Malaysia Branch successfully holds mini volunteer workshop for the leaders of its Student Chapters

Alireza Parpaei of IMechE Malaysia Young Member Section recounts the success of the Malaysia Branch's recent 'mini' volunteer workshop for the leaders of Malaysia's IMechE Student Chapters.

The Institution’s Malaysia branch successfully held its mini volunteer workshop for the leaders of its student chapters from various institutions of higher learning in Malaysia, namely Presidents and Academic Liaison Officers. This event was held on the 23 August 2014 at Kelab Golf Negara Subang, Selangor, Malaysia under responsibility of the Young Members Section.

The event saw an unprecedented attendance from all student chapters for a very eventful Saturday morning.  Attendees included seven Committee members of IMechE Malaysia and no less than 16 Student Representatives and Presidents from a wide range of Malaysian Universities including Monash University; University of Malaysia; INTI University;  University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC); UCSI  University; Taylor’s University;  Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).

The objective of the workshop was to let all the student chapters have a common understanding on various key roles and to get a better understanding of various guidelines of IMechE. There was a total of 9 sessions presented by some of the current and past IMechE Malaysia committee members in correlation to their current and past experiences in the main or YMS committees. Sessions and presenters included  ‘Welcome Speech and Participants Introduction  by Malaysia Branch Chairman, Ir. Mathew Thomas; ‘The Role of the Academic Liaison Officer’ (ALO) by Dr. Albert Tshai;  and ‘How to get the most from your Young Members’ by Dr. Tan Chou Yong.

The event concluded with a networking session over lunch at the KGNS Chinese Restaurant during which members from several student chapters had a chance of sharing their experiences with each other and even brainstorm for collaborative ideas.

As a result of this event, the aim to equip the student chapter leaders with necessary knowledge and skills was definitely achieved as they had the opportunity to listen first hand from experienced members who had served in the committee.  All the attendees were also happy that they have clear guidelines and ideas to work on their respective student chapters

Besides that, the presidents of all the student chapters also had the opportunity to get together and create a close association among them. The relationship and communications among the student chapters have improved and this event has also created a platform for all the student chapter presidents to collaborate on organising future events and eventually working towards the realisation of our motto.