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KUCHING: A team of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) students will be taking their education beyond the walls of the lecture theatre by working closely with Perodua’s research and development (R&D) team to produce prototype components, focusing on the parts development process, as part of the Perodua Eco Challenge (PEC) 2017.
As the sole East Malaysian entrant, the challenge hopes to expose students to industry needs and practices as well as to make studies more interesting because they are made aware of how their knowledge can be applied in the real world.
Unimas Faculty of Engineering deputy dean (Industry and Community Engagement and Commercialisation) Noraziah Abdul Wahab said PEC provides the university’s students with challenges which will enable them to grow and become quality human capital upon graduation.
“Some of our initiatives at Unimas Faculty of Engineering are to make sure that our graduates are marketable, increase their employability rate and to make sure that they are competent to work in the industries.
“With industries such as Perodua coming in to the university, we really take feedback from them to make sure that we are not only teaching theories in class, but to ensure that the students can implement what they learn to suit industries’ needs,” she said at the PEC progress presentation session at Perodua Kuching 1 showroom here yesterday.
During the presentation, the Unimas team presented its progress to Perodua, which included its R&D deputy general manager Hajis Sanep, on meeting the demands of the challenge as well as shared how Perodua has helped them understand current market needs and trends and how to anticipate future trends when developing a new product.
Unimas is among 10 higher-learning institutions around the country participating in this year’s challenge.
The other universities are Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Politeknik Ungku Omar (PUO), Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
Meanwhile, Perodua Strategic Communications Division Public Relations Department manager Ahmad Tamimi Omar said the 10 universities are making continuous effort to ensure that students are compatible when they graduate to be part of the work force.
“At Perodua, we want to encourage that and we want to help as much as possible which my team, led by Hajis, has been working with Unimas and other universities in Malaysia to make sure that happens.”
First held in 2009, PEC offers students and faculty members from local higher-learning institutions an avenue to show their creativity in terms of design, engineering and business prowess against their peers from different institutions.
This year, the challenge has shifted its focus from the redesigning of existing Perodua models to vehicle components in the context of R&D.
The teams are required to develop a car part that fulfills the element of ECO (Environment, Creativity and Originality).
A total of 21 higher learning institutions from around the country were invited to participate in PEC in November last year, of which 10 were selected to compete in this year’s challenge.
The 10 teams are set to present their final prototypes before a panel of judges on Nov 29.
Also present was Unimas Faculty of Engineering senior lecturer Prof Dr Andrew Ragai.
