Building design excellence
Cooperation between UniKL and Italian institutions catalyst to further strengthen the national design technology and creative industry
UNIVERSITI Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), a pioneer in Higher Technical Vocational Education and Training (HTVET) in this country, continues to spearhead the development in education for new critical areas identified under the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs).
UniKL, which is fully owned by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) has recently formed a collaboration with various renowned education and training institutes in Italy to spur the development in human resources for the country’s creative and design industry.
This network of collaboration is part of the plan to strengthen Institute of Product Design and Manufacturing (IPROM) as well as for IPROM’s rebranding to Malaysia Italy Design Institute (Midi) under UniKL.
IPROM was formed in 2003 as UniKL design faculty known as Faculty of Product Design and Manufacturing. The faculty offered three engineering technology programmes at that time.
In 2007, the faculty was upgraded to become an institute and had its name changed to UniKL IPROM.
To date, UniKL offers 13 programmes starting from the foundation level, diploma (for Malaysia Japan Higher Education Programme or MJHEP programme), bachelor’s and master’s degree to Doctor of Philosophy in product design and manufacturing.
The establishment of Midi will reaffirm the cooperation relationship between Malaysia and Italy in terms of human capital development and the transfer of design technology as well as creative industry manufacturing.
Italy is recognised for various global brands including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Bulgari, Buccellati, Valentino, Versace, Prada, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Marni, Iceberg, Missoni, Trussardi and Moschino.
Therefore, the cooperation established between UniKL and other famed training and higher learning institutions in Italy, which specialised in creative product design, provides a viable platform for the transfer of technology to Midi in the move towards building its standing as a centre of excellence on design aspect.
Among the renowned industry and learning institutions in Italy which have formed a collaboration with UniKL include Moda Pelle Academy, Instituto Marangoni, European Institute of Design, Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino.
The signings of the collaboration documents were witnessed by Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is also UniKL Pro Chancellor, during a working visit to Italy recently.
Also joining the visit were former Mara director-general Datuk Ibrahim Ahmad, who is also UniKL Pro Chancellor, and UniKL president and chief executive officer Professor Datuk Dr Mazliham Mohd Su’ud.
Ismail said the proactive steps taken by UniKL in forming collaboration with reputable organisations in Italy will act as a catalyst to further strengthen the national design technology and creative industry with exchange of knowledge and expertise between both countries.
“For instance, Moda Pelle is an expert in leather goods design education technology, while Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino master the latest technology in product design and industrial design,” he said.
Prior to this, a discussion was also held between UniKL and Italian ambassador to Malaysia His Excellency Mario Sammartino.
In the discussion, the two-way relationship between UniKL and Italian learning institutions will also cover academic development in UniKL, development of mobility programme for students and academic staff as well as upgrading UniKL IPROM towards the rebranding into Midi.
Midi will bear internationalisation elements in its progress towards becoming a centre of excellence.
The Italian embassy in Malaysia is also ready to give solid cooperation in regards to the human capital development in line with positive values in Italian culture including on discipline at work as well as Italian language development in Midi.
Ismail said the establishment of Midi will open ways for gaining international recognition by learning institutions as well as other institutions of international standing especially in Italy for education programmes developed by this institute.
“Midi will also nurture 600 skilled work force every year in creative product design technology industry. These skilled talents will be trained to be competent, innovative, creative and competitive. They will fill in the talent gap for domestic and international market,” he said.
He said the programmes and syllabus to be developed with learning institutions as well as industry players from the country and Italy will fulfil the demand of the industry.
“It will be industry-oriented-based programmes with education training schemes for lecturers to equip UniKL lecturers with updated knowledge in line with the creative product design industry technology demand,” he said.
He said with the establishment of Midi, it will also create a path for further collaboration to benefit stakeholders, including on short courses, lifelong learning, research and development, human capital development, workforce as well as social, culture and entrepreneurship to graduates of UniKL and other education institutions under Mara, including youths trained by other agencies under the Rural and Regional Development Ministry, such as Felcra, Risda, Kesedar and Ketengah.
“These aspects champion Mara’s mission in upholding the education and entrepreneurship for Bumiputera as well as realising the ministry’s mission of further developing and strengthening the economy of the rural areas based on the 12 sectors under the NKEAs,” said Ismail.
Italy is the fifth largest trading partner in Malaysia in the European Union.
The Italian products have been a benchmark worldwide for designing as well as being among the most exported products in fashion design, industrial design and infrastructure design in Europe.
With this, Mara and UniKL plan for the development of human capital through training of the experts and academicians, professional programmes and programmes related to HTVET in creative industry design.