Students fly high after Fernandes talk

All smiles: Nur Syuhada chose Srivinas (left) as her travel partner due to his enthusiasm during the talk by Fernandes.

JOHOR BARU: Two students from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) are over the moon about their chance to travel to the United States, South Korea and Australia.

Nur Syuhada Hamzah, 20, and B. Srinivas, 21, were attending a lecture on Dare to Dream by AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes at the university when the airline boss was impressed by a question from Nur Syuhada after his talk.

He decided to sponsor Nur Syuhada for the trip.

The Industrial Chemistry student asked Fernandes what he meant when he said students should not devote their entire life to getting good grades but should expand their horizons and take part in extracurricular activities.

“I raised my hand at the spur of the moment and definitely did not expect him to call me up on stage and make such an announcement,” she said when interviewed on Monday.

Fernandes told her to pick someone from the audience to go on the trip with her and she chose Mechanical Engineering student Srinivas.

“Since AirAsia emphasises diversity, I decided to pick a male student who was sitting in front of me as I noticed he was very enthusiastic throughout the talk,” Nur Syuhada said.

Srinivas said he was extremely thankful to Fernandes for the opportunity and to Nur Syuhada for picking him.

“I feel like I am in a dream for having this chance to travel the world,” said the student from Klang.

Fernandes commended UTM for having such enthusiastic students who were confident and knowledgeable, and had a good command of English.

He said the duo would be visiting the best universities in the three countries to promote the UTM brand.

Fernandes said the airline sees a huge potential in working with local universities to undertake studies and research in the area of technology.

Johor Permaisuri and UTM chancellor Raja Zarith Sofiah Sultan Idris Shah also attended the talk at UTM.