All smiles from the budding young leaders
UTAR and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) jointly organised a training programme titled ‘Leadership Breakthrough!’ at UTAR Perak Campus from 20 to 21 December 2014. A total of 60 highly motivated youths from UTAR and USM participated in the collaborative leadership training programme.
The enriching two-day training programme aimed to nurture budding leaders and empower them with leadership qualities through leadership building sessions that included workshops, outdoor activities and games. With the guidance of facilitators and experts at these leadership training sessions, participants from various backgrounds came together to learn, exchange ideas, and put the essential leadership skills that they learned into practice to solve problems.
During the opening ceremony, UTAR Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Assoc Prof Dr Teh Chee Seng said, “This training programme is a good platform for UTAR to have more collaboration with public universities, and for students to meet highly motivated leaders from other parts of the country.” He added, “It is also a golden opportunity for the student leaders to build up relationships and connect with people to gain more insights into leadership qualities.”
The participants attended three workshops which focused on areas such as critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, decision making, stress management, communication skills and emotional intelligence. Their outdoor activities included a half-day excursion to Gua Tempurung, Kampar on the first day and a captain ball game on the second day.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of USM Prof Dato’ Dr See Ching Mey, who conveyed her message through the student representative Goo Chuan Chiew, said, “On behalf of USM, I would like to thank UTAR and its facilitators, including its students, for the dedication and hard work in organising such a truly outstanding leadership training programme.” She added, “I believe that both USM and UTAR share similar goals in producing more well-rounded leaders. I hope that through this training programme, participants will gain leadership qualities especially in the areas of critical and creative thinking, making smart and intelligent choices, developing problem solving skills and mastering the art of negotiation strategies.”
Goo further said, “We had a wonderful time here and the activities were wide ranging and quite novel. Thank you for the great knowledge and all the excellent arrangements. We look forward to have more of such programmes in the future.”
Chia Yi Jing, a participant from UTAR and Year Two Public Relations student said, “I feel great to have USM students here as part of this leadership breakthrough training programme. It is a great platform for students of both institutions to learn together essential leadership and interpersonal skills. I enjoy the programme and look forward to attend more of such trainings in the future.”
At the closing ceremony, former Dean of UTAR Faculty of Arts and Social Science Dr Cheah Phaik Kin presented certificates and souvenirs to the participants. After the certificate presentation ceremony, Dr Cheah also presented the Best Group Award to Group 5 and the Best Group Leader Award to Kho Ying Han who holds the position of Ex-Co of the Chinese Arts and Cultural Secretariat of USM.
The main sponsors for the training were Gua Tempurung Outdoor Camp and Restaurant Jia Kampar.
