Student Council
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My experience serving as the President of the IUMW Student Council amid a pandemic was invaluable and will be the highlight of my university years. The sense of fulfilment from being able to contribute back to the university, lead an incredible team and be the go-to person to solve issues/challenges/concerns/complaints from students, was indescribable. My presidential term enhanced my leadership skills and taught me to stay true to myself and act per my values that I inspire everyone to act in accordance to their own. The different challenges and various ideas and perspectives that I came across daily, help put my problem solving and critical thinking skills to good use, and juggling between my commitments and academics truly taught me the importance of effective time management.

My presidency is honestly nothing without my council members, my SC family. I had an A+ team who were willing to go the extra mile and do everything and anything for each other. We would have meetings late at night and early morning the next day, we’d be on a call with the management. From the initiatives and ideas, the execution of virtual events right up to managing complaints, feedbacks, emails & etc, the dedication and commitment my team has towards the council is truly something I am very grateful for. I always communicate and remind the team that as much as the Student Council is a platform to serve the student community, it is a platform for self-development and now, I can proudly say that the past year has truly developed us into the individuals that we are today.

Covid-19 & online learning came with an entire new set of challenges. As a council, but primarily as students ourselves, our utmost priority was the student community in IUMW. Communicating the various challenges students face as well as finding the middle ground and mediating discussions with the management gave me valuable stakeholder management & crisis management skills. Ensuring we maximised engagement with students through virtual platforms as well as the cancellation of all our pre-planned physical events and developing an entire timeline of virtual ones, were challenges my team & I struggled with in the beginning but over time we learned to manage our expectations and ensure that come what may, as elected representatives, we continuously deliver the best that we can.

If I could summarise my entire presidential term in a quote, it would be; “If you have your mind in the right direction, and your heart is full of the right kind of stuff, you'll succeed and you'll triumph over adversity, over really anything.” – Milo Ventimiglia.

Being a part of the Student Council has always been my dream. When you join such an establishment, especially when we are still young adults, these are the types of opportunities that helped me build my character as a leader. I sought to understand the responsibilities of being in the team, and came out the other end being better at fulfilling my tasks than before. I spent months adapting to new environments and working styles, observing and learning from my team members on the various ways they attain success. I had been professional in every task I was given and I continued to bury myself into my work with focus and determination. I had been punctual and timely at most of my meetings and events so as to be readily prepared to gain all the information and knowledge, as well as to share my own, with the team. Additionally, I had gained two skills that guided me through my whole path, which was the polishing of my already-established event management skills, as well as my critical thinking skills for all actions I took.

The Student Council also allowed me to enhance my preparation skills in entering the job market. With the chance I gained from working with, partnering with and gaining advice from the IUMW management and its variety of supportive seniors, I was able to find time and space to build a connective network with many students and adults of a multitude of backgrounds. I was better at connecting with people as well as learned a lot from the diverse thoughts, opinions and actions of others, so I may improve more as a leader and team member in the physical, mental and emotional aspects. I am thankful that my future opportunities and ventures have stemmed from such a prestigious experience like this tenure in the Student Council.

Leadership development has been a part of my life since my primary school years. My mom put me into so many leadership camps and workshops without me understanding the benefits of it. Then, I realised that those camps instilled the habits and skills of a leader within me which made me have so much fun when getting the opportunity to lead. But I had never thought of becoming a student representative in my university because I know that it is a huge responsibility. Therefore, when I entered IUMW I did not intend to become a student leader.

When the registration for the new council opened, my friends encouraged me to apply with the aim of improving students’ experience in IUMW. To be honest, I applied with no hope of winning, but Alhamdulillah I became the Executive Secretary of IUMW Student Council 19/20.

Life as an Executive Secretary has been both challenging and fun because throughout the whole journey, I learnt a lot and improved a lot. The 10 of us started off as strangers and now we are a family. Though many challenges came our way, we were all very professional which allowed us to solve problems rationally in a calm manner. I realised that as a team we may have our own ideas and working style, but that doesn’t stop us from respecting and understanding each other. Being in this council also taught me that nothing is impossible when you put your mind to it - no matter how difficult the situation. With a strong team and internal bond, you can achieve anything and everything. My advice – don’t be afraid to try new things and don’t limit yourself because as youths we still have a lot of time to discover our skills and capability. Don’t be afraid of failure because that will only make you stronger and motivate you to become the best version of yourself.

I have always loved leading a team whether it’s a group of people I already know, or a completely new group of people. This Student Council term, I had the privilege of running and winning the desired position.

We were a team of 10, and 6 of the members I wasn’t close with prior – but I’m super glad I get to call them my family today, after almost 10 months of being together physically and virtually. There were many challenges such as misunderstandings and occasional conflicts that occurred within the team, to be very transparent. However, we were professional when dealing with things and always ensured that we settled issues there and then.

Experiences from working with external organisations such ICMS and I-WELD helped us to look at things in a more professional way. When we joined the Student Council, we had big dreams and we wanted to make a lot of changes. We brainstormed for weeks to get the proper system on how we should do things throughout the year. But COVID-19 came along and we had to put a pause on many projects. We needed a while to grasp the new reality and to come up with a list of virtual events that we believe left an impact on students’ experience.

Internally, I’m glad that being in the Student Council allowed me to voice out the issues directly to management and get the answers first-hand. I had always doubted how or what the Student Council do with issues but now I understand the procedures and confidentiality better.

Being in the Student Council benefits you in a way that people often look up to you, and when you are in line with many other candidates for employability, your resume would weigh a little more than other people.

