By Asmahanim Amir
Pix Ikhwan Hashim

BANGI, 3 Sept 2015 – Students of UKM are brilliant and have been hand-picked for the University to engage in important front-line programmes, such as guiding the freshmen during orientation.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali said the participation of students in the Student-Friendly Week (3M) orientation programme was  something that should be appreciated.

He assumed that students who chose to become facilitators for the 3M programme were also admirable.

“This time the spirit is different because we want to see the enthusiasm of the  UKM community involved in university programme. We think that the new student admission and parents coming along to UKM for the first time when sending their children was very important in the process of forming an undergraduate in UKM,” he said in his speech at the Patriotism Programme ‘I Love UKM’ here on August 27.

He expressed confidence the facilitators selected to manage the 3M programme have been prepared well to cope with the new intake.

He added, the 3M programme is not an easy programme, but requires physical and mental strength as the facilitators have to be among the first to start shaping the thoughts and hopes of new students.

“You are the one who probably will give explanations and convince students that UKM is a special and excellent university. You carry a very important responsibility.

“I want you to look at the learning and experience at the university as a special period in life to make yourself as a special.

“If you think that you are nothing, it is wrong because you are something! You are the selected students who are given the opportunity to be on a special university built on the desires and aspirations of the people,” he explained.

Prof Dr Noor Azlan said there is no other university can match historically its inception aside from UKM itself became the guardian of the nation.

“If it’s in the areas of expertise that helps the country, UKM has a very extraordinary history. If we go to Langkawi and look at Langkawi Geopark, there is the face of UKM a whole. People are excited to visit Langkawi Geopark but they do not realize that it is a UKM effort to develop the Geopark status,” he explained.

In a related development, he advised the students to take the opportunity to build self-esteem while at university.

“You need to build your characters and shape the mind-set because after this you will be competing with other students,” he stressed.

He added every year after the convocation ceremonies, about 100,000 students graduating all over the country enter the job market trying to carve a niche on their own.

“So you have to compete with them and build an advantage in yourself. You are entering a gold mine because you have entered a renowned and excellent  university,” he added.