Month: January 2021

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has recently upgraded the Huawei ICT Academy at GIK Institute due to its excellent performance.

The upgradation will increase the number of training slots for students and will also expand the certification pathways. Associate and professional level training and certifications are now available in data communication. Additionally, associate-level training and certifications are available in storage technologies.

The upgraded and new equipment to facilitate the new certification pathways have been installed at the Huawei ICT Academy of GIK, and registrations are now open to graduate and undergraduate students.

The new and upgraded training will offer the students a greater opportunity to learn the latest industry trends and technologies and become Huawei Certified in support of their subsequent careers in the ICT industry. It is worth noting that the GIK’s Academy was ranked 4th by Huawei last year among more than 600 Huawei ICT Academies worldwide.

Solar power is a promising and popular field of research as one of the types of renewable energy sources. The existing high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells have already approached their theoretical limit in terms of efficiency, so today’s world scientific community focuses efforts on creating and implementing more efficient and cost-effective approaches to their production.

One of the directions of photovoltaics is the creation of lattice-mismatched A₃B₅ solar cells on a silicon substrate. However, this approach has a significant disadvantage – a high dislocation density in the devices due to the mismatch of lattice constants leads to poor quality of A₃B₅ compounds layers and their substantial degradation, which limits their use for photovoltaic conversion of solar energy.

Alexander Gudovskikh, Professor of the Department of Photonics of St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”, suggested a solution to this problem. His team published the results of the research in the journal Physica Status Solidi (a) – applications and materials science.

The approach proposed by the ETU “LETI” researcher uses silicon substrates formed by combining atomic-layer deposition technology at the initial stage of growth using the metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). Its key difference from previous approaches is the growth of the nucleation layer carried out by the plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE‐ALD) at relatively low temperatures with subsequent epitaxial growth of the upper junction based on A₃B₅ quantum-sized structures using MOVPE.

“The existing methods of photocell formation use high-temperature (900-1000 °C) annealing of the silicon substrate at the initial stage of growth for oxide removal and surface reconstruction, which further leads to lifetime degradation in the substrate,” Alexander Gudovskikh, Professor of the Department of Photonics of ETU “LETI,” says.

The new technology allows reducing the temperature of epitaxial growth of GaP on Si substrates to 600-750 °C, as well as the formation of GaP/Si structures with GaP nucleation layer by PE‐ALD at a temperature of 380 °C.

Studies of structural and electronic properties and temperature stability of the new material proved that GaP/Si structures obtained by PE‐ALD without additional hydrogen plasma exhibit better photoelectric properties compared with that fabricated with high H2 plasma power that induces the formation of defects in the silicon subsurface layer.

“Annealing at temperatures of 550–600 °C leads to a decrease in the defect concentration created by the hydrogen plasma. Thus, after annealing, the GaP/Si interfaces fabricated by both types of PE‐ALD processes exhibit similar quality. Thermal treatment of the GaP/Si structures at temperatures of 725–750 °C leads to the diffusion of phosphorus from GaP into Si and to the formation of an isotype n‐GaP/n–p‐Si heterojunction with improved photoelectric properties,” Alexander Gudovskikh comments.

The new GaP epitaxial growth technology on Si substrates will increase the efficiency of double junction solar cells to record-breaking values: over 30% for AM0 non-concentrated radiation and over 35% for AM1.5D concentrated radiation. The high efficiency and optimal cost of the new technology offer wide application prospects: from solar energy elements installed on the Earth’s surface to a spacecraft power supply.

The work was carried out jointly with colleagues from the Academic University or Alferov University, Ioffe Institute, and the Paris-Sud University (France) and funded by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation.

In 2018, the Department of Photonics launched a master’s program on Renewable Solar Energy, where students can master modern solar energy technology and learn the main principles of photovoltaics. It gives insight into underlying physical principles and materials science aspects of photovoltaics, solar module development technology, the equipment, design, and maintenance of solar power plants.

Artyom Artyomov has come a long way from once a student of St. Petersburg Mining University to the Head of the Survey Department at Saint Petersburg Metropolitan. Artyom shared his story of why he chose to study mining engineering.

Realizing the need for structural assessments of existing buildings and facilities, an operator of the Saint Petersburg Metro established the department in 2003. Many of its current employees are graduates of Mining University. And as for Artyom, he descended from a family of mining engineers. Both his parents and grandmother were academicians who worked at the university.

“My father was an Associate Professor at the Department of Blasting Work. Nowadays Mining University is cooperating with Orica, an Australian-based provider of commercial explosives, that helped open a research lab here. But even 20 years ago, the university had a lot to offer to its students. One day my father brought me along to his workplace. He held a seminar on the processes of rock destruction and explosion caused by blasting chambers. I have to say I was deeply impressed with what I saw and heard that day. All professions that interested me before – they no longer mattered. My only interest from that moment on was to become a powderman. And thas it when I decided to study mining,” admits the graduate.

Artyom wanted to be a mining engineer. But upon completing his education, he changed his plans due to receiving a job offer from Metrostroy, an organization responsible for building metro stations and tunnels in St. Petersburg. 

