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News Article on Computerworld Malaysia - "UCTI wins Microsoft Malaysia Imagine Cup 2012 for second time"
The following article and photo are extracted from Computerworld Malaysia about the victory of UCTI team in the Imagine Cup Malaysia 2012.
By: AvantiKumar
Students from the Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation (UCTI) have won software giant Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2012 Malaysia finals for the second consecutive year and will represent the country in the worldwide finals in Sydney, Australia in July.
Team Rhapsody from UCTI developed an appplication to solve teacher attrition - WizBoard - by requiring just one teacher to teach a class, which would then be saved and made accessible for people from all walks of life including those who are from different language background, location as well as the visually impaired.
The team was announced the overall winners during the prize presentation dinner hosted at the Sutera Harbour Hotel in Kota Kinabalu in mid-May. Team Rhapsody was among 30 teams that took part in the national finals in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
In a speech written for the event, Minister of Higher Education, Y.B. Dato' Seri Mohamed Khaled bin Nordin, said: "The second phase of the National Higher Education Strategic Plan (2011-2015) not only emphasises producing human capital but we also need to intensify our efforts in developing intellectual human capital as we work towards becoming an high income nation by 2020."
"I am happy to note that Imagine Cup has clearly depicted the Ministry's efforts to further enhance and nurture technical literacy through ICT among students," said Mohamed Khaled. "We hope that through such rigorous endeavours, the nation's vision of capitalising on a digital economy will be a reality. Knowledge and wealth creation has become one of the major factors in the nation's economic development, and this is determined by the ability to innovate in a continuous manner. The Imagine Cup is thus a platform for students to hone their potential in technology innovation to code their ideas and imagination on real world issues."
"Since its debut in 2003, the Imagine Cup Malaysia has grown by leaps and bounds," said Universiti Teknikal Melaka (UTeM) vice chancellor and chairman of the Imagine Cup 2011 organising committee, Y.B. Prof Datuk Dr. Ahmad Yusoff. In the first year, only 90 students participated in this competition and now, 10 years later, we have received more than 1,800 registrations for this competition. As for the finals this year, we had 30 teams consisting of 20 teams from public universities and 10 teams from private universities."
"Students have a significant responsibility to ensure the continual progress and success of this great country and contribute towards becoming a high-income, developed nation by 2020," said Microsoft Malaysia managing director, Ananth Lazarus. "Achieving these targets is about investing in human capital by providing cutting edge technology that will nurture an innovative, knowledgeable and well-prepared generation."
More than 350,000 students are expected to compete in the worldwide finals of the Imagine Cup in Sydney, Australia in July.