Hand-on-Skill

 STUDENTS enrolled in Nilai University College (Nilai UC)’s Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering not only learn in the classroom, but have the opportunity to apply their knowledge on a real aircraft at the institution’s very own hangar.

Soon, these students will have the option to further their knowledge in the field through a recently signed memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom’s (UK) Kingston University and CAA International Ltd (CAAi), a subsidiary of the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

Nilai UC president Prof Emeritus Tengku Datuk Shamsul Bahrin said students would have the option of pursuing an engineering degree in Aircraft Maintenance through its partnership with Kingston.

Prof Emeritus Tengku Shamsul (right) exchanging documents with Dr Mason at the ceremony.

 

“Students who want to further their studies after the diploma will have the avenue to do so locally through a one-year top-up degree programme with Kingston.

“With the agreement, Kingston will also now be providing the notes for the diploma programme while CAAi will regulate the examinations throughout the course duration,” he said at the signing ceremony recently.

The degree programme with Kingston is scheduled to commence next January, together with additional options in helicopter maintenance and avionics.

Prof Emeritus Tengku Shamsul said Nilai UC, which had been running the diploma programme for the past three years, aims to produce trained professionals who meet international aviation standards.

“Although three years is not a long time, we have worked hard to ensure the programme was accredited and now we are pleased to team up with Kingston and CAAi to further enhance the programme.

Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering students working on an aircraft during a practical sesion.

 

“Industry acceptance is also important and we are lucky to have the support of nine industry partners — SR Aviations Ltd, Berjaya Air, Dnest Aviation Services, KLAS, GGIFA, Sabah Air, Subang General Aviation Sdn Bhd, Integrated Training and Services Aviation Academy and Systematic General Aviation Sdn Bhd,” he said.

Aircraft Maintenance department head M. Kunalan said the partnership also allowed students to obtain valuable feedback on their examination performance.

“It is important for the students to know how they fare in the examinations, and now they will be able to get feedback on their performance from the CAAi,” he said.

Also present at the ceremony were Kingston University engineering faculty dean Dr Peter Mason and CAAi training and examinations unit senior manager Matthew Margesson.

FSKTM Students Represented UPM in Imagine Cup

Three students from the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology (FSKTM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), were selected to represent UPM at the 2011 Malaysia Imagine Cup competition recently.

Mohamad Najib Basery, The Green P

The FSKTM team is led by their mentors, Dr. Lili Nurliyana Abdullah, Dr. Razali Yaakob and Dr. Rohaya Latip.

Namely the Green P, they created the 'Botanic Sustainability Smart System', a web based software to identify the type of soil and suitable plants that can be planted with it.

A second year student in Bachelor of Computer Science (Computer Networks), Mohamad Najib said the idea to develop the software was drawn from the famine situation in Africa. Thus we are inspired to help them in identifying suitable crops for their land.

"It took us almost two months to develop this system as well as data collected from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry (MOA), Institute for Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and assisted by Prof. Dr. Kamaruzaman Joseph from the Faculty of Forestry, "he said at the Malaysia 2011 Imagine Cup competition at the Pullman Hotel, Kuching.

In addition, the system is able to analyze the crop price index, which enables those involved in the agricultural industry to determine their budget in order to initiate agricultural projects.

Meanwhile, WASPending developed software that combines the teaching of general knowledge, science and math, and also a hero character as well as focused history for students aged 10 to 12 years old.

WASPending team leader, Wong Ching Yee said the system called 'Challenge the Difference "was developed in the form of games and educational software.

"I hope that this software will draw attention from the children’s education related industry," he said.

His friend, Tan Wee Chong, a final year student of Bachelor of Computer Science (Software Engineering) from The Frontiers said his group developed 'The 1 Cent Project' a micro donation system that integrates with telecommunication companies to further promote the culture of giving among students.

"Students can donate as low as one cent, and the use of the software can be promoted by the telecommunications company as a community service program (CSR).

"By using this system, users can select their donation to be distributed for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the amount to be donated and the identification number and the data will be verified by the telecommunication companies after obtaining confirmation," he said.

The 2011 Imagine Cup is a technology competition between the students of the Institution of Higher Education in promoting solutions to global problems.

The competition aims to produce talented students in the world of software designers, programmers, game developers and digital media enthusiasts and simultaneously addressing issues related to humanitarian assistance, poverty, education, disease control, health, environment and global issues.

4G Internet service for UTM

By Ahmad Fairuz Othman
news@nst.com.my
2010/12/07

SKUDAI: Students and staff of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) can now enjoy faster broadband speed with the introduction of 4G (fourth generation) mobile Internet services under a collaboration with YTL Communications Sdn Bhd.

UTM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Zaini Ujang said the service would benefit the university's 2,000 doctorate students, of whom 500 were in the computer science field.

"This is one of the biggest broadband facilities among public institutions of higher learning in the country. YTL Communications selected UTM based on our progress in providing quality broadband for our students and staff.

"We are among the first to have been signed up for this, and the first to receive it," said Zaini after the introduction of the 4G YES service at the Skudai campus here.

He said UTM, which was declared a research university by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in June, would also collaborate with YTL Communications to develop 4G content.

In June, UTM upgraded its broadband capacity to 425 mbps (megabyte per second).

He said the 4G facility was already up and running at its Skudai main campus and at the Jalan Semarak campus in Kuala Lumpur.

Zaini said with the introduction of YES 4G, the university would be able to reduce capital expenditure and costs at its facilities.

Meanwhile, YTL Communications executive director Yasmin Mahmood said six other universities would receive the YES 4G services.

They are Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and Universiti Teknologi Mara.

Yasmin said Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris would soon receive the services, pending internal approvals.

She said YTL was working towards a 80 per cent penetration rate in the country within the next several months, and was gearing up for its YES TV in October next year.

It currently has a 65 per cent penetration rate in Peninsular Malaysia.

She said the YES 4G would benefit students as its Internet speed was not only five times faster than 3G, it would also only cost a RM30 minimum monthly fee.

 

Url: http://e.nst.com.my/nst/articles/21fasb/Article/art_print

UTM spent RM500,000 on cyber protection

JOHOR BAHRU: The war against computer viruses does not come cheap. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has spent close to RM500,000 on cyber security protection.
The university also conducted a month long campaign on anti-virus awareness among its administration staff in April.
UTM Centre for ICT director Prof Zamri Mohamad said the campaign included the installation of hardware and software protection as well as updating the operating systems (OS).
“We also arranged for talks on healthy ICT lifestyle for our staff so that they realise it may not be safe to visit sites that are not secure,” he said, adding that the university currently had 10 servers alone for anti-virus protection which were updated daily.
The Star had reported on Thursday that the university had been facing a spate of virus attacks that targeted around 6,000 computers belonging to both the university and students.
Prof Zamri said the university also conducted demonstrations on how computers should be maintained and created a website, www.antivirus.utm.my, through the intranet system.
Students with their own personal computers have also been encouraged to obtain the anti-virus protection from the university free of charge.
UTM was also looking towards moving its entire software system from Windows to Open Source as there were fewer viruses created for it.
Prof Zamri said that with viruses and hackers getting increasingly sophisticated, the idea of owning a computer was not the same as owning a radio.
“It is more like owning a car as you need to learn how to operate it. You also need to constantly service and upgrade it,” he said.
According to him, UTM was considering the possibility of making its students and staff obtain a “licence” before they are allowed to use the computers on ca