By Nor Hazirah Kan Hussin Kan, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities Student, (FSSK)
Pix Student Society, FSSK

BANGI, 11 May 2012 – Six undergraduates from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSSH) of The National University of Malaysia leave for Melbourne on Monday as part of an academic sojourn to two universities there.

This is the first time that such an academic visit programme is being undertaken by the FSSH student organisation with the assistance of the faculty, the UKM Centre For Entrepeneurship and SME’s Development (UKM-CESMED) and the Students’ Services Department.

The six day visit to the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) comes under “Idea Global 2012: Student Volunteerism” on the theme “Social Entrepreneurship Towards Sustainable Community Development”.

The delegation is headed by Nor Hazirah Kan Hussin Kan, a final year student in International Relations from the School of History, Politics and Strategic Studies (SOHPASS). Others are Elizabeth Kay Nyigor (final year student in International Relations SOHPASS) and four second year students:  Kevin Sivaraj (Political Science Programme of SOHPASS); Nur Hazlin Abd Ghani, (Malay Language Studies Programme of the School of Malay Language, Literature and Culture Studies); Nurizzati Alias, (Geografhy Programme of the School of Social, Development and Environmental Studies) and Ahmad Firdaos Syauqi (Literature in English Programme of the  School of Linguistics and Language Studies).

The students will look into the importance of volunteerism and its relationships with entrepreneurship especially among students in efforts to imbue consciousness among them on the need to assist in improving the well being of the local communities.

They will also be having dialogues with student representatives including Malaysian students there on awareness of volunteerism among Australian students.

The delegation will also visit a number of organisations involved in volunteer work and leadership including Leadership, Involvement & Volunteer Experience (LIVE) di University of Melbourne and Student Leadership Development Programme (LEAD) at RMIT and the School of Social Entrepreneurs (SSE).

It is hoped that the programme will create a positive long term impact on student involvement in volunteerism which will not only be beneficial to local depressed communities but will make students more committed to life-long education thereby enhancing their marketability.

Social entrepreneurship is now looked upon as one area that students can be involved in that will not only contribute to the country’s economic wellbeing but also benefit local communities by providing employment opportunities and skills training.

Such activities can be beneficial in developing a sustainable society while reducing poverty and criminal activities which had adversely affected certain communities.

They will also bring up the Student-Led People-In-Need Enterprise (SPiNE) programme they developed, an enterprise for people in need, to produce products or services that can generate income for the targeted community.

The student led enterprise will plan, execute and manage the enterprise which will be carried out on a sustainable basis.

SPiNE is to provide an avenue for students to hone their marketing and communication abilities as an added asset for them. It is a platform for students of the faculty to cooperate with the local community to improve their wellbeing by undertaking entrepreneurial activities using the locals’ expertise and knowledge in production or services with the potential for development and expansion. The enterprise developed will be led by the students and monitored by the faculty and UKM-CESMED.

The Faculty hopes the visit will enable the students to gather whatever inputs to help SPiNE be run systematically and efficiently when it is launched.

Advisor of the project, Associate Professor Dr Hamzah Jusoh has been able to ensure the planning and implementation of project will be smooth with the help of the Assistant Registrar of the Faculty, Abdul Karim Osman.