KOTA KINABALU: The friendship and close cooperation between China and Malaysia are strong reasons behind China students’ decision to pursue their studies here, said China’s Consul General in Kota Kinabalu, Chen Peijie.
She said the good relations between both countries gave confidence to China nationals that they would be safe here in this friendly environment.
China students who took courses at UMS would also have a promising future in contributing to the various cooperation under the One Belt One Road initiative. Chen said prior to giving a talk to students from China who have enrolled at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) here yesterday.
She said the One Belt One Road initiative included the Asian Investment Bank and Silk Road Fund, in which China strived for common developments with its neighbouring countries, such as Malaysia.
Chen said she would encourage the students to study hard at UMS and learn different cultures to enrich themselves. At the same time, she said the Chinese students should demonstrate good behaviour as they were akin to being ambassadors of China.
UMS has recorded more than 1,000 alumni of China nationals since the first recruitment of China students in 2003. This year, a total of 82 China students have enrolled into UMS. Eight postgraduate students from China will also register at UMS today (September 4).
The China students are mostly taking the international business, tourism, marketing, hotel management courses, though some are also enrolled in science, geology and Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) courses.
Students from China are required to take an intensive English course before commencing their undergraduate course. Based on records, 97 per cent of China students in previous recruitments have successfully graduated from UMS.
Asked about the reasons for a drop in China student intake this year compared to previous years, UMS deputy vice chancellor of academic and international, Professor Dr D Kamarudin D Mudin, said it could be due to the recent incidents in the east coast, referring to the multiple abductions, which made the Chinese anxious coming to Sabah.
He said the incidents happened on remote islands in the east coast of Sabah and people living in the west coast were safe.
“We hope to attract more students in the future if it (kidnapping) does not happen again.”
Director of UMS offshore office (China), Helen Liu, said negative information would seriously affect Chinese parents’ decision to send their children to Sabah and many of them only have one offspring in China.
She said the MH370 and abductions have severely affected the recruitment of China students. Nonetheless, Liu said the university now focused more on the quality of students rather than the quantity, which entailed strict criteria and interviews to select the top and best China students into UMS.
Liu added that she was confident of getting more good students from China to study at UMS with the strong support from Kamarudin and Chen.
Adding onto what Kamarudin has said, Chen said Sabah is a very good place that is worth coming to.
“I do not know exactly why (China) students are less than before. But maybe deputy vice chancellor (Kamarudin) is right. Bad things happen and (people) feel unsafe.”
However, she said things were getting better whereby some of her local hotel manager friends have told her that more Chinese tourists have returned to their hotels with occupancy rate at almost full.
“So I think that is a good sign.”
Chen added good security would encourage more people to visit Sabah, and she believed that the number of China students at UMS would be higher next year.
Also present was UMS Centre for International Affairs acting director, Molly Donna Datuk Hj Awang Sham.