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.