In its second year at the University of Reading Malaysia’s (UoRM) Career Fair, the presence of Asia Centre, as a civil society organisation, this time not only attracted the attention of students but also drew interest from academics in the Faculty of Business, Faculty of Psychology and Clinical Language Science, and the Faculty of Law.
Around 20 students dropped by the Asia Centre booth at the University of Reading Malaysia Career Fair to inquire about the Centre’s internship programme. The students came by to look at the information on the posters, the computer slide show and also to speak to the Asia Centre team.
The fair, held on 19th February 2025, featured 40 companies and organisations from across Malaysia, but Asia Centre was the only civil society organisation at the career fair. Although traffic was low at the booth, compared to the traffic that went to the banks and accounting firms, the quality of the engagement between Asia Centre and interested students from University of Reading Malaysia was good.
Asia Centre’s unique identity as a civil society organisation, also prompted Professor May Tan-Mullins, the newly-appointed Provost and Chief Executive Officer of UoRM to drop by at the booth. She spoke to Dr. James Gomez, Regional Director of the Asia Centre who explained that there are over 10 million not-for-profit organisations globally and these entities also offer employment and career opportunities.
Hence it was not surprising that faculty members from Henley’s Business School came by the booth to chat about the Centre’s work and invite Dr. Gomez to guest lecture on the topic of social enterprise. Associate Professor Anne Vergis, Head of the Faculty of Law and Professor Andrew Harding, a Professor of Law at the university and a member of the Asia Centre Advisory Board, and other School of Law lectures also dropped by.
In addition to hosting a booth at the career fair, Dr. James Gomez, the Regional Director of Asia Centre was also invited to deliver a career talk on the topic “Working for the Non-Profit Sector – The Culture of Giving” where he gave an overview about the Asia Centre and the various human rights issues the Centre has been researching and advocating for across the Asia-Pacific region.
The talk piqued the interest of those who attended, especially Dr. Marat Zagidullin who is the coordinator and a lecturer in Psychology at UoRM’s School of Psychology and Clinical Language Science. Dr. Marat expressed interest in discussing possible student placements with Asia Centre.
Asia Centre offers four internship streams, which are: Media, Partnership, Programme and Research. These internships are offered across the Asia Centre offices in Bangkok, Thailand, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. Those who are interested in learning about the internship can visit the page here.
Asia Centre has been working with UoRM since 2022. Starting with a Media and Information Literacy (MIL) training for 23 academic staff at UoRM on 23rd November 2022, the Centre had a busy year with UoRM in 2024, participating in the February 2024 UoRM Career Fair, in August 202, ,signing an MOU with UoRM School of Law, and in October 2024 convening the Digital Rights for Civil Society Organisations (CSO) Regional End-of-Programme meeting with UoRM School of Law.