Convo venue yet to be determined
Kampar, November 4 (J-on) - It has been three years since UTAR Kampar campus opened its doors to students wishing to pursue tertiary education.
The Kampar campus has also seen a lot of development with an additional five blocks of buildings, making it a total of 10 blocks.
Now, the first batch (January 2008 intake) of degree students at UTAR Kampar would be finishing their three-year course by the end of this year.
The question now arises as to where would the first convocation be held since for those graduating from UTAR Kampar.
“We only know that the graduation would be held in March 2011,” said Department of Alumni Relations and Placement staff Kong Pui Ling.
Kong added that they were still waiting for the top management to decide on the venue and date of the convocation.
Since the establishment of UTAR, Wisma MCA’s San Choon Hall has been used as the convocation venue.
This is due to the fact that UTAR does not have a space large enough to accommodate the graduates and parents.
Even UTAR Kampar’s Heritage Hall can only take in about 600 people.
However, according to Head of Department of Estate and Facilities Abdul Majid Mohd Gani, the rental of the hall does not come cheap.
“The rental for Wisma MCA is actually quite high but UTAR is able to rent it at a discounted rate.
“Our counterpart in PJ is the one in-charge of organising the convocation and we are not involved,” he said.
Majid added that the high rental cost is also part of the reason why UTAR is building the Grand Hall at the Kampar campus.
Much to the dismay of UTAR Kampar’s first batch of degree students, the Grand Hall is expected to be completed by 2012.
It would be able to host the August 2012 Convocation as well as UTAR’s 10th anniversary.
There are talks between KTAR (Kampar) and UTAR top officials surveying KTAR auditorium to be held for convocation. The auditorium in KTAR (Kampar) can hold around 1,300 students per session according to KTAR estimates but no decision has been made.
However according to a reliable source within UTAR management, there are indications from the university's Registrar that the convocation may be held in Wisma MCA.
Other than enquiring about the venue for the March 2011 convocation, students had also asked why they need to pay an additional RM498.
A check with the Department of Alumni Relations and Placement revealed that RM200 is refundable deposit.
Meanwhile, RM298 includes two guest entrance cards, rental of convocation attire (graduation gown, hood, and mortar board), degree certificate, academic transcript, a scroll box, a convocation handbook, a set of three convocation ceremony photographs, a T-shirt, a DVD recording of the convocation ceremony, and an E-album.
“RM200 would be refunded to the graduates if they return the convocation attire within three days after the ceremony.
“After the third day, a 10 ringgit fine would be imposed on a daily basis,” said Kong.
The fine would be deducted from the refundable deposit until the full amount is forfeited.
When compared with Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman (KTAR) the gown fee is RM60-RM80 and the deposit is RM300 sourced from Department of Accreditation Credit Evaluation.
For note sake, for the price difference when it comes to charging for the gown set; KTAR is partially subsidised by the government and UTAR is a fully private entity. For both queries, neither KTAR nor UTAR would comment further on how the money used for the deposit would be spent.
Right now, with the mixed signals, we can only guess whether the March 2011 convocation would be held at Kampar or Wisma MCA.
Final year students are welcomed to send their feedback on which venue do they prefer for their convocation and why here.
Kindly also spare a minute or two to fill out the poll on the right side of the screen.
