corporate social responsibility

Apart from their knowledge attained from classroom encounters, our students learned more about the environment through a meaningful outing held recently at Bukit Kiara.

Under the guidance of their lecturers, Aziah Abdollah, Tulasi Sathyabama and Cynthia Paul together with the KL and RSC Hiking Group, 70 students of the School of Foundation participated in a cleanup mission together with another 70 passionate members of the public, to care for the environment and to contribute efforts of beautifying the city. 

It was shocking to see the heaps of rubbish cleared from the forests; the efforts made by our students and the volunteers were impressive, as they cleared out the rubbish scattered around Bukit Kiara. They’ve spent significant energy hiking the trails, while collecting and carrying the trash down the hill. It was definitely not an easy task to accomplish; Kudos to the participants for their perseverance and dedicated efforts!



​We have always put an emphasis on loving our green environment, to protect the environment and to preserve our lush, green forests. This time, the School of Foundation has definitely made significant changes to the surroundings of Bukit Kiara by participating in this activity. Despite the physical burnout afterward, our students learned so much from the experience and had managed to establish new friendships with the hikers, in which their communication skills had significantly improved while participating in the good cause.

On Tuesday, May 26, 2015, APU School of Computing and Technology in collaboration with National Kidney Foundation Malaysia (NKF) and GO Communications Sdn Bhd organized a competition to develop a mobile game application to educate young people on the importance of caring for their kidneys in order to prevent Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), a condition that damages one’s kidneys, decreasing the organ’s ability to remove harmful waste from body. CKD is a common, life-threatening illness that often goes undetected at a very advanced stage. 
                                                                                           
Three teams which consisted of students from APU’s Mobile Multimedia and Gaming module, participated in the competition. It took four months of brainstorming and coding under the guidance and supervision of lecturer Mr. Jacob Sow, but the results were well worth the effort put in. Each of the three teams produced their own mobile game application. They all featured entertaining and interactive ways to innovatively drill into users’ minds the symptoms and effects of Chronic Kidney Disease, as well as measures that can be taken to prevent the disease.  However, it was “Kidney Rescue” designed by Lee Chee Yan and Amatullah Ashfaq that ultimately stood above the rest to win the competition. The panel of judges for the competition consisted of Ms. Shobana, Head of Branding, Communications & Fundraising, NKF and Mr Muhammad Ehsan Rana, Head of School of Computing, APU. Mr Gurpardeep Singh, Vice President, Operations at APU presented tokens of appreciation to the representatives of both organizations.
 
NKF also announced “Kidney Rescue” as its first-ever mobile game application right after it emerged the winning entry in the competition.

 
Message of Mr. Chua Hong Wee, CEO of NKF
“There is a dire need to educate young people on the importance of looking after their kidneys. CKD has serious implications on the quality of one’s life. However, many people, especially young ones, underestimate the severity of kidney disease. Education is key here. This is why we have collaborated with Asia Pacific University, to creatively yet effectively utilize technology to open young minds to the growing prevalence, seriousness and prevention of kidney disease.”
 
National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Malaysia is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to helping Malaysians suffering from end stage kidney failure who lack access to or cannot afford dialysis treatment. NKF currently has over 1,600 dialysis patients receiving subsidized dialysis treatment in our 28 dialysis centres nationwide. For more information on CKD and National Kidney Foundation Malaysia (NKF), please visit http://www.nkf.org.my or call 03-7954 9048.

The APU School of Foundation (SoF) since 2016 has been a caring supporter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Ampang animal shelter. Over the years, SoF has encouraged students to join SPCA’s Pet Care Program - a program which teaches quality pet care skills to volunteers.

Upon graduating from this program, our students diligently volunteer their time at the SPCA, namely taking care of and rehabilitating animals that have been abused and require a lot of comfort and care. Since its launch, more than 400 students have participated and volunteered at SPCA.  

SoF students have regularly volunteered at SPCA events as well with the most recent being the Dogathon marathon at UPM on 24th February 2019. Students managed to complete the 2 km obstacle course and helped SPCA create awareness on their goals among dog lovers who participated in the event.

SoF has been an avid supporter of SPCA’s noble efforts. Last year, our students organised an awareness and fundraising week, while SPCA also came to conduct talks on animal cruelty and spread awareness on how students can help to prevent and report such incidents to the authorities. During the event, RM 3,000 was raised for the SPCA Stray Free Selangor Fund. Over the past 3 years, SoF has also donated more than RM 20,000 in food, treats, leashes, harness and medication. 

Hunger knows no barriers, however, our staff and students are ever-ready to lend a helping hand.

Recently, 45 students and staff participated in Kechara Soup Kitchen’s weekly efforts of food distribution to the needy, under the leadership of Ms. Geetha Rubasundram, lecturer of the School of Accounting, Finance & Quantitative Studies (SAFIQS), Yelena Stepanenko and Abdulrahman Ali Ali Shagea, who were Level 2 students of SAFIQS.

Food packages, groceries, and items of clothing were distributed to the needy at Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) Kota Damansara, in which our students showed their love and care by volunteering to arrange, label and distribute the goods to the families. Prior to this initiative, a representative from Kechara Soup Kitchen, Mr. Justin Cheah conducted a briefing at APU with regards to his experiences as a volunteer with the NGO. A donation drive followed after, in which APU staff and students contributed a total of RM2,050 to the organization.

In 2015, the Wishing Well Coin Donation Device was designed and built by a group of Engineering students from the IEM-APU Student Section (IASS). Since then, APU staff and students have been generously contributing coins and bank notes to the Wishing Well, that climbed up to 3 levels.

2016 was a fruitful year for the Wishing Well; at the end of 2016 - a thorough calculation took place, and it was found that a total donation of RM 1,615.00 was collected throughout the year! 

All proceeds went to the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Malaysia. A simple yet meaningful hand-over ceremony was held, in which the Dean of Faculty of Computing, Engineering & Technology (FCET), Prof. Dr. Ir. Vinesh Thiruchelvam handed over the funds to NKF representative, Ms. Stephanie Wee, under the witness of Dr. Thang Ka Fei, Dr. Chen Tet Khuan and Mr. Jacob Sow.    

On behalf of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Malaysia and the committee, we would like to thank all donors for your love and generosity channelled towards the underprivileged kidney patients and their families. Special thanks to all student volunteers who contributed time and effort in developing, installing and improvising the Wishing Well Coin Donation Device, as listed below:

Please continue your donations to NKF in support of improving the lives of kidney patients and their families, as well as the operations of the kidney dialysis centres. Your generosity and contributions will be highly appreciated.