UUM ONLINE: "I believe that my success is attributed to my parents' prayers and the healthy competition among my siblings to become the best, in addition to see my sister wearing the first class sash at the convocation ceremony has inspired me to be as successful as my sister.
"Allah always listens to his servants and being conferred with the Royal Education Award was never a target or dream in my life. That is why it feels like a dream to be conferred with this award and this motivates me to further my studies in the future," said Noor Nahjiha Hussien, 23, after the first session of the 31st Convocation Ceremony of Universiti Utara Malaysia.
A graduate of the Bachelor of Philosophy, Law and Business (BPLB) programme, this young lady - affectionately called “Jiha” graduated with a CGPA of 3.9.
At present, she is working as an executive at a multinational logistics company, United Parcel Services.
Obviously, BPLB was not her main choice when she opted for this programme four years ago. It was the first time Jiha was aware of the existence of such a degree programme in Malaysia.
With a CGPA of 4.0 from the UiTM Law Foundation Programme, Jiha initially hoped to become a lawyer and she chose UUM at the request of parents - Madam Noor Asmah and Mr. Hussien Hashim.
"We can only plan; however, Allah knows what the best is for us. During the interview session for the BPLB intake, I fell in love with philosophy. "I honestly admit that this field makes me feel close to the commandment from Allah to be a thinker and at the same time still have the opportunity to learn law and business subjects," said Jiha.
"A few of my course mates were eager to complete their studies because they want to start work. For me, I cannot wait to graduate at the degree level because I want to pursue my master's degree in philosophy or business," she said.
Jiha added that her parents are the ones who give a lot of support and his father is always a good listener and he is also her debating buddy when she discussed the topics she studied at UUM.
Jiha is also active in co-curricular activities and she has an online store. So, she has a tight schedule since she has to be sensible in spending her time for studying, doing activities and also for her business venture.
Jiha represented UUM to visit three universities in Melbourne, Australia as part of the delegation from the BPLB Association. She is also actively involved with various volunteer programmes.
Jiha also made the effort to improve her language skills by signing up for Mandarin classes and she sat for the international Hanban (HKS) certificate examination.
"I learned Mandarin as I have many Chinese friends. I gained a lot of benefits because many companies listed the ability to communicate in Mandarin as part of the job requirement," she added.
Sharing her secret to success, Jiha always gives 100% focus in class and she always asks questions and seeks clarifications from her lecturers.
The Kedah-born lass would like to continue her studies and she hopes to become a lecturer and contributes to UUM. Jiha also wishes to bring her parents to perform Umrah one day.