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Pride Of Asia & Malaysia

 
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
 
As the COVID-19 pandemic brought numerous challenges to our lives, our students have once again proven that excellence has no boundaries and they are still able to shine on the international stage despite the virus outbreak. We are delighted and proud to share that our team, PestKillerBot stood out among global teams from China, Croatia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Senegal, and the United Kingdom as one of the Global Finalists of the global Atos IT Challenge 2020.
 
Since its inception 9 years ago, the Atos IT Challenge has sparked new ideas among university students through different themes, encouraging students to develop world-changing solutions through technologies such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), and more. This year, the theme of the challenge is “Cooperative Artificial Intelligence”, in which participants were encouraged to develop innovative prototypes that allowed machines to cooperate in accomplishing given tasks.
 
It was indeed a Malaysian (and Asian) pride as our team was the only Asian & Malaysian team to be qualified in the Grand Finals. Under the guidance of their academic mentor, Ms. Hemalata Vasudavan and Atos mentors, Mr. Andy Wallace and Mr. Tan Chee Wooi, the team developed a prototype that incorporates the swarm intelligence to aid the pest control process in the floriculture industry. In preparation for this competition, the team has worked tirelessly over the last 9 months and have competed with teams globally to reach the Grand Finals. They will now compete with 2 other finalist teams from Croatia and Mexico for the Championship.
 
Team PestKillerBot comprises members as listed below:
  • Loo Chee Hin (Team Leader) - Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons) (Intelligent Systems)
  • Yeo Khang Hsein - Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons) (Intelligent Systems)
  • Andrew Chung Hui Yue - Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons) (Intelligent Systems)
  • Yong Ee Ren - BSc (Hons) in Information Technology with a specialism in Cloud Computing
 
It is also worth to note that this is our second time to emerge as the only Asian & Malaysian team at the Atos IT Challenge Grand Finals; back in 2016, our team, Go & Gone, achieved the 1st Runner Up placing at the Challenge, that was held in Paris, France.
 
KUDOS once again, to team PestKillerBot for the tremendous achievement WE ARE PROUD OF YOU! A Digital Awards Ceremony of the Challenge will be held on the 8th of July. It will be, indeed, a proud moment for all of us! We will continue to provide updates – let’s hope for the best for the team!

Here We ‘Gold’ Again

We are thrilled to share this good news with you – APU has just been announced as the BEST Cybersecurity Education Provider in ASIA!

This spectacular achievement was announced by the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards 2020 committee on their website. All nominations submitted were subjected to a judging process based on the demonstration of leadership, excellence and results in cybersecurity and a voting process by the Information Security Community, which consists of 400,000+ members on LinkedIn

What made this achievement greater was the fact that we are now receiving this award for the 2nd time in a row! As a continuation of our excellence since last year, we stood out among all nominations for our excellence in providing high-quality cybersecurity education, particularly through world-class facilities housed at the CyberSecurity Talent Zone and the outstanding competence demonstrated by our academic team.

The honour has also been recognized by Cybersecurity Insiders on their website. Huge CONGRATULATIONS to all of us for this astonishing achievement!

Community Project Stood Above The Rest

As a result of strong project management skills, our Foundation students pulled together a successful sustainable community project at the Community N U project-based competition. The impressive outcome generated from their project won them the First Prize, awarded by Soroptimist International Club of Bangsar (SICB) & the Soroptimist International of Shah Alam (SISA).



Our student teams prepared 2 projects, that were focused on helping the community by applying the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN). One of the projects was to teach life skills to orphanages and old folks’ homes, whereas the other was to teach single & young mothers to upcycle unwanted products to sustain their living.

Prior to the final presentation of their outcomes, our students went through an intensive training session as they were taught on funds management, events management and leadership skills in order to utilize the seed money provided, to achieve the best outcome possible. A total of 14 students took part in the workshops & the competition from Foundation & Diploma programmes, under the coordination of Ms Ruthira, Ms Zafeena & Ms Cynthia from the School of Foundation.







