Soon-to-graduate Curtin Malaysia students participate in Civil Engineering Internship Seminar

Miri – 8 April 2019 – The Department Civil and Construction Engineering, Curtin Highway Infrastructure Research and Innovation hub (CHIRI) and Curtin Civil Society (CCS) of the Faculty of Engineering and Science of Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) jointly organised a Civil Engineering Internship Seminar 2019 (CEIS 2019) for soon-to-graduate students recently.

Guest lecturer and managing director of Blue Pacific Construction Thomas Ling Kiong, an engineering graduate of Curtin Malaysia, gave a contractor’s view of the constructability of civil engineering design during the seminar, which was attended by mainly fourth-year students due to graduate in 2019, as well as academic staff, of the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering.

The students found Ling’s lecture, which covered the constructability of geotechnical and structural design, highly relevant and insightful to their current studies in integrated structural design and geotechnical design and modelling.

Ling remarked that although studying integrated structural design is demanding, it can be very useful to students when they become civil engineers.

During the question-and-answer session following the lecture, the students and staff engaged extensively with Ling about the topic.

This was followed by poster presentations by 75 students of the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering who recently completed their internships with various companies at the end February.

The students presented their posters highlighting their internship experiences in six parallel sessions. While most of them completed their internships in Malaysia, a number of international students did theirs in their home countries such as Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Brunei.

Head of the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering Associate Professor Muhammad Ekhlasur Rahman praised the students for their excellent performance during their internships and the work they had put into their posters and presentations.

He said that Curtin Malaysia has always placed great emphasis on learning beyond the classroom, adding that student participation in seminars and conferences, guest lectures, study tours and site visits, as well as internships, are crucial in them gaining more industry insights and practical experience. These will inevitably enhance their marketability as graduates and help broaden their horizons in the future, he remarked.

Curtin Malaysia is set to graduate its largest-ever cohort of students at its 2019 Graduation Ceremony this 27 April 2019. 735 students from its Faculty of Engineering and Science, Faculty of Business and Faculty of Humanities will be graduating from various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Curtin Malaysia, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has graduated over 7,000 multinational students in its 20-year existence.

Thomas Ling giving his guest lecture on constructability of civil engineering design to students and staff.

Photo call of guest lecturer, students and academics following the guest lecture.

A student sharing her internship experience.