to believe in and support something more if one of their own is involved in it. That's just the way the world works.

Anyway, now that the election's done and dusted, I can look forward to carrying out my duties as one of the SRC Secretaries, although I'm still unclear on what my role is exactly. The upcoming meeting with the Vice-Chancellor should clear that up.  

I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that this new SRC will spell brighter days ahead for MIU. It's been said that the students are the soul of a university, and maybe now this university's soul will be getting some much-needed chicken soup. Unity in diversity is the goal, and this revamped, more cosmopolitan SRC should be well-equipped to achieve it. I, for one, am determined to make that happen - even if my job is only to write things down.

Student Elections.

It's all been fairly dull since I completed my first semester. The second one was supposed to have started right after my three-week break, but as I explained in an earlier post, it didn't, and I've been undergoing a short semester for about ten weeks now.

Well, that short semester (which was actually optional, by the way) is over now, as my second semester begins next week. My schedule's looking pretty packed, what with having six subjects to study as opposed to five from the first semester. However, I'm yet to receive my timetable, so as of yet I'm still unsure of just how busy I'll be starting next week.

The beginning of my second semester isn't the most significant thing happening around my university next week, however. Student Representative Council (SRC) elections are to be held, and in a small place like this, it's a pretty big thing.

The former SRC came under a lot of criticism (even from within) for not really doing a great deal. Without delving too much into that, there seems to be a widespread notion that many of the university's students want some form of change - indeed, only two of the seven former SRC members are running this year.

So what about me, then? Surely I must be getting myself involved in some way? Well, I am involved; I'm running for secretary. 

At first, I'd applied for the position of president, mainly because I'd heard that some of the so-called 'big guns' didn't want the post. I assumed that no one would be running for that particular position, so I just went ahead with it. I was wrong, as it turned out - the lady in charge of receiving candidacy applications told me there actually were a number of candidates running, so she advised me to go for another post. I agreed, and eventually decided on running for secretary.

The candidates' names were released last night, and there's some good news - for me, at least. Two spots for secretary were available (namely Secretary I and Secretary II) and there was only one other candidate besides me. This means I'm guaranteed a spot on the SRC, although there are slight doubts over which secretary I'll end up as. (In the announcement, though, my name was before the other candidate, so maybe that means something, eh.)

Being in the SRC will be a new and valuable experience for me, and I look forward to involving myself in...well, whatever it is the SRC will be doing. In any case, I hope that I'll be able to carry out my duties responsibly and brilliantly. Who knows, with the experience I gain from being the secretary this year, maybe I could end up in a higher post next time around?