Program Pemerkasaan Kompetensi Akademik Siswazah (The Graduate Academic Competence Empowerment Program) known as PKAS officially established on April 7th, 2016. It was initiated by a group of researchers led by Dr. Kalaivani Chellappan with several other lecturers along with supporting staffs and research assistants of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment UKM. PKAS initial objectives are to focus in organizing workshops and programs related to research and data analysis, known as the Data Science.
Postgraduate students who don't have the opportunity to receive sponsorship through research funds to participate in workshops conducted at the university level are now given the opportunity to join them for a reasonable fee. As the workshops have received an overwhelming response, PKAS has begun to actively organizing workshops which are open to undergraduate students after 6 months of operation. During that period, it was observed that to produce a quality research, undergraduate students need to be trained early enough to prepare them for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary-based research in the next level.
In October 2016, PKAS opens the opportunity for undergraduate students who are keen to participate in the workshops on empowering their academic competencies.
On January 1, 2017, PKAS changed its name into Program Pemerkasaan Kompetensi Akademik Siswa (Student Academic Competence Empowerment Program) which is more holistic and open to all level of students, while maintaining the acronym. Workshops conducted with undergraduate students are focused on Internet-of-Things (IoT) such as circuit design and embedded systems, PCB fabrication, 3D design and printing and mobile application development, as well as organizing students’ employability workshop.
In November 2017, PKAS extended its training to international level with the IoT Workshop with students and lecturers from Future University, Sudan through strategic collaboration at university level. PKAS had also organized an IoT-Semester Break Attachment Program (IoT-SBAP) which guided a group of undergraduates to win the 2017 Superb Higher Education League in the same year.
In October 2017 PKAS began its collaboration with Faculty of Education UKM in strengthening STEM at the school level in specialized areas of STEMA-IoT. PKAS's involvement in the Mentor-Mentee program of UKM-JPNS aims to instill students' interest of STEM in school, with the additional elements of art that will ensure the empowerment of students particularly in the field of IoT, which are expected to lead the world of 21st century. The program was developed with a strong interdisciplinary element in the STEM field.
PKAS is confident that quality students at the university level will emerge from those who have a strong STEM interest and knowledge at the school level. At the same time, PKAS also trains students and alumni of UKM to become entrepreneurs and technoprenuers in their respective fields of expertise. PKAS aims to produce high quality human capital in terms of scientific and integrity as well as willingness to serve the country in the future.