APU

It is to share with great pleasure that APU organized a free Computer Programming Session “KidoCode Hour of Code” for the children of APIIT Education Group staff who are at the age group of 6-11 years, in collaboration with KidoCode on Saturday, August 15, 2015. It was well attended with over 40 children and parents. It was a session of amusement and fun as the atmosphere was thick with love–love for Computer Science programming (full of logical thinking).
 
With the children’s hearts full of passion, the session kicked off with a presentation from Uncle Code (Mr Hossein Tohidi). Uncle Code started the session by showing video clips on “Hour of Code” and Thomas Suarez, a 12 years old boy who had developed mobile applications. He then talked about the importance of Computer Science for the children in the coming 10 years; as well as the impact of not having the knowledge of programming and how it would affect the whole nation. 

   
 
The children were very excited when Uncle Code introduced “Cup Stack” – a technique where children learnt the concept of computer programming without the use of computer. This enhanced the children’s analytical skills and logical thinking skills. Even the parents enjoyed playing this as well!
 
They also had fun playing with Angry Birds, using Blockly (a project of Google which is a client-side JavaScript library for creating visual block programming editors) in which they found ways to reach the enemies with the use of programming. With teamwork comes success! Each of them were able to learn the logic behind programming and at the same time enjoyed the company of their new-found friends. 

At the end, certificates were issued to all children who participated. He also shared his insights to overcome the common perception of parents in programming. Overall it was an awesome session for the parents and their children to get together and to attain new knowledge. Special thanks to the staff from School of Computing and Technology, Muhammad Ehsan Rana, Hema Latha Krishna Nair and Yogeswaran A/L Nathan for organising and facilitating the event. We look forward to our next KidoCode Hour of Code session with more children in the future!

A collaborative relationship among APU and Bank Negara has successfully been established as  two lecturers from the Multimedia, Audio and Video group of the School of Computing and three of their students attended a discussion at the Bank Negara Malaysia Museum, Art and Knowledge Management Centre (MAGKMC). 

Academic supervisors and advisors for the project, Ms. Gayatri and Mr. Daniel, together with Level 1 students Redwan Ahmed Nahian, Seifeddine El Ayeb and James Tai Wai Jin met Ms. Noreen, the curator of MAGKMC’s Children’s Gallery and Mr.  Fakhrullah, MAGKMC’s collaboration officer. The aim for the discussion was to discuss on future collaboration of industrial projects with APU.  The meeting with MAGKMC allowed the students to have good exposure for current involvements in industrial projects with MAGKMC, which was to develop two videos for MAGKMC, one for Children Gallery and the other for Economic Gallery.

The students were tasked to incorporate interactive features on the existing videos and make it more informative to visitors of the gallery. The output was expected to be delivered by first week of November 2015.  The students signed the Letter of Undertaking with MAGKMC, as they strived to be committed in completing the projects. On behalf of the team, we would like to wish them all the best in completing the projects, and thumbs up for the good initiative by the lecturers. We look forward to have more collaborations with our partners of the industry in the future, so that we are able to equip our students with industry-ready technical and soft skills.

APU’s Kenny Lock, a BSc (Hons) in Software Engineering graduate undertook a 6-week Global Internship Programme from May to June 2015 at HDE, Inc., based in Tokyo, Japan.  HDE is a trusted leader in Enterprise Cloud Security and provides security solutions to many large organisations in Japan. On completion of his internship recently, Kenny was offered a full-time position at HDE!

According to Mr Vijay Reddy, Senior Manager, APU, “In October 2014, during a visit to HDE Inc Japan, there was a discussion on internship and career opportunities for APU graduates, just when HDE had just introduced their Global Internship Programme. This invaluable internship opportunity was then made available to APU students”.

Kenny explains that he first applied for the internship through the APU Careers Portal. “Firstly, there was a three-step challenge to test my programming skills. After passing that, there was an online interview from the company to know more about my personalities and communication skills. It was happiness when I received a confirmation mail after HDE decided to hire me as an intern”.

 
Kazuhiro Ogura, Representative Director and Chief Executive Office of HDE, Inc. (left) with Kenny Lock (right)

Q: Can you briefly describe your workday at HDE Japan?
A: I was assigned to complete multiple challenging tasks by my mentors, which allowed them to evaluate my technical skills and soft skills based on my performance. Most importantly, I was able to learn and acquire essential knowledge as well as to meet people to develop my personal network, which are both important and useful for my future career.

 
Kenny Lock (bottom, third from left) with his colleagues at the Development Team of HDE, Inc.

Q. How has your Software Engineering studies been useful to you?
A: Fundamentals of software development and communication skills were relevant during my internship. Today's technology is moving at the fastest pace ever. The things we learned before may become obsolete within a short period of time. In my opinion, the most important skills to have as an IT expert are the ability to learn and adapt to new technology quickly and having the solid foundation of the fundamental knowledge that is related to one's IT field. I would always stay up-to-date with the latest news about technology and  the latest IT knowledge that potentially increases my value as an IT expert. With these skills one can be more versatile and competitive to face the next challenge.