It was not just about the victory or the prizes won, but the experience as well. Our pre-university students enjoyed the process of attaining new skills throughout the project – these were important management skills that can aid them in being an outstanding university student and beyond. We were glad to see them embarking onto this opportunity!

The Nation's Pride, Once (Twice) Again!

We’re proud that our excellence in cybersecurity has gone global! 

APU’s Cyber Security teams, Shellhound and Et3rnal brought the nation immense pride and joy as they emerged as the Champion and the 1st Runner up of the recently concluded Regional Cyber Challenge 2019 that was held in conjunction with the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) Perth Conference.



Organised by Silensec and Cyber8Labs, Australia, the competition was a virtual competition that took place around the globe. Our teams prepared and went through the competition’s challenges at our Cyber Range, while they competed among 12 participating teams that came from 9 countries. 

Throughout the 5 hours of the competition, teams had to make use of their Incident Response skills to detect, respond and recover from cyber-attacks. It was an intense competition, as the teams’ capability were tested greatly through the challenging case scenarios, combined with the emergence of several vulnerabilities throughout the duration of the challenge. At the end of the challenge, both APU teams defeated their competitors and emerged as the TOP 2 TEAMS of the challenge!



At a recent prize giving ceremony held at our campus, both teams received their awards and certificates from Ms. Daisy Sinclair, Founder of Cyber8Lab Pty. Ltd., Australia, who flew here all the way from Australia to attend the ceremony.

CONGRATULATIONS to teams Shellhound & Et3rnal – thank you so much for making us proud! This achievement has once again proven that our students are capable to compete globally, as cybersecurity professionals of the future. The skills and knowledge possessed by them do not fall short of those who come from developed countries, and as graduates from a Malaysian university, they are definitely capable of standing in the eyes of the world!

Kudos to the teams’ mentors, Ms. Yusnita Yusof & Ms. Nor Azlina Abdul Rahman for their passion and dedication in leading the teams towards their success. Members of the 2 teams comprised:

Team Name

Members

Shellhound – Champion

Mentor: Ms. Yusnita Yusof
Leader: Imran Esack Dawoodjee
Members:
Sritaran Doraisamy
Mohin Paramasivam

Et3rnal – 1st Runner Up

Mentor: Ms. Nor Azlina Abdul Rahman
Leader: Hains Jojo
Members:
Reza Ahmad Nugroho
Farzan Mohammed

NAPEI Award For Education Excellence


At a recent Award Presentation Ceremony organized by the National Association Of Private Educational Institutions (NAPEI), we are proud to receive the Education Excellence Award under the “Universities & University Colleges” category.

Our CEO, Datuk Parmjit Singh received the award on behalf of APIIT Education Group. With aims to recognize excellent institutions in various areas of the education industry, the NAPEI Award rates participating early childhood, primary, secondary, vocational, tertiary education providers and awards those who have achieved excellence within the industry. 

Several criteria were judged among all participating institutions under the Universities & University Colleges category, namely the growth of the university / university college, the number of students, the maturity of programmes, the quality of academic staff & support staff, facilities & resources, graduate employability and the amount of awards won by the respective university / university college.

This award is a significant symbol of our excellence in providing top-class private tertiary education, and it signifies the exemplary passion, dedication and contributions made by all staff of APIIT and APU. We shall continue to maintain our outstanding performance as one of the top private universities in Malaysia, to nurture professionals for global careers and beyond.

Another Glorious ‘Malaysia Boleh!’ Moment

Once again, our students shone bright like a diamond in the international arena!

We are extremely proud to announce the success of our Engineering students, Mohamed Ahsan & Akshey Kumar from the School of Engineering, who unleashed their potentials and bagged the Best Innovation Prize at the 24th International ICT Innovation Services Awards (Innoserve Awards) 2019 that was held recently at Taipei, Taiwan. The team was under the supervision of their lecturer, Dr. Freddy Tan Kheng Suan. The same team also achieved astonishing results at the APICTA Malaysia Awards as well as the Singapore Energy Innovation Challenge previously.



