2019 NCCU Academic Excellence Scholarship

“I almost couldn’t believe myself when I first heard about the news. It was the very first scholarship I ever had in my lifetime”.

The tone of excitement filled the atmosphere as it burst into laughter, “I never had any luck when it comes to scholarship,” teased Andrew Yeng, a first-year international student from Malaysia.

Yeng was enrolled in IMICS from the 2019 international admission. “I was pretty discouraged at first,” he admitted. Yeng was one of the few international students who were accepted without a scholarship. He mentioned that he should not let go of the opportunity to study in one of the leading universities in communication studies, even if it means disregarding his own ego of studying with a scholarship.

Every academic semester, the Office of International Cooperation (OIC) will be rewarding the “NCCU Academic Excellence Scholarship” to a few selected international students with an exceptional performance during the previous academic semester.

With the habit of routinely browsing through every piece of information, Yeng managed to secure the scholarship information and completed all the requirements, including volunteering on the campus.

“My hard work from the previous semester finally paid off,” he stated. Yeng shared that he spent most of his study time in the research room provided by the College of Communication. There were multiple times where he lost touch of time and left the research room right just before the sunrise.

"The three most important things to me during my postgraduate study are to have good time management, never be ashamed to ask for help, as well as to be persistent in whatever you are doing," he added.

Besides the academic study, Yeng is also responsible for the teaching assistant position in IMICS courses. He will be assisting professors and to ensure the fluency in overall learning activities.

"Do not be discouraged even if you do not have the scholarship!" stressed Yeng.

There is a Malay proverb that says "di mana ada kemahuan, di situ ada jalan (where there's a will, there's a way)," he quoted.

"As long as you keep your goals in mind, do the best and focus on the study, grasp every opportunity to discuss with professors and classmates, the scholarship will be one step closer from you,” said Yeng enthusiastically.

Yeng revealed that he will continuously advance for the betterment of his academic career. "Aside from being the teaching assistant, I am also going to further my journey as a research assistant for the coming semester," he added.

Author: Fedrik Hansen - 吳停勝 /IMICS 108