Year: 2021

Indonesia’s government Kampus Merdeka- Merdeka Belajar initiatives urge higher education institutions to be more flexible and adaptive to give more room for improvement for students to create and explore their skills. Most importantly, students should be able to apply concepts from their classes in a real situation in accordance with their respective fields of competency.

Exposing students to real-life professional situation handling clients and working on a project, Global Intercultural Project Experience (GIPE) is a multinational project funded by DAAD which involves exceptional students in four continents, namely Atma Jaya Catholic University (Indonesia), Westphalian University of Applied Science (Germany), Namibia University of Science and Technology (Namibia), and San Pablo Catholic University (Peru).

GIPE is an ambitious project. The idea of a global project leaves students with an option to deal with four different time zones and deal with diverse cultural upbringing through an online platform. They need to jump into a new rhythm, so the team works smoothly.

More into it, GIPE seeks to challenge different concepts and aspects into one common idea to provide a solution for its client. There are, for the least, five plans of aspects to work together: Business Model and Tourism Sustainability, Website and Booking Systems, Educational and AR, Digital Marketing, and Smart Farming and IoT.

On February 18, Rector of Atma Jaya Catholic University, Dr. A. Prasetyantoko, President of Westphalian University of Applied Science, Prof. Dr. Bernd Kriegesmann, and Chief Executive of Tarakanita Foundation dan Pimpinan PUSPANITA Eco-Spirit-Center, Dr. Margaretha Margawati have signed an agreement to remarks the launch of GIPE 2021. After the tremendous success in Namibia, Atma Jaya is honoured to host its second year in collaboration with the Yayasan Puspanita.

Rector of Atma Jaya Catholic University, Dr. A. Prasetyantoko, congratulated the program and welcomed all partners involved. Prasetyantoko appreciates the efforts to bring more attention to the social-cultural aspects and inclusivity issue, which is in line with the current difficult situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“A very relevant topic with the current state, where people everywhere are having difficult situations amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Hopefully, this program may contribute to bringing betterment to our future society.”

The GIPE 2021 will bring the topic on the Construction of a Digital Platform for Ecological Tourism. Along with other students, 8 Atma Jaya students from Business Administration Program, Mechanical Engineering, and Information System will collaborate to handle Puspanita Eco-Spirit-Center located in Ciawi, West Java.

Chief Executive of Tarakanita Foundation dan Pimpinan Puspanita Eco-Spirit-Center, Dr. Margaretha Margawati, said,” Puspanita is glad to join with universities and work with the young generation to manage digital space and use technological advancement to introduce environmental and sustainability issue, which is an important topic for Puspanita.”

With the spread of COVID-19 and the continuous online classes, students are lacking the appropriate books to study or prepare for the exam. Thammasat University’s library, with the motto “You Learn, We Care”, has started offering students with free book delivery service for unlimited number of books or audio visuals.

Whether students study online at home or any other place, they can order books, research publications or dissertations that they’d like to read from the library, and it will be sent to them by Thailand Post.

The available libraries that offer the service with the delivery schedule from Monday through Friday are Pridi Banomyong Library, Puey Ungphakorn Library, Sanya Dharmasakti Library (Faculty of Laws), Nongyao Chaiseri Library (Faculty of Medicines Library), Puey Ungphakorn Library (Faculty of Economics), and Boonchoo Treethong Library.  For Sangvian Indaravijaya Library, the delivery is on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. For Direk Jayanama Library (Faculty of Political Science), the delivery is only on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Faculty of Journalism & Mass Communication Library will offer delivery on Tuesday and Thursday.

To order books, students can log in to koha.library.tu.ac.th, and search for the book, and click delivery for “TULIB DELIVERY” with their address, phone number, send their request, and wait for the book to be delivered. This service is for students, professors, and staff members of Thammasat University only.

Last year, Prof Dr Irwin Ooi Ui Joo, Head of the Centre for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution at UiTM Law, was appointed as a member of the International Scientific Committee for the World of Shipping Portugal 2021 (WOS2021) global conference.

Prof Ooi was the only Malaysian representative on the International Scientific Committee. Its members consisted of luminaries of the shipping industry and notable members of academia. WOS2021 was held online from 26-28 January 2021 because of the pandemic.

When asked what skill set he brought to the table for this committee, Prof Ooi explained, “‘Versatility. I am a logistician with legal training, who loves tech. Shipping is a multidisciplinary area and having an appreciation of how laws, operations and technology come together, as a package, is really useful.”

Prof Ooi recently accepted an invitation to be a part of next year’s International Scientific Committee and added, ‘I am so happy to be able to put one more feather in the cap for UiTMLaw on the global stage. This is a recognition of the university’s burgeoning reputation in academic circles.”

