MTCC PRESENTS ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARDS TO UNDERGRADUATES


UPM and UMS Students Receive Award from MTCC for Outstanding Academic Performance

Kuala Lumpur, 28 November 2016 – Aimed at inspiring a new generation of forestry talents, the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) recently presented its inaugural MTCC Academic Award to three undergraduates from two local universities.  One was from the Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and two from the Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

The MTCC Academic Award for UMS is named as the Freezailah Forest Sustainability Award, in honour of MTCC’s founding Chairman – Dato’ Dr Freezailah Che Yeom, who retired earlier this year after leading the organisation for 17 years.

“MTCC is delighted to be collaborating and supporting local institutions of higher learning, particularly those institutions offering courses which feed young talent into the local forestry and related fields, as well as to strive for excellence in producing talents for these fields. Through the MTCC Academic Award, MTCC hopes to strengthen our link with the local universities to inspire more young people to embark on a career development in the field of forestry and its related industries,” said MTCC CEO, Yong Teng Koon.

“The MTCC Academic Award aims to recognize the achievements of students and serves to encourage them to continue to excel even after their graduation. Besides their overall academic performance, the award winners were also judged based on the quality of their final year thesis, submitted as partial fulfilment of their course structure,” Yong added.

Freezailah Forest Sustainability Award was won by Chaw Vi Vian, 23 years old, from the Faculty of Science and Natural Resources, UMS. She was presented with a certificate and RM2,000 cash prize. Meanwhile, Nur Atikah binti Abu Bakar, a Wood Science Technology student and Fatin Norliyana binti Mohamad Ismail, a Forest Science student, both from the Faculty of Forestry, UPM received a certificate and RM1,000 cash prize each.

Commenting on the award win, Chaw Vi Vian expressed. “I would like to thank my supervisor and friends for their help. Without them, it is impossible for me to produce a good thesis. As youths, we can help to conserve and protect our forest starting from ourselves. I hope that Malaysians will have a deeper awareness on the importance of conserving and protecting our environment. In my opinion, young Malaysians are able to encourage sustainable forestry by having the awareness of our environment and using more green products.”

“MTCC hopes that the award will inspire more students to take up forestry-related courses and spur them to play a greater role in promoting sustainable forestry in Malaysia. With the timber commodity being a key contributor to the nation’s dress economy, the forestry sector is still an attractive sector for graduates who are passionate about contributing towards a sustainable economy while making a positive impact on the environment and society,” Yong concluded.

The MTCC Academic Award will be an annual feature in MTCC’s activities for the next five years after which its impact and relevancy would be assessed.

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