Kuching is home to the international campus of Swinburne University of Technology, a branch of a major university from Melbourne, Australia. The campus, known as Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, now currently in expansion, is not the only university in Kuching city. Branch campus of UNITAR and UNIMAS's Medical College are located in Kuching. (Technically, the campuses of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and UiTM are in the Samarahan Division). The Polytechnic of Kuching is located at the further end of Matang Road in the Serapi Mountain which provides further education at the diploma and certificate levels.
Private education in the city comes in the form of various private colleges as well as training institutes. Notable examples include King Business Institute, IBMS, Inti College, SeGI College, Taylor College, Chermai College, PTPTL College as well as Stamford College to name a few.
For primary and secondary education, like other towns in Malaysia, Kuching has it equal shares of the 'sekolah kebangsaan'(National type schools), Chinese schools, mission schools, several international school and minus the Indian School. The mission schools were founded by foreign Christian missionaries during the Colonial occupation. Most Chinese schools were built and continuously sponsored by the rich Chinese businessmen. The older sekolah kebangsaan were formerly Malay schools which were converted by the Ministry of Education into day school. All schools are now under the charge of the Ministry of Education. The two International Schools are Lodge and Tunku Putra. These were built to cater to the children of expatriates and parents who wish to have an English-based education for their children
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Geography
Kuching is situated at the banks of the Sarawak River on the North-Western part of the island of Borneo. The longitude and latitude of Kuching is 01°33' N, 110°25' E.
The climate in Kuching is tropical, moderately hot and receives substantial rainfall. The average annual rainfall is approximately 4,000 mm or 160 inches. Kuching is the wettest city in Malaysia. The wettest times are during the North-East Monsoon months of November to February. The temperature of Kuching ranges from 20 °C to 38 °C but the average temperature is around 23 °C in the early hours of the morning and rises to around 33 °C in the mid afternoon. This temperature stays almost constant throughout the year if it is not affected by the heavy rain and strong winds during the early hours of the morning which would rarely bring the temperature down to 20 °C. The temperature would also rise to 38 °C under rare cases due to the haze caused by open burning from Indonesia during the dry season but it is a good thing that haze rarely occurs in Kuching.
Kuching receives an annual average of five hours of sunshine per day. In January, during the height of the monsoon season, the average sunshine per day is approximately 3.7 hours. The heavy rains during this period sometimes results in flooding.
The climate in Kuching is tropical, moderately hot and receives substantial rainfall. The average annual rainfall is approximately 4,000 mm or 160 inches. Kuching is the wettest city in Malaysia. The wettest times are during the North-East Monsoon months of November to February. The temperature of Kuching ranges from 20 °C to 38 °C but the average temperature is around 23 °C in the early hours of the morning and rises to around 33 °C in the mid afternoon. This temperature stays almost constant throughout the year if it is not affected by the heavy rain and strong winds during the early hours of the morning which would rarely bring the temperature down to 20 °C. The temperature would also rise to 38 °C under rare cases due to the haze caused by open burning from Indonesia during the dry season but it is a good thing that haze rarely occurs in Kuching.
Kuching receives an annual average of five hours of sunshine per day. In January, during the height of the monsoon season, the average sunshine per day is approximately 3.7 hours. The heavy rains during this period sometimes results in flooding.
Demographics
Kuching has the 4th largest urban area in Malaysia, after Kuala Lumpur-Klang Valley, Ipoh and Johor Bahru. It was also voted as the most healthiest and cleanest city in Malaysia.
The population of 579,900 (2006 census; Kuching City South - 143,500; Kuching City North - 133,600; Padawan- 3rd Mile/ 7th Mile/ 10th Mile - 302,800) in the city is made up of a mixture of Chinese (220,400), Malays (207,000), Ibans (58,100) and some Indians and other ethnic groups. The Dayaks can be further categorized into Ibans, Bidayuhs, Melanaus and many others. The Chinese are made up of Fujianese (Hokkien) in the city areas and Hakka in the suburbs mainly. Other Chinese consist of Foochow (Fuzhou), Teochew, Hainanese, Cantonese, Henghua and others. Another colourful side of Kuching is the number of mixed marriages between the races that crosses not only two cultures into one but children with two, three or more heritages.
The main religions of the peoples of Kuching are Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. Malays practice Islam and all Malays are Muslim by law. Chinese practice either Buddhism or Christianity. Most Dayaks are Christian except the Melanaus who are mainly Muslim.
The majority of people in Kuching are capable of communicating in Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language) as well as English. English ability can however vary greatly from person to person. The dialect of the Malay language spoken in Kuching is known as Bahasa Melayu Sarawak (Sarawakian Malay Language), which has lexical differences with the dialect spoken in Peninsular Malaysia.
On top of Malay and English, a Kuchingite can usually speak his own ethnic dialect/language. An Iban can speak Iban, a Bidayuh speak Bidayuh and the Chinese usually several Chinese dialects, the most common being Hokkien and Mandarin in Kuching but so far, mandrin has been widely spoken language than hokkien since it is well known by all other chinese ethnic. For the Bidayuhs, the dialect of Bidayuh spoken in one kampung/village may vary greatly with another kampung/village. It is also common to find people who can speak more than just Malay, English and their native tongue, not only due to the wide practice of mixed marriages but because of the close rapport amongst the people of Kuching.
A small minority however, speak English as their first language.
The population of 579,900 (2006 census; Kuching City South - 143,500; Kuching City North - 133,600; Padawan- 3rd Mile/ 7th Mile/ 10th Mile - 302,800) in the city is made up of a mixture of Chinese (220,400), Malays (207,000), Ibans (58,100) and some Indians and other ethnic groups. The Dayaks can be further categorized into Ibans, Bidayuhs, Melanaus and many others. The Chinese are made up of Fujianese (Hokkien) in the city areas and Hakka in the suburbs mainly. Other Chinese consist of Foochow (Fuzhou), Teochew, Hainanese, Cantonese, Henghua and others. Another colourful side of Kuching is the number of mixed marriages between the races that crosses not only two cultures into one but children with two, three or more heritages.
The main religions of the peoples of Kuching are Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. Malays practice Islam and all Malays are Muslim by law. Chinese practice either Buddhism or Christianity. Most Dayaks are Christian except the Melanaus who are mainly Muslim.
The majority of people in Kuching are capable of communicating in Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language) as well as English. English ability can however vary greatly from person to person. The dialect of the Malay language spoken in Kuching is known as Bahasa Melayu Sarawak (Sarawakian Malay Language), which has lexical differences with the dialect spoken in Peninsular Malaysia.
On top of Malay and English, a Kuchingite can usually speak his own ethnic dialect/language. An Iban can speak Iban, a Bidayuh speak Bidayuh and the Chinese usually several Chinese dialects, the most common being Hokkien and Mandarin in Kuching but so far, mandrin has been widely spoken language than hokkien since it is well known by all other chinese ethnic. For the Bidayuhs, the dialect of Bidayuh spoken in one kampung/village may vary greatly with another kampung/village. It is also common to find people who can speak more than just Malay, English and their native tongue, not only due to the wide practice of mixed marriages but because of the close rapport amongst the people of Kuching.
A small minority however, speak English as their first language.
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