UTAR Engineering Programmes Get Better(UTAR)

   UTAR Faculty of Engineering and Science (FES) welcomed 17 professional representatives from the industry and professional bodies in engineering to the its second Industrial Advisory Panel meeting held on 9 October 2009 at UTAR Kuala Lumpur Campus in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.

      

      Ir. Rocky H.T. Wong, a representative from The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) who also attended the first industrial advisory panel meeting commented, "Through my observation, the engineering programmes conducted by UTAR have improved from the time my first assessment was conducted during the first industrial advisory panel meeting."

      

     "UTAR engineering graduates have a competitive edge as they can gain ready employment upon graduation and are candidates of choice when seeking to pursue their postgraduate studies," he added.

    

    During the meeting, FES Dean Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wang Chan Chin briefed the members of the industrial advisory panel on the developments of the University since its first meeting, covering the various programmes conducted in UTAR, the University's organisational structure, student enrolment, faculties, campuses, university achievements, research and collaboration activities as well as research centres.

     Dr. Wang also introduced the panel members to UTAR's new faculty - the Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology - and informed them about the new Architecture programme that would be conducted in UTAR starting next year.

He elaborated on the quality improvement measures taken by the FES and particularly emphasised on the importance of receiving input from industry practitioners to improve the Faculty's engineering programmes.

He said, "It is good for us to receive feedback from the industry on the skills that our students should possess in order to gain employment so that we can further refine our engineering programme curriculum to cater to the industry. There may be certain types of skills and soft skills that our graduates need to possess to succeed in the industry such as interpersonal skills, knowledge in law, management, accounting and economic. To gain an understanding of the skills needed, we need to consult with industry practitioners."

In addition to that, Dr. Wang conveyed his aspiration for UTAR engineering programmes to receive international professional accreditation status so that the Faculty�s graduates would find it easier to obtain employment overseas and the Faculty would be able to attract more international students to study engineering in UTAR.

        The meeting ended with a departmental group discussion based on respective fields of disciplines and a campus tour of the UTAR Kuala Lumpur Campus.

Members of the Industrial Advisory Panel meet periodically to discuss matters related to the engineering programmes of the University and offer feedback and constructive views that can help further improve the programmes.

World Wide Web Domination Win is Malaysia's Gain

The award-winning website team does it again and every time they score on the international stage they bring glory not only to the world’s creativity University but also to Malaysia for online creativity and innovation.

The young creators of the Limkokwing official website, World Wide Web Domination (W3D), is on the roll again by taking home 18 international awards over the last two months, probably the only university web in the country to do so with such regularity.

The awards are all the more significant because they are from established US-based organisations known for their high standards and criteria.

The judges who are industry professionals picked the Limkokwing University website based on design, innovation content, technology, interactivity, copywriting and functionality, and the awards are a testimony that clearly reflects Malaysia’s sophistication for producing outstanding multimedia products and services.

Young, talented and savvy

W3D is dominated by dedicated team players who are all alumni below 30 years of age and for them winning is all in a day’s to come up with some amazing stuff.

Along the way, these young men and women have placed the country on the same pedestal as world-class names such as DreamWorks, Paramount, Levi’s, Walt Disney, Nissan, Pizza Hut, FIAT, Hewlett-Packard, Alcatel Lucent, Mattel, Pepsi, MTV, Samsung, Yahoo! among other distinguished brands.

W3D comes under the able command of Dato’ Timothy Lim Kok Wing Jr who is a computer wizard in his own right. Working closely with the University Founder President, Timothy handles the day-to-day management of the outfit, which also includes conceptualization, content creation and direction of the creative team.

Winning streak

Since 2009, Limkokwing University has won 30 more international awards again proving that Malaysia has the talents, resources and professionalism to create great online work of international standards.

Recently, the World Wide Web Domination again proved that have what it takes to be an award-winning web team when they won two Outstanding Achievement Awards under the Education category in the 2011 Interactive Media Awards (IMA) for the Limkokwing Community Portal and iPhone Applications.

The second highest honour bestowed by IMA, it was based on specific criteria: design, content, feature functionality, usability and standards compliance and cross-browser compatibility. The Limkokwing Community Portal and iPhone Applications received an overall score of 464 from a maximum of 500 points.

Worldwide hit

The University’ official website is probably the such portal in Malaysia or in the world to register over 200 million hits annually from 220 countries and territories worldwide, or one that is yet to be matched by others.

