"Biotechnology" seems to be the in thing these days and there's much hype about it all around the world. Even here for that matter, the government is going all out to make this a profitable industry. Bionexus is the thing in building now and they are looking forward in tapping the wide Malaysian Biodiversity as well as the Malaysian Agriculture.

Studying Biotechnology in UPM is a great experience as I find it to be one of the best IPTA's for biotechnology studies and research. We actually have our own faculty here, the Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences which comprises 3 courses ( Biotechnology, Microbiology and Biochemistry) which has many aspects in common.

For the first year of this course, we are generally exposed to basic courses which are theoretical such as 2 levels of biochemistry, microbiology, biophysical chemistry , genetics and molecular biology. There will be also an Introduction to Biotechnology Paper which would give the student an overall view on what Biotechnology is all about and some scope on its different branches. Baisc techniques such as spectrophotometers, Thin layer chromatographies and other Microbial techniques such as streak plates will be covered in the first year

In the second year, students are introduced to the application side of biotech...basically a few subjects from each branch of biotech..subjects include Genetic Engineering, Enzyme Technology, Plant and Animal Cell Tissue Culture, Fermentation Technology and Instrumentation in Biotechnological Research. Basically students should start grasping the principles and techniques during the second year.

From this, students are required to branch out in the final year to one of the major areas in biotech..the ones offered are Molecular Biology ( which includes DNA and gene technology), Plant Biotechnology, Environmental Biotechnology, Industrial Biotechnology and Food Biotechnology. A 2 months industrial training is necessary and so is a final year project.

Currently, UPM's Biotech programme is of a 3 year duration but is supposed to be upgraded to a 4 year programme in a year. This would add more value to your programme since biotechnology being of a wide scope is not sufficiently covered in a year 3 period. The lecturers here are highly experienced and knowledgable besides having a good research track record. The course is conducted fully in English by the way and you would definitely need a CGPA of 3.7 to 3.9 to enter..nothing lesser than 3.7 as far as i know.. The classroom environment is good and competitive and there's somewhat an average of 3 Indians per batch...maybe more next year...who knows??

Biotech is a good field to be in since its being all hyped about..and if you wanna study biotech, UPM would be ur safest bet..so welcome aboard..

Praveen Reginald
Biotech,UPM

[admin's note: Special thanks to Ms. Praveen for the article. I'm sure our readers would benefit from this. To the readers, please kindly leave ur queries as comments]

2006 must be a year of controversy for Malaysian IPTAs. Apart from the whining and crying during the IPTA intake (in late June 2006), students' attitude and university's stand on several matters are of concern now.

Before we discuss further, we would like to stress our stand on these issues. ==mahasiswa== is definitely not a medium for any kind of propaganda - be it pro-govt or pro-opposition. It's never been our agenda to support any political party for that matters. However, at the same time, ==mahasiswa== could not (and should not) close one eye on controversial issues surrounding IPTA students. Hope we made it very clear now.

While we admit there were some minor incidences in the past which were swept under the carpet, this is not the case this year. So far, it looks like Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) holds the 'record' for being the most mentioned local university in newspapers (both the mainstream papers and online versions of alternative news). UPM has become the most-talked about IPTA now on, probably next only to Universiti Malaya (UM), when it made headlines with lower world ranking.

First, it was a teaching guide (not textbook) on Ethnic Relations that caused a stir. The guide, Basic Concept of Ethnic Relations was debated in The Parliament, local newspapers, online forums and websites. Yet, ==mahasiswa== which comprised by UPM students are puzzled if those who are speaking against the guide actually knows what it is all about or not. Teaching guides have been used in UPM for a very long time and it only means as a guide. Usually it is a collection of information which will be complied by a group of lecturers to be used for lecturing. Based on the information that ==mahasiswa== has obtained, the teaching guide was complied in a hurry without consulting the respective authors for more clarification on their research papers/books. One may argue this is not a reason for anyone to point finger at a particular race for causing a tragedy/ethnic clash, we believe this issue should be looked in a different point. As for the compliers, they were merely doing their job of 'compiling' the information. They are not judging the authors but quoting them as the source. So, the real people who are responsible for the content will be the authors. UPM has published a teaching guide based on published papers and books, should the organization held responsible for this? ==mahasiswa=='s answer will be NO. Too bad that the particular guide has since been taken out of shelf.

Second would be an interesting piece of news which ==mahasiswa== first heard from UPM Makkalz, the issue of ragging in one of the faculty in UPM. Nevertheless, we have take the necessary steps to verify this news. We found mixed opinions and reactions to our queries. Some admit that this unhealthy culture is being practice in the faculty, but some said otherwise. Although those who ragged freshmen have not still be caught red-handed, ==mahasiswa== would like to remind these students of the severity of their actions (if it is proved to be true). The punishment for those who are caught ragging the freshmen will be expulsion, and we certainly do not want to see our Indian students being expelled for this reason. Those with more information on this issue are kindly requested to contact ==mahasiswa== (msiswa@gmail.com).


Third would be the latest video clips of some Malay students who are apparently attacking some Chinese students in a cafeteria in UPM (pic above). Stressing our stand not to be pre-prejudice against any race, we are now conducting our own enquires on this incidence which is being discussed almost in all student (and political) related forums. The video-clips were even made available online. Here we would like to appeal to all the students NOT to make your own conclusion on what expired in the video clips without investigating it further. We will be no different than some pathetic souls out there who have no idea of what this thing about, yet still manage to shoot out comments blindly.

