Equipping graduates with future IT skills
THE digital disruption is changing industries everywhere with users becoming dependent on machine intelligence to perform their dayto-day tasks.
With Industry 4.0 (IR4.0), businesses globally are also facing major shifts in terms of people, processes and policies.
Businesses are not the only ones affected by this big transformation. The education sector too has a major role to play in addressing any gaps that are brought about by the IR4.0 wave.
Knowing the importance of preparing future graduates to be agile and innovative, SEGi Group of Colleges (SGC) has always been prepared to upgrade its curriculum to reflect the latest industry needs.
With IR4.0 transforming industries, especially IT and computing, SGC continues to find practical solutions that will enhance graduates’ employability as well as produce talents with relevant knowledge and skills to sustain the industry.
Industry and academic partnerships are examples of such solutions.
By teaming up with the right corporate and academic partners, SGC is able to keep their programmes current and relevant to industry needs and at the same time, concentrate on raising the competitiveness and marketability of their graduates.
For instance, SEGi College Kuala Lumpur (SCKL) recently collaborated with SAS Institute Inc, one of the world’s leading data analytics software providers, to incorporate SAS technologies and curriculum into their newly introduced Diploma in Computer Science.
The programme will expose students to relevant analytic skills such as data collection, storing, analysing, managing, predicting and shaping to help organisations make informed business decisions.
“This is SAS’ first-of-its-kind collaboration with a college in Malaysia and it integrates the theory and practical aspects of Industry 4.0 into the tertiary education system. It also establishes a platform to train future human capital,” said Sri Jaiandran Munusamy, SCKL principal.
According to Sri Jaiandran, this new study programme will better equip students for Industry 4.0 through core subjects such as Big Data Technology and Management, Data Visualisation, Data Science Methodology, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Introduction to Machine Learning.
The Robert Half Technology’s 2020 Salary Guide shows that big data engineer, information systems security manager, data architect, data security analyst, data scientist, wireless network or cloud engineer, web developer and systems engineer are among the highest paying IT jobs currently.
“We are excited at the prospect of grooming our first batch of qualified data engineers and scientists which have been identified as jobs of the future.
“Having well-recognised qualifications and skills certification will certainly place SGC graduates on the path of progress. In the process, we are helping to realise the National Policy on Industry 4.0’s (Industry4WRD) vision,” said Sri Jaiandran.
Industry4WRD outlines several national strategies, one of which is “Upskilling Existing Talent and Producing Future Talent”, to increase national productivity and the number of knowledge and high-value workers; mitigate potential industrial impacts, and create a sustainable talent pool with relevant and practical Industry 4.0 skills, particularly in data science.
Through this collaboration, SAS will issue a Joint Certificate in Introduction to Data Science and a digital badge to students providing them with the certification needed to recognise their capabilities in analytic skills.
“Organisations today will find this to be useful because data analytics can derive insights that will help them make important business decisions,” said Sri Jaiandran.
Apart from industry collaboration, SGC has also established a partnership with the prestigious UK-based University of Greenwich (UoG) offering programmes in computing and business computing.
“SEGi College Kuala Lumpur (SCKL) is the only private Malaysian partner institution that has been licensed to teach their syllabus with UoG observing the standard of delivery and awarding the final certification without the need for students to attend the UK campus,” said Sri Jaiandran, adding that an international qualification helps graduates to be globally competitive.
SGC offers Foundation, Certificate and Diploma in Information Technology, Diploma in Computer Studies and Diploma in Computer Science in collaboration with SAS Institute Inc (with specialisation in data science), Bachelor of Science Degrees in Computing and Business Computing in collaboration with UoG.
Become a highly sought-after IT and technology professional today with SGC.
■ Log on to www.segi.edu.my or call 03-2070 2078 (SEGi College Kuala Lumpur), 03-8600 1777 (SEGi College Subang Jaya), 04-263 3888 (SEGi College Penang), or 082-252 566 (SEGi College Sarawak) for more information. SGC campuses are currently holding an Open Week until Oct 20, from 9am to 6pm.