KUCHING: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (UNIMAS) Golden Treasure Project intends to teach students how to prioritise volunteer activities, and instil a variety of critical soft skills such as effective communication, empathy, leadership, and teamwork.
Unimas said the initiative was initiated by 32 year-one medical and nursing students from the Faculty of Medicine and Sciences to complete their PPD1041 Soft Skills and Basic Volunteerism course in collaboration with the Rafflesia Representative Council of the Rafflesia Residential College.
“One of the non-resident apartments was converted into a one-stop centre of this pioneering project and the idea of this project was transpired following an initiative by one of the student residential fellows, Dr Shafinah Begum, who was also a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business.
“Basically this project was also initiated on the basis of the intention of lending a hand to tstudents in need of assistance to ensure they can continue studying at UNIMAS,” the university said in a statement.
The planning of the project began with a discussion between student representatives from Groups 5 and 6, two facilitators Siti Zaleha Raduan, the Rafflesia Residential College employee in charge of amenities and welfare, and Dr. Mohammad Hamdi Mahmod, the college principal, and other members of the Rafflesia Representative Council.
Work to prepare the apartment only started on Dec 21, 2022 and the Golden Treasure one-stop centre was officially launched on Jan 4 by Professor Dr Asri Said, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, who represented the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Alumni, Professor Dr Haji Kamarudin B Kana.
Alexander Sureng, the leader of the Golden Treasure Project, presented the president of the Rafflesia Representative Council, Mohamad Danish Aiman, a replica of the apartment’s key in a symbolic ceremony to hand over responsibilities of the one-stop centre to the Rafflesia Representative Council.
