​By ABRAHAM SEBASTIAN

 

Professor Laurie Bauer of the Victoria University of Wellington graced the lecturers and students in UTAR with his presence for a week from the 13th of August.

As an external examiner of the English Language Degree program, he was present to assess the students, lecturers and the program itself.

Upon arrival, Professor Bauer had private interviews with certain lecturers in the English Language course. He also had a group interview session with some of the senior lecturers.

The lecturers expressed their fondness for him mainly because of his friendly and witty, yet knowledgeable personality.

He managed to get information on the course structure and the content of the syllabus. He also gave useful suggestions and recommendations to the lecturers.

The dean of the Faculty of Graduate Research from the Victoria University of Wellington also took the time to interview a group of English Language Undergraduate students, the final year students in particular.

This was aimed at getting feedback on their opinion of the course that they have almost completed. He also looked for dissatisfaction and suggestions from students to improve the program.

However, he conducted it in a much laid back manner where he even teased the students and lecturers a little bit here and there.

An affiliation with the Victoria University of Wellington opens a whole new array of options to the students from UTAR. It is taking small steps into forming exchange programs and twinning programs between the two universities.

Graduates from UTAR may also find their credentials accredited by the Victoria University for postgraduate courses. In fact, Professor Bauer was very impressed with the number of students intending to further their studies.

Other than his responsibilities to look into the English Language Degree, he also managed to fit in a talk into his tight schedule in that week. The talk not only attracted students but was also received by a number of lecturers and staff including the Vice President of UTAR, Dr. Teh Chee Seng.

The talk entitled, “What You Don’t Know Can’t Hurt You. Yeah, Right!” enlightened the audience on the aspects of English that have not had much research despite the obvious lack of information. It took the audience awhile to familiarize with his dry humour, but they quickly warmed up to him.

Everyone in UTAR looks forward to the day where the two universities will be able to work side by side as sister universities, resulting in a real bond between western and eastern cultures. The erected statues of Albert Einstein and Confucius playing board games portray this aspiration.

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