Sunway University is creating the ecosystem to produce the country’s top talents and future leaders in tech, while positioning itself as the pulse of the community

As one of the country’s premier digital tech universities, Sunway University is committed to developing and nurturing talent for the digital economy, and this is expressed in its cutting-edge, market-relevant courses, continuous innovations in teaching and learning, engagements with industry practitioners and leaders, as well as in its 880,000 sq ft high-tech campus in Bandar Sunway.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Graeme Wilkinson says its premier digital tech university status — which it received in 2017 — recognises Sunway University’s embrace of digital technology. Sunway University is one of only 11 universities in Malaysia to be awarded the status. The aim of the award, jointly developed by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), is to produce top talents and future leaders not only in digital tech but also other industries such as manufacturing and agriculture.

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The premier digital tech university initiative is strongly supported by the industry, with eight strategic industry partners, namely Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Intel, JobStreet, Microsoft, Oracle Academy, RunCloud and SAS.

Ranked among the top 1.5% of universities in Asia and rated as a 5-star institution by Quacquarelli Symonds, Sunway University has always been keen on digital technology and digital education. “We have a range of degrees that focus on the future digital economy, from a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science to more specialised ones like a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology (Computer Networking and Security),” says Wilkinson. He adds that the latter course is especially relevant given the prevalence of cybercrime and a special cybersecurity intelligence lab has been established with the latest tools for researching and countering threats.

Undergraduates taking the course will gain exposure to computer and networking security-related practices in business and the industry, and will receive recognised professional credentials awarded by EC-Council — an IT security certification body from the US — namely, Certified Ethical Hacking and Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator.

In addition, the university also offers a Bachelor of Information Systems (Data Analytics) course, which focuses on the exploitation of massive data sets in business. Upon successful completion of the course, students will also receive the SAS Joint Certificate in Big Data with Advanced Techniques in Data Science.

Learning culture and heritage from augmented reality with the Boatbuilder research-creation project

“We also have a degree in Mobile Computing with Entrepreneurship at the School of Science and Technology. The course is designed for people who want to start their own businesses based on mobile devices, so we are really looking at future needs where businesses will generally have an online presence,” Wilkinson says.

In 2019, Sunway University introduced the Alibaba Global eCommerce Talent (GET) programme, which is part of the Alibaba GET Network initiative, a global network that facilitates students to be part of the digital economy, training them to be business owners and equipping them with entrepreneurial skills and knowledge.

“It’s an 11-month programme for young people to learn how to get involved in e-commerce. The training programme is open to all. It’s not restricted to those doing computing degrees, but is for anyone who wishes to be trained in e-commerce and technology,” Wilkinson says. The Alibaba GET syllabus can be taken in or alongside a few of Sunway University’s degree programmes giving students additional e-commerce skills.

Another critical success factor in Sunway University’s development of future talent is its internship and placement opportunities. “We think the internship experience is very important for our students, and we find that those who have completed their internships are more mature and understand the working world better. They are usually transformed by it,” Wilkinson says. The internship programme and the university’s industry-student mentorship programme are among the contributing factors that make Sunway University graduates so sought after. Overall, Sunway University’s graduates earn around 25% more than the average.

Future-proofing tech education

One of the university’s key considerations when developing a new course is ensuring that it meets industrial requirements and is in sync with technological trends and advancements, be it data analytics, mobile networking or cybersecurity.

VR research-creation project on a virtual museum

Each of the university’s seven academic schools also has its own Industry Advisory Board made up of leading experts in their respective fields. It is by engaging with industry experts and employers that the university is able to ensure that its courses are fit for purpose. “We have an annual employer talk between our academic staff and top management — giving us the opportunity to present our programmes and future ideas,’’ says Wilkinson.

To ensure its courses remain industry- and market-relevant, Sunway University also regularly reviews the curriculum. This, Wilkinson notes, is a continuous quality improvement process. “Every year, there will be some changes to the degree programmes, whether it’s a change in the subjects taught or the way they are taught because it’s important to stay current. And when it comes to new courses, you really have to be able to design a curriculum that is up to date, implement it immediately and know that that curriculum will be fit for purpose for several years, and that’s a challenge,” he says, stressing the importance of agility within the overall education ecosystem to enable expeditious approval of new courses.

At the same time, embedded in the curriculum and the delivery is the ethos of lifelong learning. “What we are saying is that students have to take responsibility for their own learning and career, and recognise that learning doesn’t end when they get their degree. They may want to do a postgraduate degree or come back to the university for a short course,” Wilkinson says.

