KUCHING: To all who walked onto the stage to receive their scrolls, it was a defining milestone that celebrated the culmination of their rigorous academic journey.
The Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus graduation ceremony on Tuesday brought together students from different programmes, many of whom reflected on how their time at university extended beyond classroom learning into practical exposure, student initiatives and work-based experiences that contributed to their development ahead of graduation.
Valedictorian Victoria Frances Teng, 22, said the recognition reflects more than academic performance, but also the development of broader life skills during her time at university.
“It shows that you’re somebody who’s capable of not just balancing academics, but also beyond that, to have the life skills to advance in life,” she told Sarawak Tribune after the graduation at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK).
She credited her sister, a former valedictorian, as a major influence in shaping how she approached university life, particularly in balancing academic commitments with involvement in student activities and community-related work throughout her studies.
“She was the reason that I also do my best, not just to go to campus and study, but to enjoy university life to the fullest and to be involved and give back to the community in whatever way I can,” she said.
Her most challenging experience came during her final semester, when she led Swinburne’s first-ever yearbook project under the Swinby’s Bulletin journalism club.
The initiative required coordination with multiple student organisations, academic staff and administrative teams to compile content that reflected campus life.
The project was carried out alongside her final semester workload, which Victoria described as demanding due to the scale of coordination involved and the time required to bring together contributions from different groups across campus.
For Jay Ting, 22, who earned a Diploma in Information Technology, graduation marked both completion and the start of a new academic phase as he is continuing his studies in computer science.
“I get to graduate with my friends. I’m just genuinely looking forward to the future,” he said.
He said his internship period was one of the most challenging parts of his programme, as it introduced him to real workplace expectations and required him to adapt from an academic environment to professional settings.
The experience, he added, played an important role in shaping his understanding of career expectations and helped him identify the direction he wants to pursue after graduation.
He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Computer Science and hopes to gain overseas work experience in the future.
“When you have to study, study hard. When you have to play, play hard,” he said.
Double degree graduate Divyesh Sivakumar, 23, earned a Bachelor of Robotics and Mechatronics alongside Computer Science (Software Development), saying the combination was manageable due to overlaps between disciplines and prior exposure to programming before university.
“Computer science has always been something I’ve been doing on the side, while engineering pushed me to learn a lot of new things,” he said.
He also took part in the Shell Eco-marathon as part of Swinburne’s first team in the competition, an experience he described as one of the most demanding but meaningful parts of his university life due to the technical requirements and teamwork involved in building and coordinating the project.
“There were issues with getting a team together, and it also took up a significant amount of time away from studies, but looking back, it was one of the most meaningful experiences I had in university,” he said.
He is currently working as an embedded systems engineer in Penang and plans to pursue a Master’s degree in Australia.
