industry visit

A total of 33 students and 4 lecturers from the School of Computing & Technology (SCT) conducted an educational visit to the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Museum and Art Gallery at Sasaran Kijang on Tuesday, 19 May 2015. The objectives of this trip were to expose students to the vast knowledge of  Art and Design preview of Bank Negara Heritage with supporting multimedia appliances.

The tour at the museum was assisted by Pn. Noreen, curator of BNM Museum Art Gallery, who also conducted a talk on the architecture and elements of the museum. The tour consisted of 5 parts, namely the Bank Negara Malaysia Gallery, Islamic Finance Gallery, Economics Gallery, Numismatic Gallery and the Art Gallery. 

It was an eye-opening experience for the students, who were given the opportunity to elevate their financial literacy and they were able to appreciate Malaysia’s cultural distinctiveness further. 

The School of Foundation (SoF) organised a trip to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) on Saturday, 9 May 2015, to participate in the Graduan Aspire 500 Conference, which spanned from Saturday, 9 May 2015 to Sunday, 10 May 2015. A total of 50 students attended the conference, together with 2 lecturers from the School of Foundation.

At the conference, students were given the opportunity to meet the panel of speakers, which was made up of industry experts and leaders, such as Datuk Johan Idris (Managing Partner of KPMG), Johan Mahmood Merican (CEO of Talent Corporation Malaysia), YBhg’ Dato Georg Fischer (CEO of Tesco Malaysia), Lai Tak Meng (HR Director of Gamuda) and Abbas Saad (Sports Presenter). Apart from sharing their experience and expertise in the industry, the panel also gave valuable advices to the students, with regards to the expectations employers have in the current job market. 

At the end of the conference, a QnA session was held; where only 10 students were selected to ask questions to the panel of CEOs. 3 students from APU were selected, in which they seized the golden opportunity to obtain more knowledge on how to increase one’s employability in the current job market.

The conference was very beneficial to the students who attended; as they gained a lot of knowledge by listening to the valuable experiences of the panel of speakers. 

Arts & crafts are often significant symbols to a nation’s history; recently, 25 students from our Tourism Management programme guided by 5 of their lecturers visited the National Craft Centre and the International Islamic Arts Museum to learn about Malaysian and Islamic culture, as well as to be exposed to its significant role in the Malaysian tourism industry
 
Throughout the visit, students were mesmerized of the display of local traditional and modern crafts, which included local textile, wood, pottery, crafts, gems, jewels and food from different parts of Malaysia. Master craftsmen were also demonstrating the arts of top spinning, batik printing, basket weaving during our visit.
   
At the Islamic Arts Museum, more than 12,000 artefacts that were on display provided our students exposure on the cultural elements that resemble the religion. Among the 12 permanent galleries that were on display, students managed to gain knowledge of the religion and its relationship with different ethnic cultures such as Indian Muslims, Chinese Muslims and Malay Muslims. Arts & Crafts play a major role in Malaysian tourism, as we have been well-known of our rich heritage, diversity and culture. Our students benefited from the visit, as they discovered the potentials of Malaysian crafts – we look forward to seeing them partake in promoting Malaysian arts & crafts in the future, as they join the workforce as tourism specialists.

As part of their Petroleum Geology out-of-classroom assessment, 15 students from the Petroleum Engineering programme organised a two-day geological fieldwork to the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, as accompanied by their lecturers from the School of Engineering, Ms. Ailie Serasa, Dr. Amin Shahbazi and Dr. Bathaee recently.

The expedition started with an observation of the metamorphic rock at Ukay Perdana, followed by a study on cave architecture at the Charas Cave, analysis of basaltic pillow lava at the Black Stone Beach, an observation of river architecture at the Bakau Tinggi Recreation Park, and the analysis of petroleum system with geological structure at the Taman Tasik Puteri Bukit Besi and Rantau Abang – what a contenting 2-days journey they had!

While Petroleum Geology classes typically take place within the Geology Lab on-campus, the students appreciated the trip that provided hands-on experience studying the concepts of rock cycles, structural geology and depositional environment through observation, collection of samples and then drawing analysis reports – these are key subject areas in line with the geological concept of petroleum systems, and the trip turned out to be an enjoyable learning experience for them. In addition, the group, that comprised students from Morocco, Zimbabwe, Libya, Yemen, Philippines, Nigeria and Malaysia, were awestruck by the picturesque display of natural caves, beaches, river banks and forests that they discovered at the trip.

The 2-days expedition ended on a positive note, as students gathered immense experience and valuable practical skills throughout the trip. Kudos to the School of Engineering for organising this amazing adventure! 

