University of Malaya Creating the smart campus of the future
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University of Malaya WRIT TEN BY
A trailblazing digital transformation
L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY
MIK E SADR
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With over 24,000 students across various departments, faculties and centres, University of Malaya has established itself as a world-class institution. Now, it aims to take this one step further with its smart campus initiative
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here was a time when the education sector was a straight-forward profession: traditionally in a classroom there
might be a blackboard, a teacher, and rows of students sat at desks. Now, as cutting-edge technologies have entered the fray, there’s been a growing need to change the way students both live and learn and nowhere can this be seen better than in Asia. Take, for example, the University of Malaya: it may be Malaysia’s oldest university, but with its innovative ICT centre, Pusat Teknologi Maklumat (PTM), the institution has quickly earned its stripes as a thriving innovation hub. With almost 25 years’ experience working at the university, Asiah Abu Samah, Director of the IT Centre, has witnessed first-hand the way that PTM’s technology has transformed the institution’s campus operations, teaching and learning. “PTM is a partner to the university in terms of applying IT technology,” Abu Samah explains. “The centre
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PROUD PARTNER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA and supplier of their market-leading Student Information System To find out more visit www.tribalgroup.com or email hello@tribalgroup.com
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA LIBRARY’ 07 provides network services, ICT secu-
makes us more competitive. It helps
rity monitoring, application develop-
improve the user experience for
ment, data centre, IT support, and we
students and stakeholders. It helps
also help the university in terms of IT
us gear up towards Industry 4.0. As
governance, for example. Our aim is
a result, we are focusing on data-relat-
to provide an evolving IT platform
ed decision making and analytics.”
that supports the university’s overall
One such project that Abu Samah
continuous development, sustainabil-
highlights is the university’s efforts to
ity, optimisation and mitigation of
become a ‘smart campus’. A trailblazer
enterprise risks.
in IT, the university campus is quickly
“IT is a major priority for the organisa-
transitioning towards cashless
tion,” she adds. “The university has
payments and the use of QR codes.
quickly realised that it needs to
In doing so the University of Malaya
become leaner as an organisation and
hopes to encourage digitally-savvy
IT is the best tool to achieve this. It
students to feel more engaged in ht t p:/ /pt m.um. ed u . m y
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university life and to compete successfully in today’s digital economy. On top of this, it will also make transactions more seamless and boost revenues. “The object of this smart campus is to support process optimisation, financial sustainability and wealth creation,” Abu Samah says. “The cashless campus will help us check our revenue and income, and it will also help to improve the user experience because it’s faster, easier and more seamless. In the long-term, I
“ Data analytics is very important to help us position ourselves as a leading university” — Asiah Abu Samah, Director of the IT Centre
C OMPA N Y FA C T S
• The University of Malaya has its roots in Singapore with the establishment of King Edward VII College of Medicine in 1905. • In 1949 University of Malaya was formed with the amalgamation of King Edward VII College of Medicine and Raffles College in Singapore. • University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur was established in 1962.
think smart campuses will soon become
and administration division. Each
the norm.”
division has a vital role that keeps the
With over 24,000 students passing
cogs going at this prestigious institution.
through the university’s doors daily,
Regardless of the department,
PTM’s operations are far reaching.
however, Abu Samah points out that
The ICT centre is comprised of:
two of the most crucial trends her team
a data centre management division,
need to be in tune with are data analytics
an information management system
and security. “In most cases, IT security
division, an innovation and commer-
is actually at the forefront of every
cialisation division, a network division,
organisation,” observes Abu Samah.
an ICT operations and support
“Any hiccup can impact negatively on
division, and a governance, security
our operation.” The role can be seen ht t p:/ /pt m.um. ed u . m y
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most clearly at the university’s data
other universities to see how we
centre and network gateway. With
compare. This makes us unique
mountains of data at their fingertips,
in the market.”
this group ensures that data and
This same conscientious approach
information are always easily within
is also visible in the way the university
reach whilst still remaining secure.
maintains its network. An internet
Uptime is a key concern for the
connection is the lifeblood of any
university so it is currently in the midst of
modern university campus, and so
implementing a new disaster recovery
PTM’s network division constantly
site to ensure that the data centre runs
monitors and maintains both the
consistently and smoothly, for instance.
