YOUNG ENGINEERING STUDENTS WIN PROMISING CLUB AWARD AT IET ANNUAL DINNER

USMC IET student chapter has been named Most Promising Club of the Year at the IET’s 2016 Annual Dinner. The ceremony took place at the Armada Hotel, Petaling Jaya on 15 October.

Iskandar Puteri, Johor (31 October 2016) – A student-led Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) chapter at University of Southampton Malaysia Campus was recently awarded the Most Promising Club of the Year Award for 2015/16. Presented by the IET, the award was given during the parent body’s Malaysia Annual Dinner held at Armada Hotel in Petaling Jaya last 15 October.

Daarab Ali, a Year 2 Mechanical Engineering student, has admitted that he was pleasantly surprised that their team won the award at the IET annual dinner. ‘’I did not have any premonition that we would win the award but I felt very happy as our efforts have been recognised.’’.

‘’I can’t tell you what an honour it is to win this award. It is a testament to the great teamwork and commitment we have,’’ added Jin Hong Yong, a Year 2 Electrical Electronic & Engineering student.

Since its establishment last year, the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus’ IET Student Chapter has arranged a line-up of activities to include networking, mentoring and training. A series of workshops where guest speakers were invited to share their knowledge and industry best practices helped promote the club in the campus. These and more enabled the club to successfully recruit members within a short period of time.

‘’The activities the club has made and participated in are in line with IET’s vision – raising the profile of engineering by inspiring, influencing and informing the global engineering community,’’ reflected Daarab.

Building a new club was not an easy feat for this group of young, future engineers. Creating the chapter’s constitution, building trust within the team as well as attracting and encouraging top talents came with many challenges. The team realised it needed the guidance of lecturers and senior students.

‘’With the assistance of our advisor Mr Ivan Ling, a PhD student at the university, we were able to create a good team with IET’s vision in mind. Last year, we participated in many contests and organised workshops. You only achieve that by bringing together the brightest and most committed students, and that’s exactly what our advisor has inspired us to do,’’ said Ravivarma Vikneswaren, also a Year 2 Electrical & Electronic Engineering student.

Looking suave in their dark suits, the students grinned and made funny gestures for a group shot at the dinner event. For them this is just another day as tomorrow more work awaits them if the club is to win next year’s IET Best Student Chapter Award.

‘’Our student chapter has had a busy year and continues to go from strength to strength. This award is the icing on the cake for us, and we are very excited about the future as we believe our successors can do even better,’’ said Yeh Yang, a Year 2 Mechanical Engineering student.

‘’This year, we plan to involve a larger population of students, and with that in mind, we would like to promote the concept of global engineering amongst our new members and fellow engineering students from different student chapters,’’ said Juden Chay King, Year 2 Mechanical Engineering student.

With that being said, Jin Yi Yong, a Year 2 Electrical & Electronic Engineering student, invites his fellow students to realise the benefits of becoming an IET member, ‘’We are inviting our fellow students to join us. We may be a small club compared to other student chapters but a small club provides every member to shine as we give them many chances and opportunities to hone their leadership skills.’’

Providing a global knowledge network for students and professionals, the IET is one of the world’s leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community with more than 150,000 members in 127 countries and offices in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.