Multiple Wins for APU In The MDEC PDTI Awards

The Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) was among the pioneer group of universities that were appointed as a Premier Digital Tech Institution (PDTI) by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) in 2017. APU’s strength and dedication to producing high-quality graduates through its cutting-edge research and educational approaches, strong industry engagements and collaboration, active career development and placement services were well recognised through its achievements in the MDEC PDTI Awards announced recently.

MDEC PDTI Outstanding Faculty Award 2022 was given collectively to APU’s group of four Schools, comprising the School of Computing (SoC), the School of Technology (SoT), the School of Engineering (SoE) and the School of Media, Arts and Design (SoMAD) during the 1st quarter PDTI meeting held on 15th February 2023, at APU’s campus in Bukit Jalil. This award covered activities and achievements between 1 November 2021 and 31 October 2022.

In deciding to confer this Award to APU, the judging panel had taken into account the success stories achieved by the four Schools, particularly the number of awards won by students and staff as well as the impressive employability rates achieved. Additionally, the establishment of the Centres of Excellence (CoE), national and international recognitions gained and the highly effective branding efforts was also taken into consideration.

In addition to the above, the strengths and capabilities in digital tech exhibited by APU’s students and academic staff were also recognised. The 2nd Best Student–Individual Award was accorded to Dooshyant Rai Kallychurn, from Mauritius, who studies a Master of Science in Data Science and Business Analytics Degree after having obtained his Software Engineering Degree from APU. Dooshyant was recognised for multiple awards won by him recently, including Gold in Connecting Academia Society & Industry Alliance competition, Silver at International Invention, Innovation & Design Expo (INoDEx), and another Silver at International Research and Symposium and Exposition (RISE).

To round off the awards won by APU, Ts. Dr. Siti Azreena, Senior Lecturer from APU’s School of Computing, was among the academics who were honoured under the “Best Faculty Member” category. Dr. Siti Azreena's notable accomplishments in her career included her efforts and success in ensuring a higher degree of industry immersion and innovation in teaching/learning – particularly in her pet subject area of Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR).

During the awards ceremony, Mr Nik Hishamuddin, Senior Manager, Talent & Capability (Tertiary) of MDEC presented the group award to Prof. Ir. Eur. Ing. Ts. Dr. Vinesh Thiruchelvam, Chief Innovation & Enterprise Officer, APU. Also present were Associate Professor Dr. Thang Ka Fei, Senior Head of the School of Technology; Associate Professor Ts. Dr. Tan Chin Ike, Head of the School of Computing; and Mr Zailan Arabee Abdul Salam, Senior Lecturer of the School of Computing.

Prof. Vinesh, while commenting on APU’s winning factors and strengths, stated, “To achieve this, we continuously strengthen our unique model of outcome-based education that prioritises the transformation of our students into highly employable professionals, while our industry partners consistently play an active role in quality assurance, curriculum and content development and student mentoring.

Besides providing students with real-life projects that help them develop their skills, our industry partners also offer academic staff valuable exposure to industry practices. In this regard, APU’s eight innovation and technology centres on campus have completed projects based on research and industry applications through these industry collaborations.

Our dedication to these initiatives has contributed to the recognition of APU as a leader in professional development and technology innovation, which support the missions and objectives of the PDTI brand.”

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APU had contributed significantly towards enhancing the visibility and promotion of the PDTI brand, by ensuring that the PDTI logo and the hashtag “#MYPremierDigitalTech” was strongly visible on different platforms internally and externally, including web pages, social media, online collateral materials and promotional materials. These highly effective branding efforts eventually also contributed to APU winning the MDEC PDTI Awards.

Back on the campus, the rest of the academicians of the group of four Schools – The School of Computing Assoc. Prof. Wong Bee Suan; the School of Media, Arts and Design Head Ms Debbie Liew Pooi Kuan, and the School of Engineering Head Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Siva Kumar Sivanesan, celebrated the attainment.