Drilling is a crucial phase within the oil and gas extraction and production process – our students are exposed to the real-life experience visiting a drilling facility at the oil rig, as part of their out-of-classroom experience under the Petroleum Engineering programme.

Recently, 15 students under the guidance of their lecturers, Dr. Amin Shahbazi, Ms. Ailie Serasa and Dr. Mahmood Bathaee from the School of Engineering, conducted an industrial visit to Velesto-INSTEP Drilling Academy (VIDA) in Batu Rakit, Terengganu. The academy was established as part of a collaboration between Velestro Drilling Academy Sdn Bhd and Petronas Technical Training Sdn Bhd, to provide comprehensive training for professionals within the oil and gas industry.

Throughout the visit, a Drilling Instructor, Mr. Muhamad Saufi was assigned to coach the group for the day. Students experienced being on an actual oil rig and seeing an actual drilling unit, as they visited the Naga 100 land rig at the site. While the site was being operated, students had the opportunity to witness an operational drilling that took place, demonstrated by the rig supervisor.

The second part of the visit was conducted in the drilling simulator room, in which the students had a hands-on experience operating the console-based simulator, through the physical consoles, touchscreen devices and desktop computer that were provided. It was a realistic and immersive training experience, while students enjoyed the interactivity of the system as they gained practical knowledge on drilling engineering, operations and activities on-site.

In overall, the students enjoyed the interactive experience conducted by the School of Engineering and the Academy. As drilling engineers are amongst the career choices for graduates of Petroleum Engineering degrees, it is always beneficial for students to expose themselves to potential careers that they may embark into, before they graduate in a few years’ time.

Despite the fact that majority of our students in our Diploma programmes have not reached the minimum legal age to vote, they have already gained an insight on how Malaysian voting system works, by participating in a recent field trip to the Parliament Building.

As part of the Legal Environment of Business and Business Law modules, the School of Management arranged an industry visit to the Parliament Building located in the heart of the city. During the visit, the students were lucky enough to witness a live session of a Parliamentary proceeding, as they learnt about the various protocols as well as the interesting debates between the ruling party and the opposition party. By observing the session, our students were exposed to the law-making process, hence they gained better understanding on how a law is being passed, in both the Upper House (House of Senate) and the Lower House (House of Representatives). Some of the students were extremely excited as they had the chance to see some of the prominent Ministers live in action!

The itinerary of the visit also included a walkthrough at the Parliamentary Gallery, as students viewed the historical artefacts in awe; from the artefacts, students were taken on a trip down the memory lane as they had the opportunity to learn about the history of Malaysia as well.

The visit has received extremely positive feedback from the participating students; it was definitely an eye-opener for our Diploma students – the law subject, that is normally perceived as a ‘boring’ subject, has become enjoyable once again!

Apart from Engineering students, our Computing & Technology students had an opportunity to explore more about robotics & sensors as well!
 
Under the guidance of our lecturers, Umapathy Eganathan, Booma Poolan Marikannan and Vijayalaxmi Amuthan from School of Computing & Technology (SoCT), 80 students visited the Gardenia Bakery as part of their out-of-classroom experience.
 
At the visit, technical officers from Gardenia conducted a briefing followed by an exclusive tour, in which our students learnt about establishment of a Gardenia products and its history. At the bakery, our students explored more on the functionalities of robotic arms and sensors, while learning about the important roles played by these components under a manufacturing environment. Their knowledge of supply chain and logistics management broadened as well, while they were guided through the entire manufacturing process of Gardenia’s products.
 
The visit provided our students with a new realm of experience, particularly in the use of robotics and the technological applications within the manufacturing industry.

As we board an airplane, little do we know that a vast amount of resources are involved at an airline’s operations control centre to ensure the smooth operations of flights, 24/7.

20 students from our BA (Hons) in Tourism Management programme, accompanied by 4 lecturers, recently had the opportunity to visit the Malaysia Airlines Operations Control Centre, located at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). 

At the trip, they met Capt. Reza Abd Rahim of Flight Operations and Ms. Serina Hor, Senior Executive of Emergency Management Operations on-site, as they were briefed on the standard operating procedures (SOP) and day-to-day challenges faced by the operations staff. Apart from an exclusive tour to highly-sensitive areas at the OCC, the students also met Capt. Hamdan Che Ismail, the Director of Flight Operations at Malaysia Airlines who shared briefly on his valuable experiences gained from the industry.

The visit was an eye opener for both lecturers and students who participated; through the trip, the students gained an overview of the concepts and implementation of airlines management and operations, in which these can be translated into useful domain knowledge that will benefit them in their future tourism careers. We look forward to seeing visits like this, that expose students towards the practical experiences that are relevant to their future careers.