JOHOR BAHRU, 28 October – Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has emerged as the first Public Higher Institution offering a Master of Science (MSc) (Information Technology Entrepreneurship) programme or known as SKIT, in support of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) policy developed by the government.
The Faculty of Computing, Postgraduate Coordinator for the MSc IT Entrepreneurship Programme, Dr Syed Nooris Hikmi Syed Abdullah said that this programme is a joint venture programme initiated by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) with Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA).
The aim of the programme is to produce IT entrepreneurs (IT Technopreneurs) at the postgraduate level with relevant ICT business acumen.
“This is an effort to increase the number of highly skilled local IT technopreneurs as ICT solution developers and providers to businesses and industries.
“The first enrollment for the programme started with the first cohort of 21 students in the year 1999. As of July 2014, 120 students from 11 different cohorts have graduated,” he said.
Currently, the programme offers two modes of study, Full Time and Part Time. The expected duration for the full-time programme is 1.5 years (3 regular semesters + 1 short semester), and 2 years for part-timers (4 regular semesters).
“Technopreneurs will have to complete 45 credits of courses before graduation, where 17 credits are dedicated to completing an IT-based product development project. For full-time students, three series of Entrepreneurship Modules (Latihan Pembentukan Usahawan- LPU Series 1, 2 & 3) are offered by MARA to technopreneurs within the duration of their studies, which are normally scheduled during semester breaks. “These modules are part of the requirement for graduation as required by MARA.”

Part-time students have to attend several compulsory workshops organized by the UTM Technopreneur Center.
Besides normal class lectures, this programme also adopts a Teaching Factory concept where Technopreneurs have to undergo extensive practical exposure to enhance their business as well as their entrepreneurial skills.
“Industrial involvement is eminent to the success of this programme, thus, technopreneurs will be connected to industrial or business mentors through the Mentoring & Coaching concept introduced.
In this session, they will be exposed to various external entrepreneurial programmes such as seminars, short courses, business discourse, workshops, business forums & networking, business competitions and business visits,” he said.