By Aini Nabilah Sharipuddin
As Nelson Mandela once said, œtimes change and we need to change as well, which becomes vital to any situation and institution to compete in the fast challenging world.
Thus, as an Islamic institution, the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) is also not left behind from the movement by executing any adjustment to make the university more competent and a convenient place for learning among students concerning many aspects, including the students’ academics, graduation system, infrastructure, job opportunities and the students’ soft skills.
As for the students’ academics components, in 2017, IIUM’s Centre of Foundation Studies (CFS) provided three different periods of study time which require the students to choose between three options to complete their studies. It could be completed in one year, one year and a half or in two years. However, in 2018, the duration of the CFS study requires the students to be done with their studies in only one year regardless of their chosen courses.
Moreover, the CFS also owns its new place which is currently located at Gambang, Pahang. It officially started operating in June 2019. The CFS Gambang campus was built to give opportunities to more than 5,000 students to pursue their studies compared to Petaling Jaya (PJ) Campus, which is only available for about 2713 students.
Graduate on Time
‘Garden of knowledge and virtue,’ a known tagline for IIUM, relates to the graduation system or known as Graduate on Time (GOT). This tagline emphasises that knowledge is something that is valuable to each individual. As a result, the staffs of IIUM always make it a priority to ensure the improvisation on the system to help students to graduate on time.
Besides, the Academic Management and Admission Division (AMAD) staffs also created a study plan for each student to guide them in their four-year studies. For the registration period of each semester, the fourth or fifth level students will be prioritised to register the subjects they want compared to the other levels. Furthermore, the senior students also have the freedom to choose whatever subject they want to take as elective courses in order to attain enough credit hours.
Upgrading Infrastructure
The upgrade infrastructure is required to ensure satisfaction and happiness among students. The rights for students with disabilities cannot be neglected as they possess the same rights as normal students. Students who require the assistance of a wheel-chair are obliged to go to class like normal students. Thus, the university needs to provide a ˜ram at each high and steep spot for them to pass through with ease.
Furthermore, this 36-year-old university has implemented lots of supportive equipment such as motorised wheelchairs (including maintenance services), prosthetic devices such as fake feet, hearing aids and ‘ipads’ for people with vision problems. IIUM has also granted residential units for disabled people and teaching aids for disabled lecturers.
Getting into the job market
Nowadays, IIUM graduates often face difficulties to meet suitable jobs based on their educational achievements due to flooding and fierce competition among other university graduates. Thus, companies might not only consider the graduates’ academic performances (or CGPA) as one of the requirements to hire the workers.
Moreover, until now, many IIUM graduates still could not find a stable job according to their degree although they pursued excellent courses such as Biology, Medics, Engineering and others. This is because their soft-skills or multi-skills such as leadership and ability to think globally are also taken into consideration and are regarded as the key to be accepted into the job market.
Without the strong and stable multi-skills, companies are not interested to hire the students as their workers due to the economic state nowadays, which requires a lot of strategies and plans to keep their companies on track. If the individual lacks those skills, and only possess the knowledge, the companies’ continuity and consistency will be at risk.
Therefore, the university is considered as the best medium and platform for students to shape and mould their soft-skills. This is because the university provided a budget for students to organise and conduct their programmes in which they can apply and use those skills.
To conclude, it is important to acknowledge that any kind of change does not necessarily bring only positive outcomes, rather, negative outcomes are also bound to inflict as a result of the transformation. ***