“Mining engineers – they build mines, and we – mine surveyors – build tunnels and engineering constructions. There are some similarities, and there are differences, too. Our metro is one of the deepest in the world. So it was a fantastic experience of great value that I made use of then, and that lets me build a rewarding career now,” shares Artyom.

After changing Metrostroy for Saint Petersburg Metropolitan, the Mining University’s graduate joined the Survey Department. He started his career as a first category engineer, and in five years he advanced to the head of the department. 

“I am the leader of the team of 10 survey engineers. What we do is check the technical condition of sub-surface and surface facilities of the metro system. We determine how badly they are affected by external impacts. And based on it, advise on how safe it is to operate them onwards. To put it differently, we provide information on whether repair works are essential and what kinds of work need to be done. We also inform if the start date can’t be postponed or, if it can, for how long it can be suspended,” notes Artyom.

According to him, from 10 to 40% of engineers working at the organization are the Mining University’s graduates, with an actual figure varying from department to department. Many are either surveyors or geodesists. Some studied ‘Mine and Underground Construction’, some chose such program as ‘Construction of Sub-Surface Facilities’. Among Artyom’s colleagues are former students who underwent their internships at the Metro and then decided they wanted to work there. Graduates of such faculties as ‘Applied Geology’ or ‘Mining Engineering’ are also employed at the state municipal company.

Inspired as a child by his father’s presentation, Artyom completed the ‘Blasting Work’ program. Yet the high quality of education he received allows him to work effortlessly for the company managing the city’s metro system. 

Cooperation between Saint Petersburg Metropolitan and Mining University extends beyond the area of education.

“The university is an important partner for us. We may not be a scientific organization, but we stay in touch with scientific communities. Furthermore, sometimes we need outside help – for instance, cannot perform surveys on our own, or need an additional expert opinion. When we face these issues we often reach out to Mining University,” says Artyom.

The Russian fellow, a former student of Saint Petersburg Mining University, is happy to be where he is now and work for the Metro. As he proudly notes, “Saint Petersburg Metropolitan is one of the world’s safest and easily accessible rapid transit systems, equipped with video surveillance, facial recognition and accident prevention systems.”  

Universiti Teknologi MARA‘s Associate Professor Dr Roslina Ab Wahid’s article titled “A Draft Framework for Quality Management System Auditor Education: Findings from the Initial Stage of a Delphi Study” has been published in The TQM Journal – a Q1 Scopus Journal, on 15 December 2020 by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Dr Roslina, an Associate Professor of Quality System and Operational Excellence at the Arshad Ayub Graduate Business School, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia, has written the article with Prof. Nigel Peter Grigg from the Department of Operations and Engineering Innovation, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.

The article is part of the output from an international research collaboration project between Universiti Teknologi MARA (Malaysia), Massey University (New Zealand) and Monash University (Australia). Dr Roslina was appointed as the Project Leader of this Delphi study on Auditor Education during her industrial placement at Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) last year.

The article highlights the purpose of the research as changes in structure and conceptual underpinnings of ISO 9001 would necessitate the need for the quality management system (QMS) to acquire a wide knowledge base and skill set to effectively evaluate contemporary QMS and add value to the process. Hence, this study presents an open curriculum framework of the knowledge, skills and attributes for quality auditor education.

In addition, the article describes the first two phases of a three-phase study examining the educational requirements for external quality auditors (EQAs). Phase 1 involves a review of relevant international literature on auditor competence and education; Phase 2 involves the collection of qualitative data from a panel of experts, combined with the initial round of a Delphi study. Thematic analysis is used to analyze the findings from the questionnaire.

The findings of this study suggest there is a need to improve EQAs education, as most experts reported the quality of audit to be varying, inconsistent, poor and diminishing in value. This article highlights the need for a broader EQA education based on the gap identified in its performance. In conclusion, the resulting framework can be adopted by accreditation and certification bodies to evaluate and improve their auditors’ audit performance.

The current issue and full-text archive of this journal are available on Emerald Insight at https://www.emerald.com/insight/1754-2731.htm.

The College Representative Committee (JPK) of Melati Residential College from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam took an initiative to organize a program called “Learning through Pandemic: Global Students’ View” which was held in two sessions on 12 December 2020 and on 19 December 2020 via Youtube platform of Melati TV Official.

This program is organized by the Exco for International and Foreign Affairs led by Nor Adilla binti Muhamad Yunos with guidance from the exco`s advisor, Mr. Mustakim bin Hashim. This program brings a list of panel university student leaders from abroad to provide insights into the learning system run at their respective countries especially their own universities.

The “Learning through Pandemic: Global Students’ View” program is an online program that involves students’ leaders from overseas universities to share their opinions and views towards online distance learning.

There were two sessions held, the first program was “Learning through Pandemic: Global Students’ View” which involved panels from Indonesia, Japan, Brunei and Australia. The total number of viewers for this session were 5044. This is followed by the second session “Learning through Pandemic: Global Students’ View 2.0” involving panels from Egypt, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Malaysia to explore more about online distance learning globally. There were 3022 viewers for this session.

