Alumni Stories

Inspired by his cousins, John Kevin Navoa chose to study in UOW Malaysia KDU. “It was the main reason I wanted to go there so badly. My cousins descripted in detail about their fantastic lecturers and even more, the well-known culinary school itself.

His most memorable memory was being the only Filipino student in his class. This encouraged him to learn more about the Malaysian culture, especially its variety of food. “I enjoyed both learning the local culture and teaching bits and pieces of the Filipinos to my peers”.

One of his memories were his internship in Dewakan; a restaurant located inside UOW Malaysia KDU itself. With the fusion of two Malay words for “god” and “food”, Dewakan is known to be the modern appreciation of the abundance that this land is blessed with. Upon completion of his internship, he continued working as a part timer for this outstanding restaurant. John recalled of Chef Darren who was still a lecturer at that point of time. “From Dewakan, I learned to be professional by following high standards and never disregarding them for any reason. Upon completing my training under this high pressure and fast-paced environment, I was able to adapt in diverse areas,” he said.

According to John, UOW Malaysia KDU has influenced his culinary passion in life. “Our lecturers were committed about every lesson. Everything was on point and perfect. This slowly instill love for food in me. In time, I felt dedicated to make great food. In addition to that, our lecturers groomed us to communicate and move around professionally. However, the most important lesson learnt was to be able to adapt in different cultures.”

John would love to contribute back to the UOW Malaysia KDU community by making something out of himself, apply it in our cuisine and push the boundaries where no one has ever thought possible. He has applied everything he learned during his time spend in UOW Malaysia KDU and Dewakan. “If I become even more successful with my current endeavor, the credit would entirely go to the school and its lecturers. I hope this will encourage more students to enroll at UOW Malaysia KDU.”

When I enrolled in Bachelor of Accounting (Hons), I had no idea what to expect. To be honest, all the journal entries, debits and credits were very primitive to me back then but after receiving immense guidance, patience, motivation and impeccable advices, I emerged as one of Top 10 finalists in the tax competition, an achievement I will always be eternally grateful for. UOW Malaysia KDU not only provides excellent education, it also urges students to strive for excellence. My education journey and student life at UOW Malaysia KDU has been very fulfilling and memorable because of the guidance and friendships that will last a lifetime.

She has emerged as one of the Top 10 finalists in the 2018 Ernst Young Tax Challenge is currently an employee at the prestigious and reputable audit firm, Ernst & Young.

Ahmad Riyal Bin Husni decided to join UOW Malaysia KDU upon hearing from his neighbour of the UOW Malaysia KDU’s Mass Communication degree program, convinced by the reasonable courses fee and appealing campus life. But while studying in UOW Malaysia KDU, Riyal’s became even more fond of the culture of experimentation in the institution here. From learning to dance to experimenting with running events, Riyal was able to embrace both success and failures and learn from it. UOW Malaysia KDU has become an important training ground for him to develop his Emcee skills where he now does it professionally.

“UOW Malaysia KDU has created a safe place and make room for a lot of experimentations so I can make as many mistakes as fast as possible and learn from it as a student, thus, I can avoid making them in my working life.Remember guys, dare to experiment, learn for your failures, do it for free now [while as a university student] so that you get good enough to get paid for it in the future”.

“In UOW Malaysia KDU, I did not feel as trapped as I was in the normal school system. Because after joining UOW Malaysia KDU, I am very motivated and was given the chance to pursue my career. If you don’t do it, what else are you going to do?”

“After graduating from my foundation course, I joined UOW Malaysia KDU after being persuaded by many of my relatives claiming that UOW Malaysia KDU is one of the best universities for Mass Communication courses. Once I got in, I immediately fell in love with the new campus in Glenmarie because it is fully equipped with great facilities. I also really enjoy broadcast, entrepreneurship and visual communication classes because the course does not limit to only media publication. We have more chances to explore and develop different skills.”

Jo Yin’s initially planned to become a journalist and was glossophobic (fear of public speaking) before joining UOW Malaysia KDU. But upon graduation, Jo Yin was awarded First Class in her Mass Communication bachelor’s degree, Jo Yin moved on from university to become an entrepreneur instead of a journalist.

