JOHOR BAHRU, 24 September 2014 – Two Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) teams won the first and third place for the Iskandar Malaysia Case Challenge organised by Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) and Frost & Sullivan Pte Ltd, Singapore.
The team who won the first place was represented by second-year students from the Faculty of Management namely Nurul Fatin Mohd Radzi, Suhaili Salleh, Nurul Shahira Baharudin, Norfatihah Ramle and Nurul Munirah Mat Zehan.
The first place winner beat the team from the University of Southampton Nusajaya campus who came at second place while the final year Faculty of Civil Engineering team consisting of Jacquelyn Liang, Mohd Shafiz Azlysham Ariffin, Mohammad Atiff Ghazali, Hau Tam Ping and Lavine Wong managed to secure the third place.
Both teams were being coached and trained by Dr. Umar Haiyat Abdul Kohar from the Faculty of Management and Dr. Mohd Hilmi Hamzah from the Language Academy.
There were four teams participating of which three teams were from UTM and one from Southampton University which has been held in conjunction with the Third Iskandar Learning Festival (ILF) 2014.
IRDA Competition Manager, Isma Ezwan Safri said
all the participants were given computer accessories valued at RM100.00 to appreciate the idea contribution regardless of the winning level they have achieved.
“This was in accordance with our concept in organizing this competition. We intend to inspire the students to develop creative, critical and innovative thinking in support of enabling future-ready talents,” he said.
All prizes were presented by Senior Vice President of Frost & Sullivan Pte Ltd Singapore, Shivagi Das at Danga City Mall, Johor Bahru.
This competition required participants to provide solutions to rural developments issues faced by IRDA.
“The teams were allocated with a certain number of hours to work on their solutions under the guidance of Frost & Sullivan consultants who acted like ‘mentors’ that provide the insights and advice to participants on how to do presentation,” he said.At the end of the stipulated preparation time, the teams shall present their solution to the judging panel for marking purposes.“The judgment was strictly based on such aspects as innovative solution, applicability to the case problem, efficiency of implementation and clarity of presentation,” he said.