Students rise up to challenge
TUNKU Abdul Rahman University College’s (TAR UC) holistic education has always stood the test of time, bearing testimony to its efficacy and quality.
The main contributing factor is the three key pillars of quality education championed by TAR UC, one of which is being industry-relevant that has cemented TAR UC as one of the top institutions of higher learning.
Close to five decades since its establishment, TAR UC continues to stress on the importance of industry-relevant education as employers demand more than just academic excellence.
Recently, a group of TAR UC students had the opportunity to gain hands-on exposure through a comprehensive online campaign in collaboration with Google, called “Cool Tools 4 Skool”.
Over a 12-week period, TAR UC’s Bachelor of Public Relations (Hons) second-year students took up the challenge as part of their coursework to produce a series of videos with the purpose of educating students on how Google tools could help them in their education and empower campus life.
Students were divided into five teams, where each team had to research, plan, propose and produce two videos according to their assigned themes, all while ensuring their ideas were capable of making an impact in the social space.
After uploading it onto social media, teams were tasked with managing social engagement, data analysis and presenting their findings at the end of the campaign.
Students were exposed to everything that constitutes a realworld online public relations campaign, such as realistic planning, content development, decision-making, creative online publicity, teamwork and reporting of findings.
Google Malaysia communications and public affairs head Zeffri Yusof said having industry-relevant projects while students were in university could be a useful way to help them discover what they are good at before joining the workforce.
“They can also apply the knowledge they’ve gained in real life,” said Zeffri, adding that he was impressed by the response and dedication of the students involved in the Cool Tools 4 Skool campaign.
“We (Google) kept ourselves in the loop thanks to regular reports of the students’ progress, and as the campaign progressed, we were delighted by the ideas they put out. We could tell that the students worked diligently, did their research and were considerate of their target audience. The videos they produced embodied the best bits of Google’s products and we felt it resonated with their chosen audience.”
Uploaded onto social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook, the videos generated a healthy dose of engagements despite the campaign being run for a short period of time. But it did not go unrewarded as Google presented the students with a certificate of participation. In addition, the best overall team was treated to an exclusive visit to the Google Malaysia office.
Now that they have gone through a comprehensive and industry-relevant experience, what other important traits students need when they truly enter the workforce?
“I would say having a healthy dose of curiosity. If they stay curious, they would be able to stay on top of trends and seek new knowledge that can innovate or reinvent the fields of their choice,” Zeffri said.