By Nur Haninah
GOMBAK, 26 September 2017: IIUM students have been urged to take advantage of IIUM international environment to reach out more to each other. Prof. Dr. Nor Faridah Abdul Manaf advised students to make an effort to have friends from different countries.
In an interview with IIUMToday recently during the visit of the Australian delegation to IIUM campus, Dr. Nor Faridah claimed that IIUM is an international university, however, “there is still a lack of interaction between the local and international students”.
“Students have to reach out more to each other and do not have to wait for the other party to say salam or hello first,” Prof. Dr. Faridah, who is a lecturer from English Language and Literature Department, added.
Dr. Nor Faridah shared her experience having 20 years of close relationship with Dr. Ioana Petrescu and Prof. Dr. Abdul Quayum, the acting Dean of Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences. The three had met when they were alumni at one of the universities in Adelaide.
She said,“We live in a diverse world where most of the time people are misrepresented by the media, until you talk to the person and live the culture then only you can judge for yourself.”
Dr. Ioana is a senior lecturer of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of South Australia (UniSA), who travelled to Malaysia with 12 undergraduate students for a programme called New Colombo Plan Mobility Programme (NCP).
The youngest, 20-year old Brooke Clarke from Australia, shared why she participated in this programme saying she loves experiencing new things and learning about culture because she feels it is important for creative writing. “I didn’t really know about Malaysia so I’m glad that I got to learn more,” she said.
Asked about the future of mobility programme in IIUM, Dr. Faridah responded, “We are trying to arrange with universities such as UniSa and other universities around the world so that students will get exposure and learn culture close-up by living and experiencing it.”
NCP was announced in December with $100 million funds from the Australian government under its Five-Year Plan.***