Swinburne S’wak launches alumni-created ‘Kuching VR’ app
KUCHING: Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus launched its 360- degree virtual reality (VR) smartphone application called ‘Kuching VR’ at its campus here yesterday.
The app, which was launched by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, provides users with an immersive experience that enables them to see some of Kuching city’s landmarks and tourist attractions in addition to the university’s 16.5-acre city campus.
Swinburne Sarawak deputy vice-chancellor and chief executive officer Prof John Wilson said the launching of the app showcased the university’s expertise in the field of extended reality (XR), an umbrella term encapsulating augmented reality (AR), VR, mixed reality (MR) and everything in between.
“The ‘Kuching VR’ app aims to promote Swinburne Sarawak and places of interest in Kuching at the unviersity’s events such as education fairs, roadshows and Open Days.
“It will be used at these events to allow prospective students in targeted markets outside Kuching to ‘experience’ the campus and the city at their own convenience, anytime and anywhere in the world,” he remarked.
Wilson pointed out that the university’s Marketing and Student Recruitment Department decided to invest in a VR application in June last year to promote the university and Kuching as a city for students.
“Recognising the strong internal talent comprising faculty members and students, a decision was made to fund four final semester students under the supervision of two faculty members to create the application for the university.
“These four talented Swinburne alumni are Chandrika Ong, Nehemiah Raymond, Jenny Wong and Stephen Lee - all Sarawakians, who graduated with a degree in multimedia design in October last year,” he revealed, adding that the four were selected based on their achievements in their final year of study.
The university’s Faculty of Business and Design lecturers Augustus Raymond and John Hii served as mentors during the course of development.
“What they have been able to achieve in this short time goes to show that digital design graduates do in fact have a promising future ahead. The constant evolvement of the new digital economy and growth of new skills worldwide reinforces the fact that the demand for graduates in this field is increasingly high,” said Wilson.
With the state government now on the march to developing a digital economy for the state, he noted that new and exciting IT skillset with huge growth potential such as artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, VR and Internet of Things, were especially pertinent and vital today.
“Students who are keen in these high-growth industries are able to pursue related degrees right here with us at Swinburne Sarawak.
“On our part, Swinburne is committed to fulfilling the human capital needs of Sarawak by offering international quality teaching and learning courses which are aligned with the industry as well as our expertise in research.”