“All the skills that I learned in UOW Malaysia KDU was applicable to my entrepreneur life especially in the field of communication and design. Lucky enough, I was also appointed as one of the youngest directors of Sevenstar Yacht International Sdn. Bhd. UOW Malaysia KDU had totally reinvent me into a new leaf, because now I am a speaker and leader to my own team ‘Gala Queen’. I have also founded my own brand ‘Yumeka’.”

As her way of contributing back to the UOW Malaysia KDU community, Jo Yin created the ‘Women Empowerment Entrepreneurship’ event on 24 November 2019 together with celebrity Amber Chia.

While being a full-time staff in UOW Malaysia KDU, Leong Kuan Yew decided to further his education by pursuing his Masters.  “I am satisfied with the master program as it was very well organized and my hats off to the department for doing such a great job.”

“The lecturers here are highly experienced within their industries, and what they imparted was very helpful for me in further enhancing my skills. I gained good insights through their sharing and supervision. The Master’s degree itself has helped me in my career promotion.”

“Through UOW Malaysia KDU, I am inspired to perceive the world very differently, with a better understanding of cognitive orientation, that also led me into deepening my dedication in research and for engineering. UOW Malaysia KDU had brought me to my passion, I am passionate in building a better tomorrow through technology advancements for the community.”

Leong has worked on several artificial intelligence projects that seeks to serve the community. One of such examples was a government-funded project where they developed assistive technology for the blind and low vision people in navigation. Leong hopes to be an advocate for UOW Malaysia KDU’s and desires to be a mentor for the current students. Leong is a strong believer of giving back and believes that only kindness can inspire and make the world a better place.

For him, to love is to give and to share with others. Leong encourages all students that whenever they are faced with adversaries and challenges, to always change their perceptive, and learn to see these challenges as opportunities.

Hassan Omar Hassan Golamalla believes what makes UOW Malaysia KDU special is the excellent and quality education, where students are challenged to go beyond their limit and pushing them to deliver a high standard work upon graduate.

“I choose UOW Malaysia KDU because of the professional teaching staff that constantly guiding you through and making sure you would challenge your own abilities. Also, I appreciate the collaboration and partnership of UOW Malaysia KDU with other high ranked universities in United Kingdom. Namely Northumbria University, where both universities collaborated in designing an academic curriculum to ensure students have with a clear path to well-established careers”

“My final year project supervisor at UOW Malaysia KDU advised me to do my thesis in solar energy as it’s the future. To kill two birds with one stone, by building up my skill in solar energy industry while completing my degree. After two years of experience in different industries, and finally, my thesis contributed big time for me in securing my dream job as a PV Solar design engineer.”

Lastly, Hassan believed that beyond the academics and assignments, Student and Alumni Centre (SAC) in UOW Malaysia KDU is vital in building his skills and has contributed so much growth in him. Hassan stressed that these skills he acquired through participating in Student and Alumni Centre (SAC) activities became very important skills that distinguished him from others, as a unique individual in the working industry today.

Upon in-depth research and much consideration, Serene decided to join UOW Malaysia KDU. “UOW Malaysia KDU is a friendly and conducive environment to study. The institution also consist of dedicated staff members who are ever-ready to help on course enquiries,’’ she said.

Sharing her memories, she remember being a committee member for Professional Accounting Club (PAC) throughout her student years. We organised a variety of exciting events such as Prom Night, Charity Event, Firm Visit and so forth. Besides that, she also had fun whilst participating in the dance division of the Performing Arts Club (PARTS) with her fellow university mates.

Starting from a humble background and despite facing challenges while growing up in Cambodia, Sorik Rath Mong, commonly known as Lyly paved the way of excellence when she emerged as one of the recipients of the prestigious Chevening scholarship this year. Chevening is the UK Government’s global scholarship programme that offers future leaders the unique opportunity to study in the United Kingdom. The scholarship is awarded to outstanding professionals from all over the world to pursue a one-year master’s degree in any subject at any UK university.

“When I applied for this scholarship, I was still working at Dell Technologies supporting both Asia and half of US region. So, I had to work quite late at night and spared my weekends to complete my application. The journey in obtaining Chevening scholarship was tedious and challenging but worthwhile.”

