Curtin Sarawak commended for its community outreach

Miri – 3 June 2011 – Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) is a shining example of a tertiary institution that not only focuses on the needs of its students, academics and partners, but also the needs of the community it serves, according to Assistant Minister of Communication and Assistant Minister of Sport Datuk Lee Kim Shin.

He was commending Curtin Sarawak for its generosity in donating fixed assets worth over RM630,000, which included equipment, furniture, investments in building renovations and landscaping, a lecture cum assembly hall and a carpark at the premises of Riam Institute of Technology, to the institute recently.

They were Curtin Sarawak’s fixed assets accumulated when the university occupied part of the premises of Riam Road Middle School for its temporary campus under a tenancy agreement with the school spanning April 2003 to December 2009.

The university moved to its permanent campus in Senadin in 2002, and thereafter Riam Institute of Technology was established and took over the premises in 2003 under a sub-tenancy agreement with Curtin Sarawak.

Handing over the assets in a simple ceremony at Riam Institute of Technology to its principal, John Wong, was Curtin Sarawak’s chief operating officer James Ng. On hand to witness the handover was Curtin Sarawak’s internal audit manager, Ngu Kee Leong, and Riam Institute of Technology’s head of marketing, Michael Kong.

“This act of goodwill by Curtin Sarawak shows its commitment towards providing real benefits to the wider community and supporting the education industry in Sarawak,” said Datuk Lee, who is also the chairman of Curtin Sarawak’s management board.

Datuk Lee said Curtin Sarawak has never ceased in its community outreach efforts since its establishment in 1999, citing its continued efforts as the hallmark of a good corporate citizen and caring institution. He also noted that most of them were initiated by the university’s schools and student clubs, which he also finds laudable.

Events this year have included the hosting or co-hosting a number of events for local secondary school and college students such as the BRAINnovation@Curtin Workshop, Sustainable Development & Leadership Forum with the United Nations Association of Singapore, MDeC-Curtin ICT Career Camp and ICT Career Awareness Day with the Multimedia Development Corporation, the Curtin Accounting Club’s career talk with The Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountant (MICPA), and most recently, the ‘Jazz Your Mind!’ Camp.

In addition, staff of Curtin Sarawak’s library assisted staff of SMK Lutong’s Resource Centre in cataloguing and classification of their collection, and also organised a Library Cataloguing and Classification Workshop for them.

Students of the special January Intake Programme organised half a day of events for orphans at Kompleks Kebajikan Hamidah, and 30 Public Relations and Marketing students spent time with the special children of Pusat Pemulihan dalam Komuniti (PDK) run by the Persatuan Ibu Bapa Kanak-Kanak Istimewa (PIBAKIS).

Other events included the bi-annual blood donation drive organised by the Curtin Volunteers! (CV!), the university’s largest student volunteer organisation, in collaboration with the Miri Blood Bank, and a free public talk on reputation management featuring leading academician Associate Professor Nigel de Bussy from the main campus by the School of Business.

For more information on Curtin Sarawak, visit its website at www.curtin.edu.my.

Students participating in activity at ‘Jazz Your Mind!’ Camp, Curtin Sarawak’s latest community outreach project.