Quality learning

IT was a momentous occasion for over 600 Wawasan Open University (WOU) students as they graduated from some 40 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at the university's recent 7th Convocation Ceremony.
One of them is full-time student Shirley Leong Yan Yan.
"I chose WOU because it basically provides affordable and quality learning. WOU course materials are well prepared and delivered and I feel that it has a better learning mechanism and skilled lecturers who provided excellent guidance to me over the past two years," she said.
Leong, who is also the recipient of the Tun Dr. Lim Keng Yaik Memorial Gold Prize, also recalls meaningful extracurricular activities she participated in the campus.
"I still remember clearly the charity dinner my course mates and I organised to raise funds for a one-and-a-half month old baby who was suffering from a severe congenital heart disease," she said.
"I learned time management skills and also improved on interpersonal skills since I had to communicate with people both inside and outside of WOU to raise the necessary funds — and made a difference in that infant's life," she said, adding that she and her course mates raised nearly RM22,000 to aid the cost of operation of the baby.
Having graduated from the Bachelor of Business (Hons) in Management programme as valedictorian, Leong is currently working as a Senior MTM Material Controller in PEN Apparel and is aiming for a managerial level position in the next three years.
Part-time student of the Bachelor of Business (Hons) in Accounting, Kalaiyalagan Karrupiah also shared his experience in WOU.
"When I signed up for my first semester, I was already going to be based in India. Many of my work assignments involved travelling to remote areas where my company was constructing highways and electricity was in limited supply for a set time every day.
"The nearest cyber cafe required a minimum four hours drive to the nearest big town for Internet access and there were countless late nights where I had to study under the light of a candle!" he said.
"I just firmly decided that these difficulties would not define my destiny and my ultimate goal of securing a degree. The troubles I went through to make it to this day were indeed worthwhile because they taught me the most valuable lesson: Believing in yourself," he said.
Kalaiyalagan, who is the recipient of the Chancellor's Gold Medal, earned the status of the most outstanding student from the open distance learning undergraduate programmes.
With more than 50 programmes available for study, WOU is proud to celebrate its 10th year anniversary by providing new students special promotions which include 10% off on tuition fees as well as Study Grants and Return-To-Study Allowances totalling close to RM1,000 in rebates for part-time students as well as rebates of up to RM10,000 for full-time students.
WOU is having its Open Day at its Main Campus, Regional Centres and Support Centres nationwide on Dec 17 and 18.
To find out more about WOU programmes, log on to wou.edu.my or call its toll-free Careline at 1-300-888-968 (WOU), or WhatsApp 019-4749323.