We welcome any clarification on the posted issues. Please kindly forgive us if our remarks hurt anyone. Humiliating others was never been a part of our agenda - bringing out the hidden justice is.

The cover letter is your chance to sell yourself to a potential employer as the best candidate for a specific position. As such, it's as just as important as your resume. Never send out a resume without one. Yet, you must remember not to repeat details of your resume and treat cover letter separately.

Simply put: the resume is about you, your experience and your skills, and the cover letter is about what you can do for the employer.

An effective cover letter should accomplish 3 things:

1. Introduce yourself and your reason for writing
The first paragraph needs to grab the hiring manager's attention. Say exactly why you have sent the resume: you are interested in the company and you want to fill a need they have.

If you were referred to the company by a mutual friend or associate, mention them; the hiring manager may feel more obligated to respond to your letter.


2. Sell yourself
In the second part of the letter state (briefly) the skills you bring to the table that will specifically meet the employer's needs. There is no need to go into great detail; your resume should take care of that.

Use this section to highlight how you will use your talents and experience to benefit the company.


3. Make a plan
Close the letter by indicating what you would like to happen next. Don't leave the ball in the employer's court; take action! Tell the potential employer where you can be reached, either by phone or e-mail. Indicate if you did not hear from them within a few days, you will follow-up with a phone call to make sure your resume and cover letter have reached the intended recipient, and to arrange a face to face interview.

Be assertive but polite.



Writing Tips

1. Personalize the letter - address to the individual responsible of filling the position

2. Be natural - be simple, uncomplicated language and sentence structure

3. Be specific and get to the point - an introduction to your resume

4. Be positive - don't complain about your previous boss and don't sound like you are begging for a job

5. Be confident, but not arrogant - don't be negative or too humble either

6. Be polite and professional - treat your future employer with respect.

7. Be efficient - don't waste the reader's time on unneccesary details

8. Type your letter & remember to personalize it

9. Be available - remember to tell the employer how to reach you

10. Proof-read - check carefully for grammar and spelling mistakes

11. Sign it

12. Package it nicely - print resume and cover letter on the same paper stock; the uniformity will look professional

13. Keep one for yourself - make a copy of each letter for future reference


Check out some samples of cover letters HERE , HERE and HERE

It has been more than 2 months since we launched the siswa project. We started of reasonably well and we're still going on but we're still awaiting feedback on our issues. For the information of all, one of our objectives is to provide a platform of discussion between local public uni Indian students ( private students may comment as well). Having said that, we seriously hope to see more comments to our issues posed. You can type your comments by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of each post.

So far, we've divided our topics into few categories, notably Inspirations, Issues, Events, Career Talk and Tips.

• Inspirations - A JPA scholar's experience studying in France
• Issues - We've discussed a few issues including the Universities Act, whether racism is still alive, the D-E-L-T-A issue, the university intake and many more including our recent Are we focused enough?
• Events - so far we've covered the recent Student Leadership Convention in UM (watch out for the review on it soon) and the Career Fair
• Career Talk - we're still running this project to get testimonials from students about their course of study. This is to provide some information to those students who would like to apply for such courses in the future and also to educate all the other students briefly about various fields of study. So far we've posted Biomedicine (UKM) , Industrial Chemistry (UMS) and Aerospace Engineering (UPM). Look out for more posts in the future. By the way, we are still accepting testimonials from students.
• Tips - Do check out our tips on resume writing. Look out for more tips soon.
  

We sincerely would like to thank all the students who have been actively supporting our efforts. Not to forget The Mind BB for supporting us through their writeups and to Tamiliyakkam for supporting us throughout our project.

Our motive is to serve and educate Local Public Uni Indian students escpecially. Continous support would be appreciated as it would function as a catalyst for better work in the future.

Thanks again.

Parents, being Tamil-school loving folks send us to Tamil vernacular school. We then struggle in the remove classes and lose a year there. We breeze through the rest of our secondary school life, being 'smart students' we are. Handful of us were lucky and got into the government's matriculation and manage to forgo the dreaded Form 6. High percentage of our students enrolled in private colleges and varsities. The remaining found themselves back in school, facing the same white board but this time also facing a huge hurdle-STPM.We do well (or reasonably well) and found our way to the public universities. Those who didn't get the courses of their choice then proceed to private varisities or abroad. This is when the real challenge starts.

You may or may not offered courses of your choices. You may or may not offered the uni of your choice. Yet, when you accept what is given to you, it means you have sealed your future. You are tied down with what is in your hand, at least for the next 3-5 years. Once you have made your choice, then it is your responsibility to make the best of your years in the university, be it IPTA or IPTS.

It is dis-heartening to see our students losing their focus once they enter universities. Ragging, clubbing, chatting, orkuting, friendstering..the list goes on and on. These kind of activities takes precedence in many of our students's life. How many of us really slog on our books and notes to make the grades? How many of us conferred with Dean's List every semester? How many of us make it to the First Class Hons? How many of us participate in various activities in uni?

Have we forgotten the struggle we have been through to get here?

Guess this is a question we all need to ask ourselves.