Four top achievers and three couples were among the 953 graduates at WOU’s 12th e-convocation on 27 November 2021.
For open distance learning (ODL), the recipients of the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for coming up tops at the undergraduate-level were Opalyn Mok Pui Foong, 44, from Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Studies and Se Hui Feng, 30, from Bachelor of Business (Honours) in Accounting.
Mavis Ong Sze Mun, 28, from the Commonwealth Executive MBA (CeMBA) programme, won the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Memorial Prize for being the top ODL student at the postgraduate-level.
Meanwhile for on-campus learning, the best graduate was Khoo Li Zhe, 23, from Bachelor of Business (Honours) in Finance who was awarded the Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik Memorial Gold Prize.
Mok is the Penang Senior Correspondent for Malay Mail. On thriving during the pandemic, she responded, “Time management is key to juggling a full-time job, family and studies. Family support is also important to keep me going. Without their support, it would not have been easy. The most important thing is to always take time out to recoup and refresh so that I am always ready to absorb and learn new things.”
Se is a Senior Accountant at Southern Accounting Services, Johor Bahru. Regarding her work-study-life balance, she said, “I made myself a study schedule as I understand that time management is essential for me to manage my study during busy periods at work.” On her motivation, she remarked, “When I was young, my parents taught me that education is the way to success. When I choose to further my studies in WOU, they gave me their support as they want me to get the education they never had.”
Ong currently runs her own digital advertising agency in Penang, helping small business owners to create digital content and managing their digital marketing strategy on social media platforms. She chose CeMBA due to her interest in starting her own business, since she was employed with a company before that, with little knowledge about business.
Khoo, from Penang, is a proprietary trader at an investment company. On his success, he said, “A well-planned time management allows me to prioritise my daily work. As life does not always go as we plan, it might be difficult to stay focused and get familiar with virtual learning during the pandemic period. So, I decided to work harder and do more research on those topics that I did not understand.”
Three couples were among the graduates this year. Angelina Jong Siew Phing, 43, and Gabriel Ong Hock Hee, 47 from Sarawak had joined the Bachelor of Management (Honours) with Psychology (BMPS) programme together. Ong is a Senior Physiotherapist at Sarawak General Hospital and Jong is Head of Physiotherapy Unit at Rajah Charles Brooke Memorial (RCBM) Hospital, Kuching.
Another couple, Dato’ Chan Wei Hua, 46, and Datin Chang Sam Yee, 45, from Johor Bahru, were conferred the Commonwealth Executive MBA. Dato’ Chan is the CEO of IJ Pharmacy (M) Sdn Bhd while his wife is a pharmacist there.
From Ipoh were Jaswinder Singh Harban Singh, 36, a Process Engineer at Carsem Semiconductor Malaysia, who obtained his Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics (BTEL) and Samreet Kaur Revindar Singh, 36, a teller at CIMB Bank, who received her Bachelor of Business (Honours) degree in Management (BBMG).
