GENDER EQUALITY
UMT, PETRONAS COLLABORATE TO IMPROVE EMPLOYABILITY OF EAST COAST UNIVERSITY GRADUATES
Thursday, 14/09/2023
Kuala Terengganu – Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and Petrolium Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) have co-organised the PETRONAS BeDIGITAL Bootcamp 2023 Eastern Zone programme in the spirit of fostering university-industry partnerships.
A total of 50 programme participants will be offered employment with PETRONAS when they graduate from their university.
PETRONAS BeDIGITAL Bootcamp is a programme implemented by PERSONAS in collaboration with public universities in Malaysia and focuses on the development of the digital and entrepreneurship fields. The programme is handled by Petronas Digital Sdn. Bhd with partners such as Microsoft, Seed.Lab, and Petrosains and is line with the intention of the Minsitry of Higher Education to strengthen the field of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
The 14-day programme held for the first time in the Eastern Zone took place at UMT and was attended by 100 participants from five public universities in the east coast, namely UMT, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA), and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).
The programme is line with the Ministry of Higher Education’s agenda of managing changes and technological explosion in an effort to empower Malaysian graduates. Through various modules, participants were trained to be more competitive in the job market and able to land employment.
The closing ceremony was held on 13 September. Present during the event were Datuk Bacho Pilong, Senior Vice President, PETRONAS Project and Technology Implementation, and principal officers from the universities involved.
UMT launches new training centre to polish nation’s sailing talents
Monday, 15/05/2023
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) is a public university with expertise in the field of marine science and aquatic resources. Its evolution after it was first established in 1979 has enabled UMT to receive various recognitions at the national and international levels and placed the university in an admirable position.
In its effort to become a university that serves as a reference centre for the nation, UMT also set up the Sailing Training Centre on 1 August 2019.
The centre has received special attention from His Highness Sultan of Terengganu, who has consented to complete the centre’s officiating ceremony today.
The centre is responsible for developing modules and reference materials and carrying out studies related to sailing. This is translated into programmes for improving the nation through the offering of courses and knowledge transfer programmes to school students and the communities.
The centre recognizes the local experts and has appointed individuals with wide experience in sailing to share knowledge and expertise especially related to sailing skills and ship-building art. The effort is for ensuring the sailing sports led by UMT will continue to achieve excellence and re-elevate sailing sports as a heritage from one generation to the next.
The objective of PLP’s establishment is not only to focus on sailing as a sports activity but to make it a recognized competency skill and turn it into a career, such as a ship captain or harbour officer.
PLP has had several achievements throughout its existence. The UMT Sailing Team won the bronze medal at the 16th Yisunsin Cup International Yacht Race in South Korea for the J70 category in November 2022.
PLP has also managed to change the skeptical perception towards women’s participation in sailing sports. The Ocean Girls UMT emerged as an overall third-place winner for the sport-boat category at the Royal Langkawi International Regatta 2023 in January.
PLP is also supporting the effort by the Terengganu Sailing Association in discovering sailing talent among differently disabled people. To date, there are seven of them from Kuala Terengganu who have been actively involved in the sports under the special category of Handicapped Sailing (HANSA). With cooperation and support from several agencies and Malaysia Sailing Association, UMT’s PLP has become the only HANSA training centre in Malaysia.
Together with the officiating of PLP, UMT has also organized the launching of the Marine Scientific Research Expedition using the research vessel RV-Discovery in conjunction with LIMA ’23.
The scientific expedition is the third thus far and it is led by Dr. Nur Hidayah Roseli, lead scientist (Physical Oceanography) from the Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, UMT. There are eight other researchers from various oceanographic fields at UMT and from the Institute of Ocean and Earth Science (IOES), Universiti Malaya.
Several scientific studies will be carried out involving 19 sampling locations along the Straits of Malacca, focusing on the ocean’s current and temperature and the level of saltiness, the ocean’s productivity and nutrients, heavy metals in sediments, and marine organisms’ lives. The scientific studies are being funded by funds from the Long Term Research Grant (LRGS) under the Climate Change & Environment research cluster, Ministry of Higher Education. Studies under the cluster include physical oceanography, biological oceanography, chemical oceanography, and geological oceanography.
