AUSMAT Rising Star

Shireen Chin Mei Yee is no ordinary student. Juggling between her study and exams, the 18 year old student of Sunway College’s Australian Matriculation (AUSMAT) programme, is a performer of the guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument. The former student of Kuen Cheng High School was inspired by her mother to take up the guzheng. She started playing the instrument five years ago, and has since fallen in love with it.

“Many people do not know of the guzheng, which makes me love it more, as I can play however I want to. I'm normally an expressive person and the special characteristic of the guzheng gives me many opportunities to express my feelings.” Shireen is a member of the Yi Xiang Ler Chinese Orchestra, which creates various opportunities for her to perform. She enjoys performing for it is when she can share her music with others, “the best part of performing is being able to see my audiences’ reaction.”

Shireen performing during an AUSMAT event

Being proficient with musical instruments does not come easily as a lot of practice is required. For Shireen, she spends an hour or two a day practising when there are no exams. She normally concentrates on her studies and only practices on the guzheng when she is at home.

According to Shireen, she normally performs at dinners, at the shopping mall during Chinese New Year and charity events such as the Child Aid Asia 2015 in the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac). She recently performed in the AUSMAT Talent Time and Sunway Education Group Teachers Appreciation Day, achieving her dream of performing on stage in front of her lecturers and friends.

A recipient of the Jeffrey Cheah Entrance Scholarship, Shireen enrolled into the AUSMAT programme last year. When asked how she decided Sunway College was the right one for her, she said accessible transportation and excellent facilities were main factors. She finds most interesting her lecturers, “They are passionate and humorous at the same time. I like how we get to meet different people in every class.”

Sunway AUSMAT students are UNDENIABLY Top in Malaysia and the WORLD!

At the recent AUSMAT Achievement & Appreciation Awards, Sunway AUSMAT students celebrated their remarkable achievements in last year’s WACE examinations.

Top student and President of Student Council for AUSMAT 2013, Gavin Gan Yew Meng received the Special Course Award for English as Additional Language & Dialect (EALD). This top world is awarded to Gavin for obtaining the highest mark in EALD worldwide.

Gavin was also a recipient of the Special Certificate of Distinction along with Vivian Tan Ai Wen for Accounting & Finance and Oliver Leonard Jalleh for Business Management & Enterprise. This Certificate of Distinction is awarded to students who are in the top 0.5 per cent of candidates in a WACE subject in the 2013 WACE exam worldwide.

Four students, Lee Wen Hui, Bryan Poh Chen Shen, Preeya Kaur Dhaliwal and Gerald Tan Chen Jie who achieved above ATAR 99 and above were presented with the Achievement Award for WACE Top 1%, while their course-mates who achieved ATAR 95 and above received the Achievement Award for WACE Top 5%. 60% of AUSMAT students achieved ATAR 80 and above with 99% qualifying for university education worldwide.

The event also paid tribute to the AUSMAT Student Council who have proven that they are not only good academically but in their time management as well as they have been active in organising and running events, being student ambassadors and academic mentors to their peers. Gavin who intends to pursue further studies at National University of Singapore, in his speech encouraged new students to join the council, “Take the opportunity to do great things and make great friends along the way.”

Citing that it takes a lot of hard work and determination for the AUSMAT programme as he juggled studying and extra-curricular activities, he said “One thing AUSMAT will teach you – you are capable of doing so much more!”

Sean Low Shan An, a Student Council member and academic mentor for the Business Management & Enterprise subject, in his speech for the sharing session said, “It is not about knowing everything or being the top scorer in exams, it is about the willingness to share with others what you know and it is also an opportunity for you to learn more.”

AUSMAT at Sunway is more than just learning in the classroom. Students get hands-on experience through out of class activities where they learn team work, interpersonal and leadership skills which help make AUSMAT a truly memorable experience. The programme is unique in the way that it focuses on the holistic development of students by addressing individual learning needs, personal growth and uses a multiple approach to problem solving and critical thinking. The broad learning pedagogies of AUSMAT prepare students for university level studies and enable them to apply skills into other disciplines and specializations.

Sunway is the largest and longest running provider of AUSMAT (Australian Year 12) in Malaysia. The strong partnership of Sunway College and, the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) is committed to uphold the standards of the programme to that ensure quality assurance and teaching consistent to that of Western Australian Schools.

The Australian Matriculation (AUSMAT) at Sunway is an internationally recognised pre-university programme. This programme prepares students for the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) and is widely accepted by universities in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Russia, Germany, Singapore and also private universities and university colleges in Malaysia.

The AUSMAT programme at Sunway College offers a flexible combination of diverse subjects which include Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, Psychology, Mathematics, Economics, Accounting and Finance, and Business Management. The programme does not restrict students to any specialisation or subject combination. Depending on their personal interests, students can choose and combine a variety of subjects for their studies allowing them to develop their best potentials.