PENANG: The next of kin of a deceased staff of Wawasan Open University (WOU) is providing scholarship amounting to nearly RM100,000 to fund the 3-year undergraduate degree study of three new full-time students at the main campus.
According to Ms Vivian Lee Chooi Gaik, niece of the late Lim Yeang See, the scholarship is being given in memory of her aunt who passed away suddenly in the wee hours of 15 December 2018 at the Penang Hospital.
Ironically and tragically, Lim was getting ready to come to work on December 14th to attend the annual staff gathering when she suffered a deadly fall in her home. She did not regain consciousness at the hospital. Quite a number of colleagues, close friends and relatives visited Lim in the hospital and also paid respects at her funeral on December 17th.
The colleague who was at her bedside when she breathed her last was Dr Andy Liew Teik Kooi, Director of WOU’s Quality Assurance & Government Relations (QAGR) Department, incidentally her future boss. Lim was to move from her position at WOU’s Centre for Professional Development & Continuing Education (PACE) to QAGR in January 2019.
“She was a committed, dedicated and much-loved colleague, and is dearly missed,” said Dr Liew.
Lim joined WOU in mid-2006 while the institution was in the midst of preparing for its formal establishment and launch as a University. She was attached to the Marketing Department, rising to the level of Senior Executive, before moving on to PACE. All in all, she had faithfully served the University for more than 12 years.
As mutually agreed between Lee and WOU, the funding will provide full scholarship covering tuition fees for three deserving and eligible full-time undergraduate students, to be selected based on the criteria of the WOU Bursary Award.
Lee accompanied by her mother Quah Phaik Har, sister Lillian Lee, and son Benjamin Yong, visited WOU yesterday to personally hand over the cheque for the scholarship award to Ms Grace Lau, the Director of Public Relations. Also present was Dr Liew.
On the reason for the scholarship, Lee remarked, “The WOU family, especially her caring colleagues and close friends, had contributed tremendously to my aunt’s happiness and joy in her everyday work life. I felt that I could honour her memory best by giving back to society through education.”
For further details, contact Ms Grace Lau, at 04-2180277.