This amazing achievement is again to the credit of the Limkokwing web team that is fast changing the landscape of the online skyline through their passion and creativity to excel in the field, and bring home more international awards so it may also be Malaysia’ gain too.

With more than 40 international awards showcasing their performance since 2009, the World Wide Web Domination is already strategising yet another global award, soon.

UTP: Workshop on Securing Research Funding and Grants

        Research Enterprise Office (REO) had organized and conducted a one-day workshop on 25th November 2009 for staff and students on the opportunity to secure funding and grants from Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, a company wholly funded by Ministry of Finance. One of the grants introduced by Cradle Fund is the University Cradle Investment Programme Catalyst (U-CIP Catalyst). This grant is specifically targeted to researchers and/ or inventors and students of research institutes, private and public universities, colleges and institutes of higher education in Malaysia. The objective of U-CIP Catalyst is to assist researchers/or inventors to commercialize their invention into marketable products, technologies or services by providing pre-seed funding of between RM50,000 to RM150,000 over a period of 4-12 months. The fund covers the development of prototypes, proof of concepts, business plans, IP search and registration, surveys and other expenses related to the product development.

           Speakers from Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, Mr Kenny Mah and Ms Syazwani Ismail urged the staff and students to apply for this grants online via www.cradle.com.my as the grant will assist them into transforming their invention into commercially viable products. They added that the grants focus on both ICT and non-ICT ideas and other interesting ideas with strong innovative technology-related component in any industry that has a strong commercial value and will be beneficial to Malaysians, the economy and the world, will also be considered. Besides offering grants, the company also provides advisory support to inventors, industry mentoring programme, and other services related to personal development and competencies.

            Tn Hj Azminuddin, Senior Manager REO in his opening remarks reiterated the importance of U-CIP Catalyst to assist the university in achieving its targets of becoming a Research University by 2013 by producing more inventions and products into the market. .The U-CIP Catalyst grant can be an alternative to other funds as it is easily available and the fund itself covers product which is close to being market-ready. He also encouraged graduating students to apply for the grant and develop their invention into marketable product which can also leading them to become an entrepreneur by establishing their own company. This aspiration suits well with the university’s mission of producing a well-rounded graduate, and the future leaders of the industry.

UNIMAS Upgrades Its Internet Access Capacity

          THE increased application of information communications technology is one of the cornerstones of the Educational Development Masterplan 2006-2010 under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
In line with this, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) has signed an agreement with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) to implement a major upgrade of UNIMAS' Internet leased line capacity from the current 8Mbps to 34Mbps by June 1.
          This increase in Internet access capacity will meet the administration, study and research requirements of 7,500 UNIMAS students and staff.
TM has been the primary Internet connectivity provider to UNIMAS since 2003, and currently provides its tmnet direct solution to UNIMAS via a dedicated link.
           UNIMAS was TM's first tmnet direct customer among institutions of higher learning in the country.
           Founded in 1992, UNIMAS is the eighth public university in Malaysia and the first in Sarawak. It currently hosts 19 faculties, institutes and centres in a wide variety of study and research areas, including computer science and information technology, resource science and technology, as well as biodiversity and environmental conservation

MDeC, University of Malaya, Cisco to Create ICT specialists for Malaysian SMEs Kuala Lumpur, 24

KUALA LUMPUR, 24 AUGUST 2009 – Two young Malaysia-based entrepreneurs have won awards for the design and build of their multi-touch screen called Smart Surface. 

Smart Surface’s co-founders, Faysal Abdulaziz (managing director) and Homam Alghorani (executive director) said the product was envisioned during their student days at APIIT (Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology), where they became interested in multi-touch technology and related natural computer interfacing. 

The first prototype was designed and built at the beginning of 2009 when, in February, an entrepreneur offered the two aforementioned developers to co-form a company and fund their research, said Abdulaziz. 

“Smart Surface is completely designed and built in Malaysia,” said Abdulaziz, who added that the product was launched commercially in May 2009, during the 20th ITEX09 [International Invention, Innovation and Technology Exhibition] exhibition held in Kuala Lumpur. 

During ITEX09, which was organised by MINDS (Malaysian, Invention & Design Society) and the ministry of science, technology and innovation, the product won two awards for Best Invention – Corporate Category, and the ITEX Gold Medal Award. 

Pioneering use of the LCD screen
The company focuses on research and development of in-house multi-touch hardware and software solutions, said Abdulaziz. “As far as we know, another Malaysian provider of a similar product, Kreateevee, uses rear projection technology for display with diffused infra-red (IR) illumination for movement detection.” 