According to the head of the program, Nor Adilla, “Apart from knowing the global learning process implemented during the pandemic that currently affects most parts of the world, we can also strengthen relations with students and universities from abroad even though our country border has been and is still being closed. Furthermore, now is not the right time for us to go abroad to establish global relations. However, this kind of online program implemented to some extent can help us in enhancing cooperation with foreign parties. ”

Throughout this program, university students can take it as an eye-opener for them on the learning methods implemented in foreign universities and it can give ideas and help students in managing online learning methods more effectively. It is because this program can offer students various ways of learning in the new norms by sharing views from students globally.

The Singapore Management University (SMU) announced that its School of Information Systems (SIS) has been renamed School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS) to project the expanded aspirations and role of the School beyond Information Systems to include computing which encompasses Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Software Engineering.

The new name, which came into effect on 1 January 2021, was unveiled today at a ceremony attended by SMU’s Board of Trustees, senior management, SCIS Board of Advisors, faculty, staff, students as well as industry partners.

Explaining the rationale for the School’s renaming, Professor Pang Hwee Hwa, Dean of School of Computing and Information Systems, said “The change of the School’s name is timely and necessary. Over the last few years, in response to changes in technologies, nature of jobs, and market demands, we have been refreshing and augmenting our undergraduate and postgraduate education programs to go beyond Information Systems, particularly in the science of computing, hard-core programming, and technology development.”

“To contribute to SMU Vision 2025’s strategic priority of Digital Transformation, the School has identified 9 technology areas in which to go more deeply, the vast majority of which are in the Computer Science field. In addition, two-thirds of our faculty are computer scientists, and the School has developed a research profile with a strong emphasis on Computer Science. SMU is also moving to formalize Computer Science as a faculty discipline under the School, in addition to the existing Information Systems discipline,” Professor Pang Hwee Hwa added.

“Hence, the new name reflects our inherent strengths as well as our direction of growth. It will place the School on an even stronger footing to attract prospective students, faculty and research funding.”

The renaming of the School is in line with SMU Vision 2025’s three Strategic Priorities – Digital Transformation, Sustainable Living, and Growth in Asia – which serve as cross-disciplinary focal areas that cut across the schools at SMU and focus the University’s efforts on areas of particular economic and social relevance to Singapore and the region.

Digital Transformation involves spearheading cutting-edge ideas to digitally transform the private and public sectors and develop robust insights into the impact of digitalization on customer and citizen experience. SCIS will contribute to this strategic priority through three School strategies.

Focus on intelligent collaborative systems

The main enablers of digital transformation are commonly identified as solutions involving technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, automation. For many jobs and tasks, the future lies in humans and machines working in partnership. Hence, intelligent collaborative systems will be essential. Such systems require three clusters of capabilities, namely, intelligence, collaboration and systems.

Intelligence will derive from Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, which cover data management and analytics, planning and optimization, as well as machine learning and intelligence.

The second cluster centers on human-machine collaboration, which entails sensing and multimedia processing, as well as human-machine interaction designs.

Expertise in building computing systems is the third cluster. It includes software engineering to create correct and scalable systems, cybersecurity to safeguard privacy and security, and managing information systems.

Going forward, SCIS will focus its faculty hiring to enhance research capabilities in the high-growth fields of Computer Science like Data Management & Analytics, Intelligent Systems & Optimization, Machine Learning & Intelligence, Pervasive Sensing & Systems, Multimedia, Human-Computer Interaction, Software Engineering, and Cybersecurity.

Cutting-edge research that emphasizes academic scholarship alongside practice scholarship

Digital transformation happens only when computing technology is put into practical application; this involves practice scholarship. The second School strategy is to cultivate the twin pillar of academic scholarship in computing technology, and practice scholarship in solution development. The application domains that SCIS is strong at include Urban Systems & Operations (such as maritime traffic management and crowd management), Active Citizenry & Communities (such as understanding job and skills requirements), and Safety & Security (such as police patrol and ambulance placement).

A transformative education in computing technology and solution development

Through its comprehensive portfolio of degree programs, SCIS aims to produce graduates who are not only trained in computing technology but also practical solution development. In recent years, the School has evolved its education programs by launching interdisciplinary programs that combine computing with disciplines in other SMU schools,  creating new programmes that train students in deep technical skills, modernizing the Digital Transformation major in BSc (Information Systems) degree to equip students with the business and technology skills to create value for businesses and society by applying emerging technologies to develop end-to-end IT solutions, and introducing the Ph.D. in Computer Science program alongside the Ph.D. in Information Systems program, and the Doctor of Engineering program to cultivate practice scholarship.

SCIS, along with the other SMU schools, will continue to create more pathways for its students to supplement depth in computing with breadth in business and social science disciplines, such as the second major in Digital Business that will commence in August 2021. There are also plans for students from other schools at SMU to acquire computing skills that are essential for their professions.