PIONEERING EDUCATIONAL VILLAGE
by Lim Lay Ying
Property Times, New Straits Times
30th April 2005

Educational institutions such as schools, colleges, and universities, should be the heart of a community – located in a strategic spot of the neighbourhood where infrastructure and services can be easily accessed, and where they can serve as the nucleus of neighbourhood development.

Such is the development philosophy of the visionary behind the Sunway Group, which has four public-listed companies and 150 subsidiaries in its fold. Founder and chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Seri (Dr) Jeffrey Cheah’s approach is predicated on the notion that an educational facility should be used as a center for student learning and as a support network that serves as the core of community activities, providing opportunities for students, parents, and citizens.

When Bandar Sunway was conceived almost two decades ago for an 800-acre tract of mining wasteland in a relatively unknown suburb (then) in Petaling Jaya, this vision was incorporated to integrate Sunway College into the township’s development plans. The College which was operating out of a commercial building on a one-over acre site in the town centre precinct of PJ Newtown, was already bursting at its seams from rising student enrollment.

New campus

A 22-acre site was designated as campus grounds for Sunway College’s new facility in Bandar Sunway. Inputs during the planning phase were sourced from college administrators, lecturers, students, parents, local agencies, and the business community. With education at the heart of the development efforts, the meticulous implementation of the college amenities paid off handsomely.

From an initial student population size of 200, Sunway College today boasts of a total of 9,000 full-time students pursuing pre-university programmes, professional and financial courses, and tertiary education. Amongst them, 27 per cent are represented by 52 nationalities from countries outside of Malaysia, including Indonesia, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. In view of such a significant segment, an International Student Office was specially set up to cater to the welfare and needs of these foreign students.

With a track record that grew from strength to strength, Sunway College’s status in the education fraternity soared along with it. While holding the trophy for being the pioneer of twinning degree programmes with foreign universities, the college was elevated into a degree-awarding educational institution of higher learning in August 2004. It become a University College – a position which reflects the hallmark of excellence in providing education. This feather-in-the-cap was not the first for the establishment.

Contribution beyond education

Since the start of the new millennium, numerous awards and accolades were conferred upon the college. These include several academic-related ones such as the ACCA Premier Status (2002) and Premier Plus Status (2004) awards, Elite Partner Status from the National Computing Centre, United Kingdom (2001), and MS ISO 9001 : 2000 in June 2003.

For its contribution to the economy and society, the college was crowned by the Ministry of Education for achieving the highest enrolment of international students (IPTS category) in 2003, and the Human Resource Minister in the Large Employer Category (2003). It had already received the National Industry Export Excellence Award in 2001.

From its humble origins, Sunway University College now offers a top-grade educational environment for both its students as well as academicians and administrators. The outstanding support facilities within the campus grounds include:

· A library

Named the “Tun Hussein Onn Library”, the 58,000 square-foot-facility encompasses reading rooms, book stacks and specialist function areas such as the Audio Visual Room and the Multimedia Resource Centre (MRC). The ISO 9001 : 2000 certified library is equipped with technology and utilises the Z39.50 communications protocol, which enables the library to be linked worldwide, thus facilitating easy access to international databases and thousands of e-journals. It has a collection of over 100,000 items covering every field of knowledge. The collection includes books, periodicals, AV materials, CD-ROM and microfiches. Specialist collections include an extensive reference collection, a Law collection and a Malaysian collection.

· Computer Laboratories

Supporting all the courses at Sunway University College are elaborate computing facilities which include nine computer laboratories for teaching and practical training. These laboratories are equipped with twenty to thirty PC’s each, all networked and with access to the Internet.

A Donovan Linux lab which is equipped with twenty Donovan servers, places the institution ahead of other educational institutions in Malaysia. To support its Multimedia courses, the University College set up a Multimedia Production Laboratory and two Information & Communications Technology laboratories.

· Science and Language Laboratories

Five science laboratories are equipped with complete tools and materials to facilitate students in the fields of Physics, Chemistry and Biology. In addition, there is also a Language Laboratory with a computerised learning console integrated with a system which can be used to apply the latest techniques for speedy and effective learning of English and other languages.

· School of Hospitality and Tourism Management

The School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Sunway University College provides its students with complete and up-to-date hospitality education and training facilities of international standards. The school is reputed to have the best state-of-the-art training resources – fine-dining training restaurant, deli café, mockup front office, housekeeping suite, pastry kitchen, production kitchen and preparatory kitchen.

· Black-box Theatre

A purpose-built theatre named “Roof Top Theatre” equipped with state-of-the-art technology was built to support the School of Performance and Media.

· Lecture Theaters & Classrooms

There are 140 classrooms and 15 acoustically balanced lecture theatres, air-conditioned and equipped with electronic teaching aids, including notebooks, LCD projectors, overhead projectors, and sound systems.

· Multi Purpose Hall

The multi-purpose hall accommodates over 1,200 students for examinations and other special occasions.

· Sports & Recreational Facilities

Sunway University College stands out in terms of the range of sporting facilities it offers, such as an Olympic-sized swimming pool, full-sized field for football, rugby, hockey, and cricket. Other on-campus sports facilities include tennis, basketball, netball, volleyball, badminton, and table tennis.

· Apartment and Condominium Hostels

Close to 30 per cent of the college students live on campus, with almost 1,500 accommodated in the 20-storey condominium hostel building and another 1,000-over residing in the 5-storey walk-up apartment hostels. Sunway Lagoon View Condominium provides for another fifty students. In total, student accommodation accounts for 428,750 square feet (39,832 square metres) of built-up space.

Complementing these accommodation amenities are a cafeteria, bookstore, convenience store, launderettes, air-conditioned internet enabled common study rooms, “surau”, banking services, and 24-hour security surveillance.

Sunway University College has todate trained over 40,000 young people to join the country’s workforce, and raised the bar in the provision of private higher education. It is the epitome of how an educational village can effectively act as a catalyst in developing its neighbourhood and help give new life to a derelict site.