I am Mak Wai Lum and this is my journey studying Foundation in Science at IMU. I was confused about which pre-university programme I want to pursue after completing Malaysia Education Certificate or Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) in 2014. Fortunately, during a 2014 education fair, I came across a brochure from International Medical University (IMU) and I decided to visit IMU booth for further enquiries. Among the different universities that provides Foundation In Science Programme (FIS) I decided to enroll in the IMU FIS programme, as it has a great reputation and has the earliest intake date compared to other foundation programmes in Malaysia.
In IMU, they provided us with an environment that promotes teamwork, professionalism, mutual respect and most important of all, independent lifelong learning. We, FIS students, were strongly instilled with self-directed learning which is one of IMU’s core teaching philosophy. I practiced self-directed learning since studying FIS, and I believe that this is the reason why I could score well in the IMU’s Chinese Medicine (CM) programme, the undergraduate degree programme that I pursued after my FiS.
Mak Wai Lum (third from left, back row) with his FiS classmates and Chemistry lecturer, Ms Chow Kit May (in a lab coat) .
Lecturers in FIS programme are dedicated and caring individuals. I recalled that I did badly in one of the chemistry workshops, Ms Chow stayed back with me and taught me in detail until I was able to fully understand that topic. FIS is a one-year programme which divided in to three semesters, each semester is about 12 weeks long. I struggled at first during FIS due to the long hours and packed schedules, as we have to complete the course within one year. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it helped me to be better in time management, which is an important skill for my undergraduate programme, CM.
Other than that, I was able to form formidable bond with seniors and my friends from the same cohort during my FIS year. This bond allows me to build a better future healthcare professional network. I highly appreciate efforts taken by IMU to ensure a great learning experience for their students throughout their journey in IMU. Flashing back on my FIS journey, it was one of my happiest and memorable moments in my life.