Prof Ooi pointed out, “The full range of Maritime Law related subjects have been offered at postgraduate level for more than a decade at UiTMLaw. Postgraduates are able to choose from Admiralty Law and Practice, Carriage of Goods by Sea, Marine Insurance and Law of the Sea when they sign up for the Masters of Law (LL.M programme).”

Prof Ooi also said,” Research into Maritime, Shipping and Trade Law research is also available on doctoral research programmes at UiTMLaw.”

“Maritime Law is in the DNA of UiTMLaw,” quipped Prof Ooi.

“Undergraduates at UiTMLaw have the option of taking Transport Law at undergraduate level, where all modes of transport, as well as multimodal transport law forms part of the syllabus,”, he concluded.

Mr. Supakorn Chanthakijwattana, a fifth-year student from the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University has won the architectural design competition, “Asia Young Designer Awards 2020”, for the project, “Illegal Settlement in Chiang Mai“, a residential design in the Mae Kha Canal community, Chiang Mai Province. Mr. Supakorn will represent Thailand and join the winners from several other Asian countries at the Asia Young Designer Summit 2020.

Mr. Supakorn Chanthakijwattana, or Tor, shared that the competition was organized by Nippon Paint Decorative Coatings (Thailand) Co. Ltd., under the concept “Forward: Human-Centered Design 2020.

The objective was to encourage young designers to create architectural creations and interior designs which will be an improvement for people, the community, and the environment.

For the preliminary round, over 1,300 university students submitted their project. 30 projects were selected by the competition committee in the second round, then five projects from each category were selected for the final round.

“Illegal Settlement in Chiang Mai is a residential concept that was designed and based on a prototype community, Mae Kha Canal, Chiang Mai Province, which is an illegal settlement that has long been neglected. The project serves as a way-out for problems between stakeholders in the public and private sectors, especially people in the community.

Moreover, it demonstrates the feasibility of solving problems with cooperation and understanding”, described Mr. Supakorn when asked about his project concept. The uniqueness of his work was to meet the community’s needs while giving a presentation that was clear and easy to grasp.

“Participating in any competition is an opportunity for me to put forth creations and ideas the way I think they should be. Not only does the competition allow us to think outside the box, but it also opens us to other people’s work.  After graduation, I wish to apply what I’ve learned to work as an architect, “ he said.

London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) in Singapore has announced that it will offer AWS Cloud learning resources in its Diploma in Data Analytics programme to prepare students for in-demand cloud roles.

With this announcement, LSBF aims to address the growing requirement for cloud skills in Singapore by providing students with competency-based credentials in cloud architecture, data analytics, cybersecurity, machine learning and software development.

As part of the Diploma in Data Analytics programme, students will be enrolled automatically in AWS Educate which will provide LSBF students and educators with online learning resources to help them develop in-demand skills in cloud technology. Students also receive the opportunity to use AWS services, including machine learning and analytics, and apply them in the context of real-life cases. By incorporating AWS resources into the degree program, LSBF is working to prepare graduates for in-demand careers in cloud computing.

In addition to the AWS Cloud learning resources, the diploma programme includes other essential core modules, such as statistical analytics, data visualisation, data analytics, machine learning, app development, Internet of Things and project management.

Commenting on the announcement, Rathakrishnan Govind, Global CEO of LSBF said, “LSBF in Singapore is excited to bring AWS into the classroom – ensuring that students are equipped with the right skills and knowledge to enter key technology fields which are in high demand today. With AWS Cloud resources, we can provide our students with access to the world’s leading computing platform and the practical skills to apply them in real-time.”

“Right now, we are witnessing an increasing emphasis on smart nation transformation, Big Data and initiatives geared towards adapting our society and lifestyle towards embracing the fourth industrial revolution.”

“Skillsets in cloud computing and data analytics address this growing demand and enables our graduates to ride the waves in this sea of change,” added Rathakrishnan Govind.

A test facility simulating the rock positions has been developed in Samara Polytech. It allows carrying out many experiments with the core material under conditions close to the rock positions at different depths.

The original facility developed at Samara Polytech will help to explore the earth’s interior. Under laboratory conditions the mechanism recreates the physical parameters (for example, pressure and temperature) of a deposit located at different depths. With its help, it is possible to accurately determine the mechanical properties of a rock such as hardness, elasticity, plasticity, etc. Its technical characteristics are described in detail in an article published in the journal “Construction of Oil and Gas Wells On Land and Sea” (DOI: 10.33285/0130-3872-2021-1(337)-5-9).

