KUIM UNDERGRADS VISIT ISDEV AGAIN!

All smiles - a group photo between KUIM delegates and ISDEV members.

Centre for Islamic Development Management Studies (ISDEV), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is once again being honoured to play host to the staff and students of Kolej Universiti Islam Melaka (KUIM). The KUIM entourage consists of four lecturers and 46 undergraduate students who are taking a course of Islamic Development Management as one of their major subjects. 

The "Majlis Sambutan Lawatan KUIM” on 25 February 2016 was held at Balai Sri Pinang, Centre for Instructional Technology and Multimedia (PTPM) USM and was conducted by ISDEV Associate Members (ABI). 

Hard to tell the difference between an ISDEV student with the KUIM undergraduates.

As early as 8.30 am the KUIM entourage arrived at USM and was welcomed by ABI members. KUIM was led by Mr. Mohd Sabree Nasri while ISDEV Alumni, Cik Sofyatul Azlyn Shariffuddin who is currently a lecturer at Akademi Pengajian Islam KUIM was responsible in managing the visit to its fruition. The other two lecturers from KUIM that were part of the KUIM delegates were Ustaz Abdul Aziz Che Ibrahim and Ustaz Nor Azam Nordin.

Mohd Zulfakhairi Mokhtar, ABI representative, tells what it is like to be an ISDEV student.

This was the second visit for KUIM to ISDEV as the first visit was on February 2015. This signifies the close rapport that ISDEV has with KUIM. ISDEV had actively participated in developing the Islamic Development Management undergraduate programme at KUIM way back in 2010 when ISDEV Director, Professor Dr. Muhammad Syukri Salleh, was appointed by KUIM as an Advisory Panel to develop the program. To further strengthen the cooperation and ukhuwwah (brotherhood) formed, Prof. Syukri was also appointed as a Visiting Lecturer of KUIM for its inaugural programme on February 2014.

Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad giving her welcoming remarks.

As per previous visit, the event was divided into two sessions. ISDEV Deputy Director, Dr. Fadzila Azni Ahmad started the event with her welcoming remarks. It then continued with ABI representative, Mohd Zulfakhairi Mokhtar briefing the delegates on ISDEV as well as USM. In addition to the use of a static presentation, a simple video presentation on ISDEV activities was also aired to the entourage.

The open dialogue-session among ISDEV and KUIM students.

A formal discussion as well as an in-depth explanation on ISDEV and the various Islamic Development Management postgraduate programme offered were also given by RISDEV (ISDEV Postgraduate by Research) and MISDEV (ISDEV Postgraduate by Mixed-Mode) students. An open dialogue-session took place among students of ISDEV and KUIM before the end of the morning session.

Abang Mohd Razif Abang Muis (Left) presenting his PhD thesis proposal
in the ISDEV Graduate Discourse slot while Dr. Mohd Shukri Hanapi (Right) evaluated the proposal.

The afternoon session made way for the ISDEV Graduate Discourse slot. This slot was purposely held to give the KUIM entourage a hands-on experience on what it is like to study at ISDEV - defence of the research's proposal and final draft thesis as well as mock-viva - are some of the duties and learning traditions at ISDEV. These programme aim to train and expose ISDEV students to give ideas, input and comments for improvement as well as build the student's self-confidence. In addition, through such intellectual and academic programme students are given the exposure and experience an almost real atmosphere to the candidates before the actual viva. These methods and tradition may not be available at other institutions which is why such programme makes ISDEV unique in its own way as compared to other educational institutions.

The USM Hamzah Sendut Library tour.

Hopefully from this visit, KUIM entourage has gained various inputs, myriad of experience as well as a deeper understanding of the postgraduate programmes offered by ISDEV. Besides exploring and grasping ISDEV culture, this event hopefully helped to further promote ISDEV postgraduate programme to KUIM students. These would-be graduate students of KUIM would one day, in the very near future, be ISDEV potential postgraduate students. The programme ended with the KUIM entourage paying a visit to USM Hamzah Sendut Library accompanied by ABI members with the guidance from the librarians.