By Asmahanim Amir
Pictures by Shahiddan Saidi and Ikhwan Hashim

KUALA LUMPUR, 27 Nov 2017 – Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) performed well at the Rethinking and Redesigning Higher Education Awards (APRS) 2017, held in Istana Hotel, recently.

UKM emerged as either winner, first runner up or third place in four out of the six categories contested.

In particular, UKM won second place for the Immersive Online Experience Award, second place and third place for Immersive Blended Learning Award,  second place for Immersive Face-to-Face Learning Award and winner and second place for Transformative and Interactive Teaching Award.

The two other categories contested were Transformative Teaching Without Lecture Award and Innovative Teaching Curriculum Award.

Minister of Higher Education, Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh said that this was the first time such awards were given out.

“We are now faced with the challenge of providing a batch of graduates and jobs that we are not sure will exists in the future.

“Therefore, teaching and learning should be more active, effective, interactive, immersive and this means, the application of latest technology is not an option, but is a necessity,” he said in his speech.

He said the lecturers should be dynamic and adaptable to changes while upholding the basic concepts of higher education.

Meanwhile, UKM Law Faculty lecturer Dr Shahrul Mizan Ismail, who received the first place in Transformative and Interactive Teaching Award innovated his teaching approach upon seeing students quite bored with the subject during lectures.

“Law can be a very dry subject. So I decided that I need to be more creative in order to attract my student’s attention,” he said.

A total of 27 finalists were selected to present projects and innovation produced in Sharing Best Practices (pitching) APRS.