KOTA KINABALU: Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy (FBEA), Universiti Malaysia Sabah has successfully conducted more than 18 online activities for 88 international mobility students from Indonesia and China within the past three months.
All of the 18 activities are conducted under the programmes of Taking a Different Path: Tragedy in History, Getting to know your Sabah, Crisscrossing Malaysia: Through Folk Games and Cultures, and Tour of Foodie.
The online activities conducted by FBEA UMS focused on cultural talk, traditional games, and tourism hotspots. The activities are unique opportunity for the online mobility students from Indonesia and China to gain invaluable experience, to learn simple culture and knowledge, especially post pandemic and open for travel.
The activities are continuously being held from time to time, to better prepare the mobility students from Indonesia and China for them to feel to ‘return’ to Sabah after the pandemic and travel restriction is lifted at this endemic time.
The programmes and activities were conducted with the collaboration of local students, to ensure there is an exchange of ideas and concepts with international mobility students. The programmes were intended to provide a platform for sharing of ideas and experiences between international students and local students.
The idea of ‘returning to Sabah’ was started with Andy Lee Chen Hiung, mobility coordinator to ensure the mobility students to have an insight of the places to visit in Sabah, and to enjoy it better when they are returning to visit in person, especially post pandemic and travel has been allowed.
Associate Prof. Dr. Mohd. Rahimie Abdul Karim, FBEA newly appointed Dean, stated that the faculty is always committed to ensure all online mobility activities will always be invaluable and meaningful to the students, for them to visit Sabah in future especially now travel has been allowed and hoping to receive more international mobility students.
Prof. Datuk Dr. Hj. Kasim Hj. Md Mansur, former Dean of FBEA UMS, welcomed the idea to further promote exchange programme and continuous collaboration in many aspects. Prof. Datuk Dr. Hj. Kasim congratulated mobility students at the faculty and hoping to receive more mobility students in future.
Datu Razali Datu Eranza, coordinator for the programme hoping to receive physical return of the international mobility students, for them to experience the best attractions in Sabah. Previous experiences including tour to Kundasang and Ranau, Sandakan and Labuan.
Some of the popular programmes enjoyed the most by international mobility students from Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and South Korea before the pandemic, including A Walk to Remember (attending wedding ceremonies), Journey to the West (Cowboy Town Tuaran, Crododile Farm), Journey to the Pearl of Borneo (Labuan trip), Journey to the Heart of Borneo (Ranau-Kundasang trip).
