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Change in convo venue likely
By KAREN CHAPMAN (Tuesday March 18, 2008 ; The Star)
PETALING JAYA: This year’s Universiti Malaya convocation ceremony will most probably be held outside the Dewan Tunku Canselor (DTC) – a traditional graduation venue.
This is because DTC is becoming too small for such events.
While the university has not made a decision on the matter, vice-chancellor Datuk Rafiah Salim said a convocation ceremony at the DTC now took two sessions over seven days due to the university having thousands of graduates.
“We are looking at more efficient ways to manage the ceremony and one of them is to hold them at the various faculties instead of at DTC,” she told The Star.
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Grand setting: The august DTC (above and below) has been the venue for convocation ceremonies and other major functions in University Malaya since the 1960s.The next convocation would be held in August, she added.
Rafiah was responding to complaints from students that the convocation ceremony would be held at their respective faculties rather than at DTC.
Historian Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim, who has been teaching at UM for more than 40 years, said it was not uncommon for individual faculties in Western countries to hold their own convocation ceremonies.
“It can be tedious if there is a large student population and the convocation is held over several days,” he said.
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Khoo said that convocation ceremonies had been held at DTC since the 1960s.
“Before that when there were two UM campuses, the convocation was held at the Victoria Memorial Hall in Singapore and the Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
When fire destroyed almost 90% of DTC in 2001, the convocation ceremony was held at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil but subsequently returned to the DTC the following year once it was rebuilt.
Jennifer Tan, who graduated from UM in 1968, said there would be a loss of camaraderie.
“Students should be able to graduate together as there will be a loss of a sense of belonging to the same university if faculties have their own ceremonies,” she said.
Sonia James, who graduated from UM in 1996, said the convocation though considered symbolic was the pinnacle of a student’s life.
“Graduating at the DTC is a big deal for students as it is a tradition.
“If I had to graduate at my own faculty, it would have been an anti climax and I would not have attended it or invited anyone to attend,” she said.
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