Mong Sorik Rath is a First-Class Honours graduate of UOW Malaysia KDU’s Bachelors of Business programme and a former Treasury Advisor for Asia Pacific Japan Region at Dell Technologies. She embarked on this victorious journey to Malaysia when she was granted The Joint ECM Libra Foundation-UOW Malaysia KDU University College ASEAN Scholarshipto complete her three-year undergraduate degree in Business specialising in Economics and Finance.

Mr. Kenn Yeap who completed his Diploma in Mass Communications and Bachelor Degree (Double Major) in Public Relations, Media Studies at UOW Malaysia KDU College came with much passion and shared his motto with our students; “It’s not that you can or not, but whether you want or not”.

Kenn worked with RTM English Radio Station as the Assistant Producer for the Morning Show and Drive Time Show, assisting the radio station in the collaboration between the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia and Ministry of Tourism. Kenn then joined Life Magazine, under Feminine Magazine as the only male journalist to run for news, and educational feature writer. He was then appointed as Private Secretary to Deputy Minister of Trade, Cooperative and Consumerist, Dato’ Tan Lian Hoe handling her daily schedule, parliamentary task and ministerial assignments.

In 2012, Ken joined ntv7 as Public Relations, one of his highlights was that he was appointed as PR Officer for Dato’ Lee Chong Wei and Datin’ Wong Mew Choo’s wedding. Currently, Kenn is working in Media Prima TV Network, as Consumer and Marketing and Communications Group.

Chow Chan Khye was a lucky individual to earn UOW Malaysia KDU scholarship. Throughout his student years, he was an active person and represented UOW Malaysia KDU team for several competitions. Furthermore, he has learnt many life lessons and useful social skills from the institution.

“UOW Malaysia KDU has shown me that you don’t have to restrict yourself within a confined industry. The institution has sparked my passion and fuel me with purpose in life”, said Khye.

He wishes to give back to the UOW Malaysia KDU community by being an ambassador to further educate his fellow juniors and create awareness about UOW Malaysia KDU.

I’m very grateful to have studied in UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College because I had a lot of good experiences and made connections here. The lecturers are very dedicated in their teaching and they provided a lot of guidance on and off classes. UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College have up-to-date facilities like computer labs, library, games lounge and many more which makes interactive learning experiences that motivated me to improve my skillset.

The wide syllabus of Bachelor of Science in Computing Studies (Hons) provided me with an eye-opening view towards the latest trends in computing technologies, which benefited me in my career. UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College provided me with many real-world experiences in developing projects for customers even before I graduated.

As a software engineer in Panasonic at Singapore, I now apply all the skills that I learned from UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College to my company’s product development. I’ve many opportunities to contribute to society by being involved in community outreach programmes, street cleaning programmes and many more in my current company. I’m thankful to UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College for giving me so much knowledge, skills and techniques which I can give back to the community now

I had a great time while studying at UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College. UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College is not only for local students but international students also further their studies here. I shared a home with international students, where we shared experiences, learned about our differences and had a real cultural exchange for a wider perspective of global viewpoints.

UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College’ lecturers are very helpful, knowledgeable and caring. They contribute greatly to students’ academic performance and raise them towards a brighter future. One of the lecturers even recommended me for my first job as a Software Engineer in multinational corporation. I then discovered that UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College at given me all the industrial-specific skillsets that employers look for.

As the founder and CEO of Loka Travel Sdn Bhd (www.lokalocal.com), I contribute my best to develop the travel agency. Now, Loka Travel is one of the leading platforms in smart tourism and continues to spotlight in Malaysian tourism on the global stage and draws more international tourists to Malaysia as their travel destination of choice. Recently, lokalocal launched 101 experiences as part of the “Pride of Perak” campaign at IT Berlin, 2019.

I also wrote a book titled “Traditional Trades of Penang” to encourage tourists to visit Penang, one of the historical place in Malaysia. I’m glad to have studied at UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College because UOW Malaysia KDU Penang University College strengthens my skills and knowledge to face booming industries. That lets me play a role in our country’ development.