 
Kenny doing a presentation in front of the staff during a monthly technical session where employees share their ideas and knowledge about technology

Q: Briefly describe your experience in Japan.
A: People are extremely friendly and the hospitality that I have experienced was like nothing I have experienced before, especially in the working environment of HDE. Everything is taken care of very professionally and all I need to do was only to concentrate on learning and exploring the Japanese way of working and their professionalism.

Q: What are your favourite foods and activities in Japan?
A: Japanese culture was always a huge influence to me while I was growing up. From the mysterious and sophisticated ancient traditional Japanese culture to the fascinating and advanced modern Japanese culture, the explorations to be made are endless. One of my favourite things to do is definitely roam around the famous Akihabara in Tokyo to hunt for rare collector’s items for my favourite movies, animes and mangas as I am a huge collector myself. I am also a huge fan of the Japanese cuisines as it is widely popular all around the world. I think they are generally healthier and there a huge variety of different foods as well.

The Maybank Go Ahead Challenge – Campus Level took place this year on Saturday, 30 May 2015 at APU Campus, TPM. The annual challenge is an international case competition that challenges the participants’ intellect, stretches their creative ability and tests their endurance. Several APU students who took part in the challenge last year secured internships and job opportunities with Maybank Malaysia. Mr Gurpardeep Singh, Vice President of Operations, officiated the event with an opening speech.

This year, the campus level challenge saw participation of 85 students from APU. Although they were tested both mentally and physically, the students demonstrated high endurance and outstanding teamwork as they ran around the APU Main Campus building to complete various challenges, such as playing a futsal game in sumo suits and painting a masterpiece and then selling it to the assessors within a given timeframe. Assessors for the painting challenge were Mr Vijay Reddy, APU and Ms. Sophia , Head of Talent Branding, Maybank.

After a competitive day, 17 students from APU were selected to enter the National Level Maybank Go Ahead Challenge, which will be held on Wednesday, 5 August, at Menara Maybank, Kuala Lumpur. Winners at the National level will eventually enter the Grand Finals, in which they stand a chance to win attractive cash prizes, all-expenses-paid overseas internship opportunities with Maybank, as well as be a part of the Maybank family through the Global Maybank Apprentice Programme. The apprentice programme offers interns a holistic learning experience with customised on-the-job rotations; international assignments and face-to-face development interventions through a dedicated coach and mentor.

All the best to the 17 students who entered the national level; hopefully they will succeed in the upcoming challenges and bring pride to themselves and APU. 

We are pleased to share that two Level 3 Multimedia students, Aseih Hossienioun and Ayesha Jamal, won the 3rd place in the Si Kijang Doodle Video Competition. The contest was organized by the Bank Negara Malaysia Museum Art Gallery, to encourage students to think about effective financial education for children. At the competition, students were required to create Doodle videos that focused on the “Save, Spend and Share” concept proposed by Bank Negara.

These dedicated students who were mentored by Ms. Gayatri attended the prize giving ceremony, which was held on Thursday, 11 June 2015 at the Bank Negara Malaysia Museum Art Gallery. The students walked away with a RM500 cash prize.

Congratulations and thumbs up to the students who brought APU to shine at this competition! For more information, please visit: http://www.museumbnm.gov.my/doodle-video-contest/

We are delighted to share that the APU Karate team achieved the Merit award at the 16th Malaysian Milo Open Karate Championship, which was held from Friday, 15 May 2015 to Sunday, 17 May 2015. A total of over 1000 participants from 15 countries took part in the tournament; which was divided into two categories: the Junior category and Senior category. The Malaysian Milo Open Karate Championship is an annual effort by the Persatuan Karate Wilayah Persekutuan, Putrajaya, to develop the sport of Karate as well as to promote promising young karatekas in Malaysia.

16 students from the APU Karate Club represented APU in the tournament which was held in Stadium Badminton Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. Under their strong teamwork and coordination, the team obtained the Merit award, whereas two outstanding team members achieved as top 10 fighters of the championship. In addition, one of our participants was also selected to represent APU and Putrajaya Karate Association, to compete for the upcoming state championship.

We are absolutely proud of the students’ success. Congratulations and thumbs up to the APU Karate team! 

We are pleased to announce that APU’s Taekwondo Team achieved astonishing results at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) Taekwondo Open Invitation Championship 2015, which was held on Sunday, 5 April 2015. The championship saw participation of 180 participants from 17 universities throughout Malaysia.
 
The team from APU comprises 31 participants, 2 team coaches and 2 team managers. Majority of the members who participated were junior members, who never had the experience of participating in a Taekwondo open championship. However, all members demonstrated outstanding performance and soaring spirits at the competition, which resulted in the victory of the team. In the Kyorugi (sparring) category, our team bagged 10 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals, and was eventually announced as the Overall Champion, followed by Sunway University College and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) at the First Runner-Up and Second Runner-Up positions respectively.