To that end, the university has begun offering short courses, or what it terms micro credentials. The idea behind this, he explains, is to allow graduates to return for a short course to enhance their knowledge. “It’s a way of updating themselves and I think it’s also about universities becoming more open to the whole community. So it’s not just about undergraduates but having a whole community engaging with the university,” he says. The courses range from a few days to a few months in length.

3D object visualisation in culture and heritage preservation through an augmented reality application

Embracing digital technology

“Future-proofing is also about keeping up to date with what’s going on in industrial technology development. Our staff do a lot of research; they collaborate with people in major companies as well as with members of the Industry Advisory Board,” says Wilkinson. In addition, the university engages with major companies to jointly develop training programmes. He says the university is currently planning to work with global information and communications technology solution provider on a joint training programme on the practical application of artificial intelligence.

“Our academic staff really have to stay at the cutting edge of what they are researching and teaching, and they do that by going for training courses, and attending major international conferences where they engage with leading practitioners and researchers,” he says, adding that research-informed teaching is absolutely vital in a university, especially one that is at the forefront of technology.

“Every school is embracing digital technology, even those that one might think are not as digitally involved,” he says, pointing to the cutting-edge work undertaken by the School of Arts. The school’s Centre for Research-Creation in Digital Media, for example, is undertaking ambitious projects in virtual reality (VR), such as designing VR 360-degree digital cultural heritage immersive experiences and exhibitions and creating augmented reality (AR) heritage content and AR books and experiences for Malaysian culture.

The School of Science and Technology’s Human-Machine Collaboration Research Centre, meanwhile, is undertaking a project on the adoption of haptic and audio feedback system in internet browsing for the visually impaired.

Besides research conducted on campus, over the years, Sunway University has also established close partnerships with various global institutions of higher learning, such as Lancaster University and Le Cordon Bleu International, which lend international qualifications to Sunway’s programmes. It has also fostered ties with Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley in the US, and the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge in the UK through multiple bilateral exchanges of expertise and research. In 2019, Sunway University also signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Huizhou University in Guangdong, China to establish the Joint Research Centre in Information Technology and International Collaborative Education.

Changing the way we teach and learn

Educating sustainability through Malaysia’s first fully immersive Recycling VR Challenge Project

Like other educational institutions, Sunway University had to migrate all of its teaching and learning online when the country imposed the Movement Control Order in March to stem the spread of Covid-19. The migration from physical to online classes was fairly smooth, thanks in part to the existence of blended learning, which has been part of its teaching delivery.

Although the university keeps abreast of the latest developments in teaching and learning, Wilkinson says the pandemic has accelerated the pace of these changes.

Based on its surveys, the university found that although 80% of students are satisfied with online learning, what they miss the most is the face-to-face collaboration with their fellow students. The collaborative nature of learning is especially key for digital education, Wilkinson says, pointing out that most software, for example, is developed by teams. “Most e-commerce projects involve people who are designing and coding systems and because there are so many bits and pieces that need to come together, there is always teamwork. These projects also rely on people of different strengths and expertise.”

The focus on collaboration and working in teams has informed the university’s planning of its physical spaces. Take, for example, the campus for the School of Arts and School of Business (across the road from the current Sunway University campus) that is currently under construction. “We’ve gone back to the drawing board to change the teaching spaces, from lecture theatres and standard teaching spaces; we’re redesigning the campus for small group work, tutorial and collaborative group work. So, the pandemic has helped us rethink about the future of education and the kind of spaces that universities needs,” Wikinson notes. He adds that the priority is also to embedding the latest technologies. Key to this is having high-speed internet and free WiFi, which the campus already enjoys, and taking it a step beyond with 5G. That the Sunway Group is committed to Bandar Sunway being a 5G-enabled city is a major plus for the university.

Sunway University is one of only 11 universities in Malaysia to be awarded the Premier Digital Tech University status by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)

Wilkinson believes that technology can further enhance the campus experience. To date, Sunway University has rolled out face recognition solutions at the library, allowing for contactless entry, and is experimenting with special visual codes around campus for people to scan and obtain information about services and facilities. “We’re trying to make the campus as technologically advanced as possible,” says Wilkinson.

At the same time, the university is cognisant of the role it plays in the community. To deepen its engagement with the community, it has planned a large concert hall and theatre at the new campus as well as a trading room at the business school, which will be open to visitors. “The idea is to make the university teaching environment more accessible to the public. This is important because universities are really places that can enrich a community, and they can become the heart of a community,” says Wilkinson.