Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) sealed strategic partnerships with renowned education institutions and key industry players in China, namely Liuzhou Railway Vocational Technical College, Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU), Nantong University, Alibaba Cloud (M) Sdn Bhd, and KTK Dom Railway Sdn Bhd.
The collaboration focuses on emerging technologies and technological advancements in Vehicle and Railway Technology, Renewable Energy, Electrical Vehicle (EV), Telecommunication, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Computing and Internet of Things (IOT).
The exchange of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Liuzhou Railway Vocational Technical College will pave the way for the development of skilful and competent workforce in railway technology, such as signalling and telecommunication, repair and maintenance of rolling stock and operation and control of train movement for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, Rapid Transit System Link (RTS) project and existing operators such as Rapid Rail and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the collaboration between UniKL with Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU) and Nantong University through a Letter of Intent (LOI), will lead to research works in the area of Vehicle Technology especially train systems for Mechanical (Vibration and Comfort), Electrical (Power Collector Efficiency) and Electromagnetism study as well as a mobility programme from 1 week up to 1 semester for lecturers and students.
On the other hand, UniKL’s partnership with Alibaba Cloud is to establish Alibaba Cloud Academy in UniKL as the certification center in AI, Cloud Computing and IOT.
This will benefit all the education institutions under Majlis Amanah Rakyat (IPMA) and TVET institutes under the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKDW) via the Train the Trainer programme, starting with training for the lecturers.
Alibaba, too, provides a one-year free Alibaba Cloud account for staff and students. Furthermore, UniKL and Alibaba will start exploring research in AI, Cloud Computing, and IOT, particularly in renewable energy.
This is in line with the current research at UniKL British Institute (UniKL BMI), where a full Zero Net Energy Building has already been established.
While the LOI with KTK Dom Railway leads to the development and implementation of a teaching factory for the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) rail system.
This will benefit UniKL in terms of UniKL lecturers and students’ training, which includes internship placement, soft skills training, and on-the-job training.
The collaboration documents exchange ceremony was witnessed by Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of KKDW, during his official visit to Beijing.
Also present were Datuk Wira Dr. Asyraf Wajdi Dato’ Dusuki, Chairman of MARA and Dato’ Sri Sh Mohmed Puzi Sh Sh Ali, Chairman of UniKL.
For the exchange of the collaboration documents, UniKL was represented by its President/Chief Executive Officer, Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Azman Senin while its partners were represented by the President of Liuzhou Railway Vocational Technical College, Mr. Qin Haibo, the President of SWJTU Mr. Yang Dan, the President of Nantong University, Mr. Yang Yumin, the Country General Manager Malaysia of Alibaba Cloud, Mr. Kun Huang and the Chairman of KTK Dom, Mr. Timothy John.
Earlier, UniKL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd that includes sharing of expertise, knowledge in data analytics and results in relation to the development of smart cities and disaster monitoring technology.
This will lead to AI and IOT-based solutions to issues in related areas. The partnership will also enable the establishment of a Huawei Intelligent Operation Centre (Huawei IOC) at UniKL BMI, equipped with advanced equipment and computational capabilities to provide a suitable environment for research and development, prototyping, and testing product solutions.
