UTAR FICT shakes hand with six new industry partners to educate digital talents

UTAR and a total of six industry partners, three from China and three from Malaysia, joined together to form a strategic university-industry partnership. The partnership was officially established during the memorandum of understanding (MoU) exchange ceremony held virtually between UTAR and the six industry partners on 8 April 2022.

The six new industry partners include Guangxi University of Finance and Economics (GUFE); Beijing Percent Technology Group Co., Ltd; and Guangxi Tus-Innovation Cross Border E-Commerce Co., Ltd (TusCBEC) from China; Malaysia Proptech Association (MPA), Centrec Training and Consultancy, and EasyRenz Technologies Sdn Bhd from Malaysia.

Exchanging the MoU documents with the industry partners on behalf of UTAR was its President Ir Prof Dr Ewe Hong Tat and the ceremony was witnessed by Chief Executive Officer of MyDIGITAL Corporation Mr Fabian Bigar.

Exchanging the MoU on behalf of the companies were Vice President of GUFE Prof FanPing Zeng, Chief Data Scientist of Beijing Percent Technology Group Co., Ltd Dr Du Xiaomeng, General Manager of TusCBEC Dr Guoxun Ding, President of MPA Dr Daniele Gambero, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of EasyRenz Technologies Sdn Bhd Mr Kent Tee Chin Kuen, and Founder of Centrec Training and Consultancy Ms Ong Bee San.

Also, present virtually at the ceremony were UTAR Vice President for Internationalisation and Academic Development Ir Prof Dr Goi Bok Min, Dean of Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) Ts Assoc Prof Dr Liew Soung Yue, FICT Deputy Dean for Student Development and Industrial Training Dr Choo Peng Yin, Director of Division of Community and International Networking Assoc Prof Dr Lai Soon Onn, industry partners, UTAR staff and students.

The MoU sought to promote academic and research cooperation and collaboration in relation to IT talents. UTAR and all the six industry partners will collaborate in the institutional exchange between faculty members, and undergraduate and graduate students for study and research. Through the announcement of this partnership, UTAR and its six newly established partners will facilitate the exchange of information pertaining to development in teaching, student development and in particular information technological development, facilitate the organisation of symposium, conferences, short courses and meetings in the research area as well as technologies that are relevant to the IT and digital technology.

Reaffirming UTAR’s internationalisation commitment and appreciation towards its 500 over collaborative partners, Prof Ewe professed that it is essential for university-industry collaboration in this day and age in order to keep abreast of the latest developments and trends.

Prof Ewe said, “As one of the Premier Digital Tech Universities (PDTU), this collaboration is indeed an initiative by UTAR to work with local and international companies to develop industry-relevant syllabus and materials for our digital technology students. UTAR continues to expand its effort to collaborate with the industry because we want to develop our students’ computational thinking. For instance, the opportunity for students to participate in an industrial study visit allows them to explore the fundamental concepts of computer science and digital making. The industrial placement of our students, as well as attachment and mutual visits by staff members for research or curriculum development in these companies, would also serve as a platform for them to explore their strengths in areas, namely Internet of Things (IoT), Data Science, Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence. On top of that, our students will also be able to hone their innovation, leadership, communication, collaboration and entrepreneurial skills.”

Emphasising the importance of digital innovation and competencies for the future workforce, Mr Fabian applauded UTAR’s initiative in establishing university-industry partnerships in order to meet the demands of digital talents. “Digital talent is one of the key thrusts under the MyDIGITAL initiative as we aspire to transform Malaysia into a digitally enabled and technology-driven high-income nation. It is imperative to have the relevant digital skills and certifications so that digital talents in Malaysia are able to tap into the vast opportunities afforded by the digital economy, both locally and globally, especially since physical location is no longer an issue in the digital sphere.” He added, “I believe, today’s MoU between UTAR and a total of six new industry partners will bring UTAR students closer to understanding how technologies can foster their interest to explore, thus stimulating new ideas in generating digital innovations and transforming this talent pool into a professional workforce in the future.”

The ceremony reached its highlight with the virtual exchange of the MoU documents. Currently, FICT is working closely with these industry partners to improve its curricula, and more importantly, to continuously restructure its programmes to be industry-relevant especially in the area of digital economy technology. The collaboration ties also aimed to provide an experiential learning environment for students as they participate in joint projects involving collaborative research.

The ceremony ensued with a rich forum discussion by qualified academics and companies from both Malaysian and Chinese partners sharing their experiences and invaluable insights along the lines of digital technology.

What do our partners say?

Guangxi University of Finance and Economics (GUFE)
Prof Fan Ping Zeng, Vice President of GUFE said, “Build a cooperation platform for digital economy talent training between China and Malaysia to facilitate the digital interconnection and interoperability between the two countries, and promote the high-quality development of digital economy in both countries.”

Beijing Percent Technology
Dr Du Xiaomeng, Chief Data Scientist of Beijing Percent said, “The construction of digital talents and the upgrading of the digital economy industry require the combination of government, industry, academia and research, and Beijing Percent will fully support the initiative with its data intelligence technology.”

Guangxi Tus-Innovation Cross Border E-Commerce Co., Ltd (TusCBEC)
Dr Guoxun Ding, General Manager of TusCBEC said, “With RCEP officially coming into effect, the digital economy developed rapidly. As the main force of the development of the digital economy, cross-border e-commerce should deepen the integration of industry and education in the cultivation of talents. Only by maximising the advantages between schools and enterprises, we can cultivate digital economy talents with international vision.”

Malaysia Proptech Association (MPA)
Malaysia Proptech Association (MPA), a not-for-profit organisation representing the “technology applied to property” industry, with its 70+ members, proudly support this initiative aiming to enhance the relationship between universities and the business world. MPA has, since its inception in 2017, signed numerous partnership agreements and has been an active player within the higher education institutions in Malaysia. MPA looks forward to a close cooperation with UTAR to help refine the skills of the students, organise educational workshops and industry talks.

Centrec Training and Consultancy
Centrec Training and Consultancy will start to work with UTAR to help local SMEs on the journey of digital transformation with opportunities in cross-border business. At the same time, establishing a connection between corporate and education, and facilitating practicable and latest approaches in industries with the effort to nourish new talents towards the digital economy.

EasyRenz Technologies Sdn Bhd
EasyRenz is proud to collaborate with UTAR in this MoU. EasyRenz believes that this collaboration could benefit both parties. EasyRenz also hopes to work together with UTAR on building industrial knowledge and applications on the latest IoT products related to property technologies while providing industrial training or job opportunities to UTAR students.