Institutions of higher learning, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and Politeknik Ungku Omar (PUO), are improving their respective teaching methodologies within their engineering school/faculty to be more in line with industry needs.
Both institutions are able to achieve this as they are both part of the Perodua Eco Challenge 2017, which has selected 10 institutions of higher learning from across the country to create original parts or accessories for the car company’s models.
The best idea would then be considered to be commercialised and included in th automaker’s models, either existing or future models.
“What we really like is how Perodua managed to show how important it is to understand the needs of the current market and how to predict or anticipate future trends in the market.”
“We now understand why and how Perodua had managed to steadily increase market share by having detailed understanding of the market.”
“For our faculty, the change in current Perodua Eco Challenge format is really complementary to the academic curriculum as the event itself is teaching a lot of things that currently can’t be taught in just a single subject,” UTP said in a statement.
PUO also have adapted quickly to the programme and said: “The Perodua Eco Challenge is highly beneficial to the faculty and the students the methods shared by Perodua as they teach us the actual needs of the automotive industry and how that need evolve over time.”
PUO said that exposing its students to the Perodua Eco Challenge has also help in their understanding of actual corporate world where multi-disciplines depend on each other for success.
“Communication is the key and the Perodua Eco Challenge has help our faculty and students to understand that concept a little better,” PUO said.
Both institutions have also adapted to the new ideas and methods shared by Perodua into their teaching techniques. Also, for both institutions, the Perodua Eco Challenge also present another opportunity for revenue generation as the programme would open doors for collaboration between institutions of higher learning with automotive vendors and its original equipment manufacturers.
