Sim Kwan Choo (fourth from right) stands with other PASS Leader award winners

Dr. Irene Tan, Christine Wong and Sim Kwan Choo enjoy a meal together during the 6th National PASS Forum in Gold Coast, Australia

Kuala Lumpur, 05 Oct 2010 - UCSI University student Sim Kwan Choo is taking leadership to a whole new level. The Faculty of Management and Information Technology student was one of four students throughout the region to win an Australasian Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) Leader Award as an Outstanding Senior Leader. PASS helps students to master and integrate subject content through effective learning and study strategies. Through the programme, students develop skills in problem-solving and critical thinking and evaluation as well as improve their communication skills.

Sim, along with nominators Christine Wong, manager for the Centre for Learning Excellence, and Dr. Irene Tan, Director for the Centre for Learning Excellence, recently travelled to receive the award at the 6th National PASS Forum in Gold Coast, Australia.

Sim has been part of the PASS programme for four semesters and facilitates Java Programming 1, one of UCSI University’s most challenging subjects. He is the first student ever from an Asian university to win the award, which is divided into Senior Leaders and New Leaders. He said he was excited about the award and never expected to win.

“My first intention and the only intention to become a PASS Leader was to help my friends and other students to pass this difficult subject,” he said. “I decided to become a PASS Leader simply because I really want to help those failing students to pass this subject and move on to next level.” 

Christine Wong and Dr. Irene nominated Sim based on his effective facilitating methods and strong organisational and leadership skills. They said each session was carefully planned to maximise learning and information retention.

“Sim is one of those students, who, each time you see him will have a smile on his face, he is very polite and always willing to lend a hand,” Christine Wong said. “He makes the PASS session comfortable for students to speak up and ask questions.”

The PASS programme started two years ago at UCSI University. Unlike many of its counterparts in Australia, UCSI University PASS Leaders are unpaid and work on a volunteer basis. Since its inception, the PASS programme has successfully reduced the failure rates for subjects such as physics in Foundation of Science, Media Law and Ethics in Mass Communications and several math-based subjects.