SIBU: This town is well on its way to becoming one of the state’s education hubs through the setting up of University College of Technology Sibu (UCTS).

According to Local Government and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, the establishment of the higher learning institution is the key phase to achieve this objective.

“The entire plan ignited about 15 years ago through the setting up of United College Sarawak (UCS), which was later renamed Laila Taib College. This was followed by the establishment of Sarawak Maritime College.

“Following suit were an international school and now UCTS, both of which are also located at the site of the old Sibu airport,” he said here yesterday at the swearing-in of new office-bearers of the United Association of Chinese Primary Aided School Boards of Management of Sibu and Kapit Divisions and Sibu Chinese Teachers’ Association.

Wong also expressed his hope that the transformation of this town into an education hub would be realised in the near future with the first intake of undergraduates in September and the completion of the over 100-acre campus in November this year.

“The institution will become a university that belongs to the Sibu people. We should be proud of it because it would come equipped with the best infrastructure and facilities available including a 26-acre technological park, which could be utilised for research purposes,” he said.

(Source : Borneo Post Online , 29 April 2013)