By Mei Kuan
Kompas International College (KIC) held a forum on American education today to offer first-hand insights from its panellists and establish rapport between the industry partners, academicians and participants.
The enlightening session was held with strict adherence to the health and safety standard operating procedures at its premises along Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah Utara.
The panellists featured Munusamy A/L I. Appukutty, Head of School of Pre-University Studies of KIC; Veronica Yap, Admissions Coordinator for Messiah University’s International Admissions in Malaysia; Andrea Yong, alumni of Messiah University and Wheaton College; as well as David Speed, a decorative and fine artist hailing from New York.
Veronica explained why the USA serves as an ideal place for students to study in: “Globally, the US has come out with a very unique system where it’s about liberal arts education, an approach to education where one learns a bit of everything to form a big picture and be a dynamic person with the necessary tools.”
She expressed that its assessment, which is a combination of both assignment-based and examination-based, is able to bring out the actual intelligence of a person: “It’s a lot of thinking application.”
Then, Andrea gave advice on how she kept her motivation up while she was studying in the USA: “You have to be a self-starter and be able to do things without supervision, that’s the essential quality. No one is going to keep telling you to do things. You have to prioritise you need to do and be responsible, which I think is part of growing up.”
Present were Dr Ahmat Zamri bin Abdullah, Chief Executive of KIC; Ho Hsieh Hsiung, Director of Operations and Resources of KIC and Chye Kok Hoong, Principal of Chye School of Music.
Dr Ahmat shared with Ipoh Echo, “The partnership with American universities is a new initiative which began about two years ago. However, when we wanted to start the programme, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, thus it was halted for a while. Presently, we are able to start all over again and share about the programme.”
“It’s a 4-year programme where students will spend the first two years in Ipoh and another two years in any one of the collaborative partners. After that, they can choose if they wish to continue. The list of collaborative partners is constantly being expanded and there are eight at the moment,” he added.
Meanwhile, Munusamy highlighted that the university partners are made up of public and private American universities including Messiah University, University of Iowa, Wichita State University, University of Wisconsin, California Baptist University and more.
KIC is a subsidiary of Shen Jai Education Group, offering various programmes such as mass communication, early childhood education, international business, accounting and finance.
To learn more, visit its website: www.kompas.edu.my.
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