Every beginning have its end. This applied to the Putra Experience for mobility students, semester 2 (2017/2018). A total numbers of 300 mobility student registered for University Putra Malaysia in 12 February 2018 and now their study program almost over. Student coming from various countries from Germany, Netherlands, France, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brunei and even China together taking their chances to experience to lived, study and learn in all aspects.

On 16^th May, I-PUTRA held a farewell ceremony and a sharing session for our mobility students at the Experimental Theatre UPM and graced by our Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic and International, Prof. Dr. M Iqbal Saripan long with the  lecturers and mobility coordinator whom attended the event to celebrate and to bid farewell to the mobility students.

The ceremony began with a Zapin peformance, a traditional Johor (Southern part of Malaysia) dance, performed by dancers from the Adimastuli group. The event then continued with opening speech by the i-PUTRA director Assoc. Dr. Zelina Zaiton Ibrahim and graced by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. M Iqbal Saripan. The speeches were both inspiring and aspiring as they shared their vision and insights on the programme.

There are four amazing students who presented on that day during the sharing session, namely Pascal Lefarth and Hannah form Germany, Lee Cheol Hee from Korea and Jihan Khoirunnisa from Indonesia. According to Pascal, his experience in UPM was ‘wow’ due to the size of campus and complete .  Pascal and his fellow friends also took the opportunities to explore exotic Malaysian cuisines. While according Lee Cheol Hee studying and living in Malaysia gave him the opportunity to learn and adapt variety of things from the aspect of language, culture, and history. He also shared his experiences in attending Malaysian cultural events such as a Malay wedding ceremony and Thaipusam (religious Hindu festive) through his speech and video presentation. As for Hannah, a research attachment student, mentioned in her speech that despite that this is not her first experience being in Malaysia, she kept travelling to Malaysia as she had fallen in love with the kindness and modesty of Malaysian people. The sharing session came to an end with a perfomance by Jihan Khoirunnisa , whom performed a duet with one of the members of the UPM Buddies, Afiq Nuradli Amin with the song by Jessie J’s entitled “Flashlight”.

The Event then continued with certificate giving ceremony and lucky draw, 115 students who attended the ceremony also received a momento from i-PUTRA in hope that they will be able to cherish this moment forever. This event initiated to appreciate mobility students who came all the way from the all around the globe to undergo Putra Experience. Thus the event was brought to a closure and sealed all the memories they have created in UPM. Travelling indeed is the best way to learn fast and learning about the diversity of people of the world.

Prepared by: Nadia Zawani Hussin

Date of Input: 31/05/2018 | Updated: 31/05/2018 | azlida_jamil