Curtin Malaysia Foundation in Commerce students learn about business operations at Miri City Council

Miri – 21 October 2019 – 19 Foundation in Commerce students of Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) recently visited the Miri City Council as part of their studies in ‘Business Statistics and Fundamentals of Business Mathematics’.

Accompanying the students were Foundation in Commerce lecturers Wendy Law and Michelle Phua.

The visit allowed the students to learn about the different operational units of the city council and also to better understand the role of mathematics and statistics in daily business operations. They also gained insights into the data handling and budget planning of the various departments within the city council.

One of the students, Angeline Lai Mei Phing, said the visit was highly educational as she gained new knowledge and insights into the usage of statistics in real business operations.

Fellow student Daniel Yong agreed with Lai, saying that it gave him the opportunity to learn about the different ways budgets can be planned and prepared. He said the knowledge complemented what the students are learning in the Business Statistics and Fundamentals of Business Mathematics units of their course.

Meanwhile, Law said that industrial visits are crucial for students’ learning as it helps them to relate what they have learnt in class to real-life business applications. This is common practice at Curtin Malaysia, where the Curtin courses are very industry focused and emphasise practical applications. Industry exposure and engagement is embedded in the curricula of all the courses.

In thanking their hosts at the Miri City Council for an enlightening and worthwhile visit, Phua said the Foundation Studies Department at Curtin Malaysia’s Faculty of Business will continue to organise visits to their offices for future batches of students.

Curtin Malaysia offers a one-year (or two-semester) Foundation in Commerce course that prepares students for undergraduate studies in business programmes at the Faculty of Business.

The course has several units that are common to all foundation courses like Effective Communication skills and Writing and Research Skills and, in addition, students study units in Economics, Accounting, Business Management, Business Statistics and Business Mathematics.

The students and lecturers pose for a group photo with Miri City Council staff.

Lecturer Wendy Law receives a momento from Miri City Council’s Ilyana Mohamad and Roslan Ali while Michelle Phua (4th left) and another council staff look on.