PEIGIE  LEE

QSIC 2015 is the 14th in a series of Quantity Surveying national and international convention organized annually since 2001. QSIC 2015 is jointly organized by the Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia, Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA and Public Works Department Malaysia. This convention is also supported by Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) and Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM).

 

Alongside with the theme ‘Empowering The Profession Beyond Frontiers’, the QS International Convention 2015 aims at providing a platform to empower Quantity Surveyors by synergizing innovations and latest development on the competencies of professionalism, integrity, procurement, education and training in facing challenges beyond frontiers. The sub-theme include Professionalism, Integrity, Procurement as well as Education and Training.

 

Volunteering with another course mate at QSIC 2015 was absolutely a very great experience and exposure for me to professional settings and industry experience. When a student is charged at RM900 to take part in the 2 days convention, I was able to join for free! It was my first time joining a convention of my own study industry, I was definitely blown away by it all. Volunteering at Taylor’s University’s booth, my job was to share my life as QS student in my own school, and the main objective is to get people from the profession to collaborate with us, or perhaps have a talk in our school to share their knowledge to the students in Taylor’s University. While I was not at the booth all of the time, I was able to approach other booth such as our neighbour – RISC (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor), where I get to know that signing up as a student member can bring so much benefits :

1) Study Help

There are a range of article related to knowledge and information of the profession to help us as students with our course work, including guides on a range of key topics and concepts.

2) Careers advice

The website also offers valuable advice to students on careers in surveying, with essential information on the different surveying specialisms and becoming professionally qualified.

3) Networking

RICS matrics provides a network for students, trainees surveyors and young, recently qualified chartered surveyors. It provides a great opportunity for students to build a network of contacts in the industry and find out first-hand what it's like to work in the world of land, property and construction.

 

Besides, I also get to know how BIM functions. I heard about this technology previously when lecturer had slightly shared with us about it, but when I approached the booth, the person in charge had demonstrated how BIM technology functions and how it bring so much convenience to a QS company. BIM software is quite costly, however in Malaysia, BIM’s adoption is progressing well, driven primarily by the private sectors big company such as ECOWORLD Group,UEM Group, Sime Darby etc that have already realised the significant benefits to be derived from intelligent adoption of BIM.

During the on-going of convention, I was allowed to enter to join the event but only managed to catch up 2 papers which discussed on : Sustainable Construction Industry and Profession of Quantity Surveying in Indonesia.

 

One of the topics that was impressive (for me) was the sharing about sustainability of projects in Malaysia. The speaker wanted us to question ourselves, are we creating a melting point, can we sustain the construction industry growth momentum. There are a lot of big infrastructure projects on-going in these 2 years, such as MRT , LRT, KTM extension, Pan-Borneo Highway in Sarawak etc. So what is going to happen after 2017? After 2020?  What are the projects available to support the construction industry after that? We have to learn that timing is essential, we should not do everything big in one time go. It needs to be planned in sustainable basis.

 

Talking with the RISC staff, Miss Esther, who I met previously when she gave a talk in Taylor’s University, I have also learnt about CPD( Continuing Professional Development ) which is a commitment by RICS members to continually update their skills and knowledge in order to remain professionally competent. Every RICS member has to complete 20 hours of CPD activities each year and QSIC 2015 is one of the activities to claim CPD hours. The benefits of RICS status benefits a quantity surveyor in terms of status, recognition, market advantage, knowledge and network. In short, An RICS professional qualification demonstrates that a quantity surveyor work to the highest standard of excellence and integrity. I also came to know about the differences between RICS and RISM (Royal Institutions of Surveyors Malaysia).

 

Volunteering at QSIC 2015 was certainly an opportunity for career exploration and given me an insight into the work of my future profession. By having these additional knowledge which I never had the chance to learn in the classroom, it facilitated me to see construction industry in a global perspective! Really appreciate Taylor’s University QS Society for giving this great opportunity and I wish for more!