KUCHING - Swinburne Sarawak will be offering post­graduate courses as soon as it attains a a full university status. Deputy vice-chancellor and chief executive officer of Swinburne, Professor Ken Haskin told the Sarawak Tribune yesterday that the institute planned to offer a Masters degree in E­Business and Communications within a year and post-graduate courses in Accounting soon. "The main significance of the invitation to apply to become a full university is the boost in perception by the parents and students about the quality of what we are doing. It, is also a recognition by the government of this quality and we are very pleased to receive that invitation," Haskin said.

Asked what were the conditions and terms to be fulfilled before Swinburne Sarawak could be granted full university status, he said: "We do not have the details yet but believe most of the conditions and requirements are already in place and that we should be able to meet the requirements set out by the Ministry of Education. "Of course, things like the facilities offered should be appropriate up to university standard and the quality of the staff should also be appropriate, but ultimately it is the quality and standard of the education that matters. To this end, an officer from the Australian Quality University Assurance (AQUA) who came to visit us in October last year was quite impressed with our standards," Haskin added.

"We are very grateful to the Minister of Agriculture & Food Industries Dato Sri Adenan Haji Satem for his help in getting this invitation. It was our aim to become a full university when we started in Sarawak and now we are back on track with our commitment to the State and Federal government," he said. The letter to invite Swinburne Sarawak to apply for full university status was brought back on Wednes­day by Adenan who made the announcement at a press conference at Kuching Airport.

Haskin added that the institute would maintain its present premises as its city campus besides taking over another two levels of the building. "With the additional levels, we will be able to accommodate up to 1,500 students. Once our student po­pulation exceeds that, we will look towards a suburb campus but will continue to maintain our city campus for the convenience of some of our students and working adults who are taking part-time courses," he said.

Swinburne Sarawak is now offering Bachelor of Engineering degrees in Computer Systems Electronics and Mechatronics as well as Bachelor of Business degrees in Marketing and Information Systems. "We would also be introducing more programmes under the Engineering and Business degrees, besides looking into introducing other programmes. We will study the needs for Sarawak and Malaysia to identify the specific areas required," Haskin said.

Swinburne Sarawak, which is aiming to achieve a student population of over 1,000 in a year's time, has already drawn up several programmes even before the announcement of the letter of invitation.

It will be holding road shows in Sibu on May 24 (7 pm to 9 pm), May 25 (10 am to 9 pm) and on May 26 (10 am to 5 pm) at Wisma Sanyan and in Miri on June 15 (10 am to 5 pm). Besides these, it will also hold numerous programmes in various secondary schools throughout Sarawak. The institute conducts two intakes in January and July each year.