“The development of the facility that we call the Monster machine was inspired by the invention of the Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the founder of oil and gas geomechanics in the USSR, Sergey Alexeevich Khristianovich”, says Alexey Podyachev, the project manager, an associate professor of the Oil and Gas Well Drilling Department, Candidate of Technical Sciences.

“Unfortunately, we did not see the “live” installation of the legendary scientist, we were content only with photographs on the Internet. But we knew the main principles of its work that formed the basis of our project.”

Alexey Podyachev, together with the senior lecturer of the department Pavel Bukin, calculated the rigidity of the machine body, which was modeled and manufactured by engineers of a plant in St. Petersburg. When the body was delivered to Samara, the Polytech workers began to manufacture the inner part of the mechanism, where the rock sample directly interacts with the hydraulic cylinder rods (metal rods that transmit the force from the piston).

“The uniqueness of the machine is that the investigated core fragment is loaded independently from three sides. To do this, in the inner block, we designed a rather complex kinematics of a decreasing cube with 100% overlap of the edges”, explains Alexey.

“As a rule, a cylinder with a diameter of 30 and a height of 30 (or 60) millimeters is considered the reference shape of the core being examined. However, it is impossible to provide a full-fledged orthogonal load along three axes on such a sample. Therefore, we decided to replace the cylinder with a cube. We cut a cube-shaped sample from a full-size cylindrical core and place it on a special pedestal inside the machine, where pressure plates press it from three sides. All the faces of the sample are completely covered, that is, there are no free areas. This means that it is loaded evenly over the entire face plane and has no “unloading” sections”.

So, one can simulate, for example, the pressure inside the well. For this, the sample is uniformly loaded, and then one of the sides is being gradually released. Thus, engineers calculate at what pressure, at what loads, plastic deformations of the rock appear, and its subsequent destruction occurs.

Thanks to the designed “monster”, it is possible to carry out unique research that allows to find out, in particular, the influence of the drilling fluid on the mechanical properties of the rock. For this, the sample is saturated with liquid and installed in the machine. An elastic wave is passed through the sample at a predetermined interval. All occurring deformations are monitored using special pressure and deformation sensors.

Since the rigidity of the casing of the Polytech installation allows creating large loads without reducing the accuracy of the results, a number of tests not related to drilling can be carried out on it, for example, the study of the strength of cement, metal and other materials.

Sunway University and Persatuan Chopin Malaysia jointly organized the Virtual International Music Competition Malaysia. The competition showcased the talents from Malaysia as well as from other countries in the world. Persatuan Chopin Malaysia started the collaboration with Sunway University in 2018, jointly organizing the 7th ASEAN International Chopin Piano Competition.

The recently held Virtual International Music Competition Malaysia involved an International Jury consisting of prominent Maestros and Professors from across 16 countries and a total of 600 participants from 44 countries.

The competition provided the opportunity to see, hear and acknowledge many young talented musicians from various parts of the world performing with a variety of instruments. The virtual competition has been the biggest ever event held for the Classical Music Competition in Malaysia and around the world.

Professor Snezana Panovska, the Piano Professor and Music Director and Founder of Persatuan Chopin Malaysia and the Director of Sunway Conservatoire of Music said, “The decision to organize the Virtual International Music Competition Malaysia 2020 has been the best event hosted by us. We achieved great success, with an overwhelming response all over the world. For the first time, we received such an overwhelming number of entries. The online platform has indeed been the paradigm shift for us.”

“Everything changed when the COVID-19 pandemic affected the way we live and work. Since March 2020, Malaysia was put under several control orders by the government. “The show must go on” kept them moving forward to hold the auspicious event despite the many unprecedented challenges,” Professor Snezana added.

“I am very happy that amongst many of the top prize winners are Malaysian young talents. They are “the cream of the crop” who have been under the tutelage of our excellent music teachers of the Sunway Conservatoire of Music at Sunway University.”

“The acknowledgement of the young talents and commendation to their teachers by the International Maestros is very encouraging. These young talents do us proud. Our teachers of the Sunway Conservatoire of Music were also the Chairpersons of the jury of the respective disciplines who presided over the adjudication process,” said Professor Snezana.

The Virtual International Music Competition Malaysia sets the tone of the mission ahead that is to promote Sunway University and Persatuan Chopin Malaysia as a competitive destination for music and culture-related activities and for Sunway University to be a world-renowned Institution for music education.

Sunway Conservatoire of Music under the School of Arts is the first music education institution in Malaysia. “Our newly established Conservatoire will give great recognition worldwide for our University as a great destination for this education from an early age up to University level. We strongly believe in our specialist teachers for their commitment and professionalism in realizing a higher level of professional training,” said Professor Snezana.