By Rubendran Sathupathy

112 students from Baiko Gaukin University, Japan, arrived at INTI International University as part of a student exchange program. They are here to join the Intensive English Program (IEP) for one year and learn the Mata Pelajaran Pengajian Umum (MPU) subjects.

The program is divided into six levels which are taught for two months each and with five semesters in total. Students will have breaks in between the semesters and they will stay at INTI’s hostel.

Kumaresan Krishnasamy, Executive of Centre Operations at INTI, said “this is an opportunity for us to promote the university values and vision. The program has been ongoing since 2016 and this year is the biggest group so far.”

The BGU-INTI collaboration started with 1 student. Since then, it has grown from 21 students in 2017 to 112 in October this year.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, classes were conducted online from 2020 to 2022. Luckily with the transition to an endemic stage, classes are now taught face-to-face allowing the students to stay in campus and experience university life here for themselves.

As part of their introduction to INTI International University, an orientation ceremony took place last week. The ceremony began at 9:30 a.m. at Tan Yew Sing Multi-Purpose Hall with an opening speech by Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr. Choo Wou Onn, Pro Vice Chancellor, Cross Functional Centre.

Also present were AP Dr. Ng Miew Luan, Dean, Faculty of Education and Liberal Arts (FELA), AP Dr. Goh Khang Wen, Faculty of Data Science, and Information Technology (FDSIT), Dr. Chan Siew Chong, Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Quantity Surveying (FEQS).

In his speech, Dr. Choo emphasized the importance of technology in the field of communications.

“Technology has progressed rapidly since the 1990s until now. We started with ICQ and now we have communication tools such as Facebook and WhatsApp. Nowadays, people rarely voice call but instead prefer to text or do video calls. People also use social media to promote their products and services,” he said.

Dr. Choo encouraged the students to learn techniques to develop their businesses. He added that with the transition to online learning during Covid-19, lecturers and students learned to use the Blackboard online learning system to facilitate online classes.

Dr. Choo also touched on the importance of studying English.

“INTI uses English as our medium of communication. English is the number one language in the world, and it is better to have direct transmission when speaking with other people in English,” he said.

He challenged the students to spend at least 30 minutes daily speaking English with their peers on campus and gradually increasing the duration of such conversations.

The ceremony continued with a sharing session with two international students from Japan and Bangladesh, who shared their experiences studying at INTI.

Kurumi Yoshioka, a 21-year-old Japanese student in her sixth semester studying Bachelor of Business in International Business, has lived in Malaysia for the past three years.

“My father used to work in Malaysia and one of my high school seniors, whom I admire, recommended that I study in INTI based on his experiences here.

“I feel comfortable here as my lecturers and classmates are friendly and I get along well with them. INTI also has a lot of events going on and I take the opportunity to participate in them,” the international student said.

Then, students were briefed on the IEP program and MPU subjects and introduced to their respective lecturers.

After the ceremony, the students were taken on a campus tour to familiarize them with the facilities available before breaking for lunch.