Curtin Malaysia foundation students undergo academic awareness programme

Miri – 8 November 2017 – Over 60 Foundation in Engineering and Science students of Curtin University, Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) underwent an Academic Awareness Programme workshop organised by the Foundation in Engineering and Science Department of the university’s Faculty of Engineering and Science recently.

According to Foad Motalebi, Head of the Department of Foundation Studies, the objective of the programme was to raise awareness of important academic policies, procedures and processes in place at department, faculty and university level.

Following opening remarks by Foad, the students were given a talk entitled ‘Curtin Values and Academic Integrity’ by lecturer Lai Zhenyue in which she highlighted Curtin University’s values of integrity, respect, courage, excellence and impact and the importance of academic integrity in upholding the university’s reputation, and quality of education and graduates.

This was followed by a talk entitled ‘Study Skills and Exam Conduct’ by lecturer Kamaroizan Mohamad during which he highlighted issues faced by students new to studies at tertiary level and suggested a few approaches to overcome such issues.

Kamaroizan also spoke about exam conduct and important guidelines related to taking examinations at the campus such as examination timetabling, requesting for alternative examinations and examination aids, as well as what to prepare before, during and after the final examinations and the results release process.

Next was a talk entitled ‘Plagiarism, BOE, CWA and Appeals’ delivered by Foad, who highlighted procedures for monitoring plagiarism practised at the campus and examples of plagiarism under the university’s plagiarism policy. He also impressed on the students the importance of practices carried out after the final examination period and the standard procedures for student appeals and release of results.

The last talk was on ‘Understanding Evaluations and Feedbacks’ by lecturer Shubashini Krishnan in which she clarified misconceptions that students may have in evaluating the way their units have been delivered and administered. Shubashini said it was important that students get involved in the unit evaluation process and provide constructive feedback for the ongoing development of the units.

Group photo of students and academic staff during the workshop.