InnoServe Awards is an annual ICT application competition held for university and college students. It is the largest and the most significant ICT Awards in Taiwan. InnoServe provides a platform for students to present their projects, while at the same time, promoting academic-industry collaboration by integrating academic training and practical experience. 

More than 10,000  teachers and students from over 100 universities and colleges participated in the Contest. The team stood out among the 12 Global Finalists, which included teams from Australia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and Taiwan. Our team who represented Malaysia was awarded the Best Innovation Award for their project.



At the competition, our students developed a low cost and portable cancer detector, which combined their innovative ideas and amazing technical skills as well as charitable objectives. The detector allows users to detect harmful radiation in the environment – upon testing, it was found that the detector was highly sensitive and accurate. This is a solid testament to our students’ capability in producing industrial-grade equipment that can benefit the healthcare industry at a low cost – even before they graduate

Huge CONGRATULATIONS to the team and KUDOS to Dr. Freddy for their astonishing achievement – this has once again proven that APU students are capable to achieve outstanding success internationally. In addition, they showed the world what it means by ‘Malaysia Boleh!’ when it comes to global competitiveness. We look forward to seeing Akshey and Ahsan as successful Engineers who will bring significant contribution to the world and the society.

Debating Excellence On Financial Knowledge

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." - Benjamin Franklin

As students under the School of Accounting & Finance, we are pleased to share that Zhiyun Chia, Nicholas Lim and Syed Kamil demonstrated sound financial knowledge at the Bursa Malaysia National Investment Debate Challenge held recently, in which the team walked away with the 2nd Runner Up prize.
Organised by Bursa Malaysia, the challenge was hosted at APU under the coordination of the School of Accounting & Finance and our students of the Bursa Young Investor Club and Debate Society. The Challenge saw 16 teams from 12 universities nationwide, battling through several rounds and covering a wide spectrum of interesting topics related to the investment and the capital market.
 
At the Challenge, we witnessed interesting debates and discussions on financial knowledge; this is in line with the aim of the competition, which was to stimulate interest, discussion and research amongst tertiary students, in order to equip them with knowledge on the capital market and to nurture a solid base of investors in the next generation. We saw the potentials of future investors of the world, and we are glad to participate in this effort in collaboration with Bursa Malaysia!
 
CONGRATULATIONS to APU Team A; we look forward to hosting more events and witnessing more of our students’ victory!

Designing Transport Of The Future

After our victory for designing the Invictus at Proton-DRB HICOM Creative Car Challenge last year, our Transport Design students attained awards again for their outstanding designing skills, combined with futuristic and technology-centric thinking! At the recently concluded GML Bus Body & Interior Design Competition, we are proud to share that our students from the School of Media, Arts & Design (SoMAD) bagged the championship and the 3rd Place!

 
The competition was held in conjunction with Gemilang Coachwork (GML)’s 30th Anniversary, to encourage more talents to be involved in the design of buses which forms an integral part of our daily lives in Malaysia and around the world. Being amongst the industry leaders of bus manufacturers, Gemilang Coachworks has a clientele from more than 10 markets worldwide, including Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, China, India, Malaysia and more.
 
Participants were required to design a City Bus, while considering both the interior and exterior aspects, as well as the functionality, practicality and the safety of the design. From the research report to the sketches and final presentations, students went through an enriching 6-months journey as they applied their design skills and practical knowledge to develop concepts of modern city buses. Under the guidance of our lecturers of the programme - Mr. Safullizan Abdul Wahab & Ms. Christine Lim Pei Shin, our Champion student, Chandraguna Bandaralage Bertholameuz Dinidu Thejana Perera stood above the rest with his semi-electric concept bus design, whereas the 2nd Runner Up team, comprising Khoo Wen Sheong & Timothy Chow Tian Le excelled with a chameleon concept design, that embeds digital advertising on bus panels. Both teams were invited to attend GML’s 30th Anniversary celebration, where they also had the opportunity to tour around the factory, learning about how busses were assembled and made.
 