“We do use this technology in some of our early models, but we also are the pioneers in exploring the use of the LCD screen for display technology, instead of rear-projection, as well as LASER [light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation] detection technology, instead of IR illumination,” he said. “Therefore, Smart Surface is the only company that has a full range of multi-touch and surface computer application technologies [rear-projection, LCD display, LASER recognition technology, tabletop and vertical walls].” 

“Smart Surface has already been in commercial use by many companies,” he added. “That means we are technologically ahead in term of solving the many problems associated with any commercial use of the product. For example, for rear-projection technology, we achieved a tabletop display size ratio to the external dimensions of the top of the table of almost 1:1.” 

Future plans
“It is noteworthy that some of our clients, such as British American Tobacco and Cool Merchant Connections had already approached other local companies that offered multi-touch technology,” he added. “However, they opted to use Smart Surface products after they compared all technological aspects.” 

Regarding future developments, he said: “We have already spoken with APIIT for cooperation through internships for students who will learn firsthand about our multi-touch technology and its applications. This will enrich the academic field of multi-touch research in Malaysia.” 

“We also have ongoing discussions with the Centre for Research & Innovation Management at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, for possible cooperation on developing suitable applications for them,” said Abdulaziz.

UPM Lancar ICT Business Centre Tingkat Pengetahuan IT

Naib Canselor Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Prof. Dato’ Dr. Daing Nasir Ibrahim semalam  melancarkan ICT Business Centre sebagai usaha meningkatkan perkongsian ilmu pengetahuan dan kemahiran dalam bidang teknologi maklumat (IT) untuk masyarakat setempat.

Dengan penubuhan pusat ini UMP akan terus memacu kecemerlangan universiti  dalam bidang teknologi maklumat sebagai salah satu inisiatif UMP untuk meletakkan  universiti ini di persada antarabangsa.

Dato’ Daing berkata, penubuhan ICT Business Centre ini akan  mengkomersialkan produk dan perkhidmatan ICT termasuk semua sumber yang ada di Pusat Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi (PTMK) dan Fakulti Sistem Komputer dan Kejuruteraan Perisian (FSKKP).

Selain itu, pusat ini akan dapat melaksanakan pencapaian Pelan Strategik UMP dalam merangka  bidang keberhasilan utama universiti bagi menjana kelestarian  kewangan.

“UMP mempunyai tenaga pakar IT berpengalaman lebih 10 tahun dan usaha  ini    membolehkannya berkongsi ilmu dan kemahiran dengan organisasi lain khususnya institusi pendidikan dalam dan luar Negara,”

“Sumber ICT ini termasuk pelbagai jenis server, jaringan (network), CCTV dan pelbagai peralatan IT yang terdapat di UMP,” katanya semasa merasmikan majlis pembukaan ICT Business Centre di Dewan Astaka, UMP.

Beliau juga mengharapkan penubuhan pusat ini akan merealisasikan  hasrat universiti bagi   menjana pendapatan universiti selaras dengan Pelan Stategik UMP 2011-2015.

Di antara perkhimatan yang ditawarkan termasuklah  khidmat konsultansi dan produk ICT kepada organisasi luar melibatkan IPT, pusat latihan dan jabatan kerajaan serta menjayakan konsep ‘outsourcing’ yang diperkenalkan Kerajaan.

Manakala menurut Pengarah Urusan ICT Business Centre, Prof. Madya Dr. Wan Maseri Wan Mohd berkata, penubuhan pusat ini pastinya  bukan sahaja memberi manfaat kepada staf di jabatan PTMK  malah melibatkan semua  warga universiti.

Secara tidak langsung ianya akan mewujudkan budaya kerja korporat kepada staf PTMK dan dapat melahirkan lebih ramai perunding mengikut  kepakaran pensyarah yang ada di universiti.

Katanya, pelajar juga turut mendapat manfaat dengan memberi peluang untuk menjalani latihan industri dan sama-sama terlibat dalam memasarkan produk ICT.

Hadir sama Dekan Pusat Bahasa Moden dan Sains Kemanusiaan,  Professor Dr. Abdul Jalil Borham, Dekan Dekan Fakulti Kejuruteraan Kimia & Sumber Asli, Prof. Dr. Jailani Salihon dan  Pengarah Urusan UMP Holding, Nasirudin Nasrun.