COSA’s new president sparks hope for the Communication Department

By, Shaheerah Dzaki

GOMBAK, 6 January 2025: On 19 December 2024 (Thursday), Nur Qistina binti Zainal Abidin won the presidency of the Secretariat of Communication Students’ Association (COSA) IIUM alongside Nur Ikrema Binti A. Razak who won the secretary post in the AHAS KIRKHS Election 2024 at IIUM Gombak.

In an exclusive interview with IIUM Today, Qistina shared her vision and plans for the COSA community as well as her visions for the Department of Communication, AHAS KIRKHS, IIUM.

With regards to her background, Qistina explained that she has been participating in a lot of programmes at the IIUM despite being in her second year in her study programme. One of the programmes that she joined was the Higher Educational English Language Carnival (HE ELCa).

“I was not an active person before so after I joined COSA and got to know about it, that is where I got to expose myself to things,” Qistina conveyed on her background.

Additionally, she added that she used to be afraid of challenges and changes, making it hard for her to step up to opportunities.

“But when I entered IIUM and looked at the environment, I started to think that I need to step up into the game and think in a more mature way so I participated in a lot of activities,” the new COSA president in the interview.

Further into the interview, Qistina shared that her manifesto is mostly focused on the Communication department. The manifesto is as follows:

to ensure information received by students is accurate and up to date,
to ensure to assist students to meet their academic requirements effectively, and,
to foster a spirit of collaboration among students by promoting teamwork and mutual respect.

As for her third manifesto, Qistina highlighted the importance of collaborting between communities in the Communication department which includes Communication students, lecturers, clubs such as IIUM Today, IIUM TV, IIUM FM and IIUM IPRMSA.

“I believe the students have the fear to participate in programmes because they do not know where they can stand due to their lack of exposure. But then, I want to encourage them to see their potential, at least during my tenure,” Qistina said with determination.

“I would also like to make the Communication department more diverse in terms of programmes,” Qistina told IIUM Today. Furthermore, the COSA president explained she would like to help organised a similar programme such as the Communication Festival 2023 (COMMFESS) in future. Through these diverse programmes, she hoped that it would expose the potential of Communication students not only within IIUM communities but also to people from outside the university.

When Qistina received the proposal, her members from COSA encouraged her to pursue the position and due to this, it motivated her to pursue the position of president of COSA.

“My hope is that we can grow and strengthen the bond of our department through collaborations. And of course, I hope that we could ensure ourselves to get accurate information in every part of the department,” Qistina shared her hopes for COSA and the Communication department.***