 

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Chandraguna, Wen Sheong & Timothy for their amazing success! Their ability to shine in another arena of transport design has again proven that our students have the capability to design and think for the future. We look forward to seeing a bus designed by our students moving around the city someday!

3 Times The Success


APU Teams Stand Proudly on the National Engineers Day Stage in Singapore


 
Once again, we stand in pride on the world stage, for our students’ outstanding performances and amazing capability!  
 
In conjunction with the National Engineers Day (NED) of Singapore, the Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) hosted the 5th installment of the Engineering Innovation Challenge (EIC) with the theme of designing and building a prototype of a portable and sensitive ionizing radiation detector that is capable of detecting background radiation. At the Challenge, we are proud to share that 3 of our teams from the School of Engineering walked away with Merit Prizes, bagging SGD1,000 each as well as a prototype fund of SGD500 per team.
 
The teams were the only Malaysian teams to be in the grand finals and to walk away with awards; their hard work and passion accompanied by the dedication of their mentors contributed to their successes. Kudos to the mentoring lecturers: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lai Nai Shyan, Dr. Freddy Tan Kheng Suan & Dr. Lau Chee Yong from our School of Engineering for the dedicated effort!
 
Huge Congratulations the teams, comprising:


 
 
Team 1: A Low-Cost IoT Based Background Radiation Monitoring System
Project Advisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lai Nai Shyan
Team Member: Darren Chin Vui Ket & Thea Sze Sien
  
Team 2: Low-Cost and Portable Ionizing Radiation Detector
Project Advisor: Dr. Freddy Tan Kheng Suan
Team Members: Mohamed Mafaz Mohamed Ahsan, Lim Eng Wei & Akshey Kumar Magenthiran
 
Team 3: RadioAppTive - background radiation detector
Project Advisor: Dr. Lau Chee Yong
Team Members: Low Yong Zhi, Pong Wei Xiang & Chin Yoong Fung


 
Not only did APU teams made us proud, but they also successfully proved to the world that we are capable of producing talents in Engineering that adhere to the world’s standards. While we record our highest appreciation and congratulations to the teams, we also wish they excel as outstanding engineers who can contribute to the nation’s growth & development as they graduate!

Malaysian Champion - Road to Kazan, Russia

Once again, we prove to the nation and to the world that we are global talent hub for computing & technology! 
 
Our final year student of the BSc (Hons) in Information Technology with a specialism in Information Systems Security, Kogilan Krishnansamy, will be carrying the APU and Malaysian flag to Kazan, Russia next month. He was the National Champion of the Worldskills Malaysia 2019 – Cloud Computing Challenge held recently, which was an initiative by the Department of Skills Development under the Ministry of Human Resources.

 
The WorldSkills Competition is a global competition aimed to promote professional education as well as to dedicate youth to technical and technological careers. This year, young professionals from around the world will compete in 56 skills, which include Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Web Technologies and more.
 
At the stage of the WorldSkills Malaysia (Cloud Computing) League, Kogilan made use of the AWS GameDay engine to develop solutions based on the given case scenario, using the AWS resources that are available. Moving forward, Kogilan will be demonstrating his skills in front of judges and over 1,400 participants who come from 63 countries and regions around the world.
 
It will be a truly global experience; we are also proud to note that Kogilan will be the only Malaysian representative to stand on the world stage! Our lecturer, Dr. Kalai Anand Ratnam has been appointed by the Department of Skills Development as the WorldSkills 2019 (Malaysia National Expert for Cloud Computing) – hence, he will be guiding Kogilan in preparing for the WorldSkills Competition, as well as travelling with him to Kazan, Russia in August. He is also an appointed Judge representing Malaysia, who will evaluate the performance of the participants at the Competition.
 
Huge CONGRATULATIONS to Kogilan and Dr. Kalai Anand Ratnam – as they carry the APU & Malaysian flag to Kazan, Russia, we wish them ALL THE BEST!
 

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