Some things I learned across my time in the Student Council include the importance of compromising with your team members, accepting criticism and feedback with an open mind, sticking to deadlines and remember why we’re doing the things we do; its to make students’ (and our) university experience a more memorable and impactful one. Apart from my family, I’m happy to say that I am who I am today because of the experiences, opportunities and memories being in the Student Council gave me.

My Student Council experience has been positively overwhelming and one that has shaped various aspects of my personality. Reflecting back I can say that I made the right decision joining this council. The journey has been full of challenges that were pushed me to apply my competitive skills in order to achieve the desired results and outcomes. I learned the essential and effective ways of establishing a result-oriented team-communication, and I value and cherish the relationship with my colleagues and team members - I see them as a family. I was lucky working with such amazing and brilliant individuals who were ultimately focused on achieving and fulfilling their tasks in a very professional and creative way, and that would motivate me in finishing and conducting my tasks.

I learned that no matter how well defined a strategy is, a team will always be the most influencing factor to determine the success of the strategy. I also developed my soft/ power skills and became a better analyser, planner, and communicator. Importantly, I also discovered my leadership talents that prior to this were hidden and unnoticed.

My experience also gave me connections and networks that will benefit me in my career and widen my scope of interest and knowledge about the job market. I got the opportunity to do what I enjoy most, which is serving and taking care of the welfare of my university community, which I felt was an honour before it was a responsibility. I met many new faces and interacted with many students with whom I shared memorable moments which I will reflect back on for years to come.

My time in the Student Council exposed me to industry and current employment demands through the experience of being a leader during my one-year term. The events and initiatives conducted during our time in the Student Council truly pushed our boundaries.

The position as IUMW Business School Representative was truly challenging due to the number of students. However, their concerns are the main priority, so the challenge shaped me to become a better leader and solving problems with the help of the Business School Dean. Direct reporting to him prepared me for real life employment, because I learned that each problem can be solved by thinking more creatively and critically.

Acting as the Cultural Development Officer gave me a different kind of exposure, helping to align our clubs’ plans and students’ expectations. I led the clubs by keeping the pace and momentum of their performance and by giving moral support through attending all the activities.

My journey throughout the year with the Student Council was really fun! I learnt a lot. Not just in relation to work ethics, but I learnt the meaning of “family”. I admire every Student Council member's potential & how they handled things when challenges came our way. They taught me that every event that we were handling, we do so as a team, even though it is not under our portfolio. Even on occasions where we’d have different ideas and opinions, we’d always have the attitude that there is always a solution to everything! If I got the chance to be the Student Council again, I’m 100% sure I’d go for it!

I was a person who lacked self-confidence, scared to share my opinion as I thought that my ideas or opinion were not that good compared to others. But after I joined the Student Council, I realised that sharing my own opinion is important because there will never be a perfect opinion or suggestion - the best or the most suitable idea will often only come after debate and discussion. I also learned that if I’m not confident or don’t trust my own idea will work, how can I expect others to trust it? Thanks to the Student Council, I am now a person who believes in my own ideas and is willing to share my opinions with others, in order to have discussion and reach the best outcome.

The Student Council also helped me to secure better job opportunities by giving me an environment that is similar to the workplace, which allowed me to have a sense of structure and better time management. I had to be systematic and organised when working as a council member to keep track of everything, prevent delays of work and also to prepare detailed proposals in order to give my teammates a clearer picture on what I wanted to do.

Time management was very important to make our work more efficient and to prevent burnout. After joining the Student Council, I needed to utilise my time so that I was able to complete the task as a student and a council member and have enough time to rest.

My time as a Student Council member was an astonishing experience. It's difficult to list all the ways the Student Council has changed my life for better, but one important thing that I learned was how to handle and lead projects. When I started I was just an ordinary student – I didn’t know how I would handle my grades and Student Council responsibilities - but during my service I really pushed my limits to fulfill my commitments and I learned to better manage my time.

As the FSTEM Representative, I had the opportunity to work closely with the dean, lecturers, and students for faculty events. I also had to deal with students’ concerns which lead me to communicate directly with the dean to discuss any issues and how we could handle them. Communicating directly with the dean taught me to be more professional when it comes to addressing issues and prepared me to better handle unexpected problems.

Holding the portfolio of an Academic & Career Development Officer was a challenge for me as I was not familiar with career development matters but with the guidance of the Student Services Centre, I learned a lot about how career services are provided to students and what we can do to enhance the services for them. I got to work and communicate directly with people from well-known organisations such as KPMG and Graduan to organise webinars for IUMW students. I was exposed to the current employment demands as I was working closely with people from the industry itself. It was an eye-opening experience for me, and I learned so much about how to brand myself as a fresh graduate or a job seeker when looking for jobs in the industry.

My Student Council experience taught me that it’s never too late to change yourself to become a better person. If you compare me now with who I was in high school, you wouldn’t believe that it’s the same person. When I enrolled at IUMW, I was determined to break out of my shell and do things out of my comfort zone. One of the ways I did that was by applying for Student Council. It was my first time committing to something important that held a lot of responsibility.

During my time as a Student Council member, I learned how to balance my studies and social life with my responsibilities in the council. Although it wasn’t easy, it instilled in me a lot of important skills such as time management, setting priorities and managing my workload. I also learned how to work effectively within a team. We could discuss a difference of opinion in a civilised and professional manner. From this, I learned that it is important to be open to different ideas and to not let your emotions affect your decisions.

During my time I planned and handled events which was something I had never done before. I was exposed to all the hardships of managing an event from start to end, especially when I was the Project Manager for two Foundation events. The experience taught me how to be a good leader and guide my teammates in order to conduct a successful event.

I deeply value my time as part of the IUMW Student Council - it taught me many things that will be beneficial when entering the working world. I would highly encourage any student to apply for the council as it will be nothing but a fruitful and enriching experience.