| Universiti Putra Malaysia

Busy at work is no obstacle to attaining Master’s degree

By: Nazrul Rapali
Student of Bachelor of Arts (Malay Language and Linguistics), FBMK

SERDANG, Mar 19 - “If you are better than your father, then you have done your best”. That was the quote held by Datuk Zukri Valenteno, who would dare to challenge himself to be the best in anything he does.

Datuk Zukri Valenteno, 59, successfully graduated with a Master of Corporate Communication at the 45th Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Convocation Ceremony today.

Hailing from Alor Star, Kedah, he had a deep interest in the field of communication.

Meanwhile, he had served as a professional journalist in several well-known companies in Malaysia.

He was also a part-time lecturer at the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM).

For him, communication was no longer foreign in his life, and he had learned various knowledge related to mass communication before he began to venture into the Government Communication Specialty in 1996.

"Being a person who is skilled in communication is not easy as we need to have creativity and innovation in ourselves," he said.

Datuk Zukri Valenteno admitted there were some challenges that he had to face. One of them was that he needed to be smart in dividing his time between work and spending time finishing his studies at the Master's level.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic had also greatly affected him because he could not obtain data for his thesis writing at the maximum level because he was forced to rely heavily on data obtained online only.

Discussions with group members also had to be conducted virtually and that became a constraint for him to interact more efficiently.

He is currently serving in one of the government sectors in Putrajaya and is an officer with the rank of Jusa C.

For him, the success he gained was a blessing from Allah S.W.T in addition to his efforts of always wanting to achieve something more than others.

He had a message to all the youth and also the community out there, "If I can do it at my age, then you are better than me".

He also urged young people always to do their best in their studies because even at his age today, he is still able to hold a Master's degree. - UPM

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