internet and bandwidth of the network
“Data analytics is very important to
to ensure it doesn’t falter. “Our campus
help us position ourselves as a leading
network is up 24/7, 365 days a year,”
university,” she adds. “There are so
notes Abu Samah. “We can’t even let
many universities in the world right now,
it down more than one hour. It’s very
so we need the data to be analysed
important to us. That’s why we set up
and to benchmark ourselves against
our ICT security monitoring to ensure
that the network is always a safe place
can be traced through the Student
to be.” Over 13,000 devices are connect-
Management System. Developed over
ed to the university’s wifi service daily
two decades ago, Abu Samah high-
and so Abu Samah points out how PTM
lights that this platform is slowly
has chosen Ruckus as a key network
becoming outdated and is no longer
partner because the technology they
aligned with the university’s forward-
offered “fit PTM’s continuous aim
thinking ethos. As such, PTM has
towards improved user experience.”
embarked on a major project known as
She added: “Ruckus enables stronger
PrInTis to transform this system
and wider coverage, as well as a reduced
root-and-branch.
rate of interference and an ability to cater for more concurrent users.” From academic records to tuition
“The student information system has been in operation since 1996,” she notes. “The old system was built in a very
payments, tuition enrolment to housing
customised manner and the process
information, data is present throughout
is no longer efficient. Therefore, we are
the whole student lifecycle and, at the
working to streamline and simplify the
University of Malaya, this information
process so it will support our movement
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E
Asiah Abu Samah Asiah Abu Samah has 25 years’ experience in leading creative and innovative IT teams, covering areas such as application development, ICT security, data centre management, network services and staff development. In doing so, she has successfully contributed to the University of Malaya’s continuous digital transformation. Asiah is adept in establishing IT-related operations and collaborative efforts across different functions, interest groups and focus areas.
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towards Industry 4.0.”
mobiles everywhere, including our staff
Teaming up with technology firm
management, so it is more accessible.
Tribal Group, PTM is setting up a new
We want it to be as simple as using
integrated student management
WhatsApp so that our students can
solution that aims to empower students
access their fees, their grades, and their
to engage more effectively with the
enrolment costs with a tap of their phone.”
university, anywhere, at any time. It also
With a keen ear to the ground, PTM
hopes to provide a more coherent
is also exploring the use of new, emerg-
online experience, one that digital
ing technologies like the Internet of
native students would expect on the web.
Things (IoT). “We are starting a small
Mobile technology has also been
project to trial IoT to control the lights
a key priority. “We are aiming to provide
and electrical usage, for example,” she
an improved user experience, with
says. “We are also looking into the
simplified access to information and
student e-profiling and mobile-based
a greater focus on mobile applications,”
student ID to cater for various purposes.”
she adds. “Everybody brings their
The University of Malaya is undoubt-
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“Most of the talent is inspired by the desire to develop something bigger than what is expected” — Asiah Abu Samah, Director of the IT Centre
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“ We are hoping to create a very modern campus, in terms of how it operates. It should be easily accessible for everyone. It should be borderless” — Asiah Abu Samah, Director of the IT Centre
edly undergoing a digital revolution.
collaboration. In fact, in some of the
However, Abu Samah is keen to point
projects we involve our alumni too.”
out that the institution isn’t using
“We’ve grown and developed a lot
technology for technology’s sake.
since I first joined the university in
Rather, digitisation has been a key ena-
1993,” she continues. “At that point in
bler to foster a close-knit community.
time, implementing technology was
“Technology is only a tool we need
quite hard because people were quite
to reach our end goals,” observes Abu
afraid of technology. Now, people have
Samah. “If our university is to move
many ideas about how to use technol-
faster, then we need the technology.
ogy. We just have to convince them
We hope to promote more student
what is right and how to do it. We are
engagement, inter- and intra-function
hoping to create a very modern
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campus, in terms of how it operates. It
something bigger than what is
should be easily accessible for
expected,” Abu Samah concludes.
everyone. It should be borderless.”
“They’re interested in where the
Behind the scenes at PTM, there is
university is going. They want to be
a diligent team of 105 technical staff.
part of the team. They want to make
Driven by a desire to support the
the university better.”
university’s researching, teaching and learning, they are using state-of-theart technology to help put the University of Malaya on the map. “I can see that most of the talent is inspired by the desire to develop ht t p:/ /pt m.um. ed u . m y
Jalan Universiti, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia T +603-7967-4132 ptm.um.edu.my