The Borneo Post (Sabah)

Embracing the digital frontier

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EMBRACING the digital frontier and providing its students with a personalis­ed and borderless education experience are key features of AeU’s strategic plan for 2019.

The strategic plan builds on AeU’s tradition and reputation for being flexible, accessible and friendly. AeU is justly proud of its inclusive and student-focused culture and its reputation for using innovative digital solutions to provide an engaging, premium learning experience. AeU is committed to lifelong learning, providing students with choices about how, when and where learning occurs.

AeU’s president/CEO, Professor Dato’ Dr Ansary Ahmed, said the new plan responded to the rapidly changing landscape of tertiary education and harnessed the power and opportunit­ies of the new digital economy.

Focusing on the student experience is part of the vision, the University creates effective and personalis­ed digital experience­s.

“The vision of the student journey program is to bring students to the centre of our thinking – in every area and on every level – so that students are enabled to be successful and feel supported throughout their time at AeU.” AeU invests in technologi­cal innovation­s that enhance the student experience.

Dr Ansary explained that technology investment­s are informed by the student culture, which he describes as ‘the age of impatience’ – students want digital technologi­es that are always on, always easy to use, and always fast.

“AeU has embraced digital as a philosophy, understand­ing the challenges and opportunit­ies presented by the new digital landscape. The rationale is two-fold, with a defensive a reposition­ing strategy.

If we want to mitigate the risk of disruption, we must pioneer innovation in the digital dimension, with an absolute focus on the student experience.

New generation­s will certainly respond to the organisati­ons responding to the big trends.”

“On my to-do list are a range of digital initiative­s – in particular applying Internet of Things (IoT) technology to deliver a higher standard of education for the University through the collection and analysis of very large data sets.

We also have ambitious plans in augmented reality, virtual reality and several other bleeding edge dimensions.”

Virtual reality and augmented reality technologi­es are expected to play an important role for the University moving forward, Dr Ansary said, with plans afoot to bring the technologi­es into the teaching and learning.

As a demonstrat­ion of the new strategic plan, AeUconduct­ed a virtual launch event for its Online MBAprogram­me.

“We are not the first Online MBA programme offered in Asia, by any means. But I can tell you this: We are one of the best Online MBA in Asia. And that’s because when we launched the programme.

We made an absolute commitment to the students that we would take the same quality that we had in our fulltime MBA programme and roll it out in this technology-enabled world of online MBA.” To set a new standard in Online MBA programme, we had to do things differentl­y. We promised to offer a programme that delivered the same quality education as our on-campus MBA programme with the flexibilit­y that a virtual format allows.

We wanted to open the doors of possibilit­y to students no matter where they were located and give them the same transforma­tive opportunit­y that our students receive while pursuing their oncampus MBA.

We take advantage of the connectivi­ty and flexibilit­y of technology-enabled education to reimagine what an MBA programme can be. We deliver real engagement and real discussion­s using interactiv­e tools.”

Through AeU Online MBA working profession­als can earn a truly elite and accredited MBA no matter where they live. Students from any industry can have the flexibilit­y to achieve success personally, profession­ally and academical­ly, without having to relocate themselves or their families.

“Our future has arrived. In delivering learning opportunit­ies that are highly personalis­ed and accessible, we want to ensure that our graduates are equipped for the jobs and skills of the future.

New generation­s will certainly respond to the organizati­ons responding to the big trends, “Dr Ansary said.

He concluded with saying that the strategic plan ensures that engagement and innovation ‘anywhere’ and ‘everywhere we are’ are grounded in all aspects of AeU life – our teaching, our research and our enterprise. This enables our students and staff to thrive and to excel.

To know more about our Online MBA programme please call or WhatsApp +60149629 903 ordirect line: +6035022341­7oremail onlineMBA@ aeu.edu.my. For details, visit online MBA microsite at www. aeu.edu.my/onlineMBA.

 ??  ?? PROFESSOR DATO’ DR ANSARY AHMED
PROFESSOR DATO’ DR ANSARY AHMED

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