Serdang, UPM 20 APRIL 2024 - "An interesting reception, students can be exposed to a variety of scholarly activities that can form a holistic person in line with the slogan of Universiti Putra Malaysia: Be Knowledgeable" speech from Sister Nasuha Ezzayani binti Elias, director of K10 UP SKILLS! 2.0. The Academic Secretariat (ACAEX) and the Alumni and Career Secretariat have organized the first-ever program that will become a tradition of Kolej Sepuluh that is able to develop soft skills, namely K10 UP SKILLS! 2.0 which is a continuation of the previous program. This program has involved a total of 238 people who are not only specific to Sepuluh College students, but also UPM Residential Colleges, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia students as program collaborators and outside communities who also gain knowledge in this program.

This program has been running periodically for a month starting on March 30, 2024 until April 20, 2024 where it presents various workshops such as Expert in Mandarin Language Series, Python Starter Series and Excel Basics Unlocked. The Expert in Mandarin Language Series slot was conducted online on March 30, 2024 (Saturday), March 31, 2024 (Sunday), April 6, 2024 (Saturday) and April 19, 2024 (Friday) by Puan Chia Ju Chou, a trainee lecturer at the Competence Development Center Language (CALC) who is currently being educated at the Taiwan Language Center. In this slot, participants learned the basics of Mandarin and were evaluated by Dr. Dong Xianling who was specially invited from Chengde Medical University (CDMU). In addition, Python Starter Series and Excel Basics Unlocked, this slot is physically implemented on 20 April 2024 at the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia for one day starting from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Picture 1: Mandarin assessment session with Dr. Dong from Chengde Medical University, China

If we look at the deeper objectives, this program not only provides a return of knowledge but it is able to accompany students to make a paradigm shift in improving the marketability of graduates with technical skills (hard skills) and human skills (soft skills) as well as integrating the knowledge in everyday life . In connection with that, the organizers have invited several speakers who are professionals in the field to ensure the quality of knowledge and education that will be a stepping stone for the participants.
The Excel Basics Unlocked program took place in Lecture Room 6, Faculty of Engineering where students studied knowledge from the speaker Mr. Ts. Saiful Ramadzan Hairani who is an Information Technology Officer at the Information and Communication Development Center (iDEC), Universiti Putra Malaysia. In this slot, the participants were exposed to various things related to Microsoft Excel software such as vlookup, hlookup, sum and so on. In general, this program targets the objective where students are exposed to the basic use of Excel such as storing (store) and manipulating (manipulate) data. Furthermore, these data are then processed and presented in a more organized form such as tables, charts or graphs.

Picture 2: Excel Basics Unlocked participants with the speaker

Undoubtedly, the technological progress of the four corners is already in front of our eyes, but do we really understand this progress? On the other hand, this program is also conducted by inviting speakers for the Python Starter Series Unlocked slot, namely Prof. Associate Dr. Sharifah Mumtazah Syed Ahmad Abdul Rahman who is a lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering, UPM. The filling is more about the beginning of Python for beginners and some syntax (syntax) which is the beginning of teaching in this Python programming. In addition, several lab assistants (lab demonstrators) also participated in this slot to help the students present in order to improve their understanding of the programming.

Picture 3: Python Starter Series slots in progress

Picture 4: Python Starter Series slot participants

Finally, the program closes with a closing ceremony that takes place in the Seminar Hall, Faculty of Engineering at 3:00 pm. In this ceremony, the closing ceremony went smoothly and simply. The officiant for this event is Mr. Mohd Lutfi Mohd Tawil who is the Deputy Head Fellow and representative of the Principal of Sepuluh College. The giving of souvenirs and consolation was also done by inviting representatives from UKM namely Saudara Adil Farhan Jasrie Arman Sany as well as representatives from among the participants to receive participation certificates. After the closing ceremony, all individuals involved enjoyed afternoon tea in the Foyer, UPM Faculty of Engineering.

Picture 5: The organizers of K10 UP SKILLS! 2.0 with collaboration partner Faculty of Economics and Management Student Association (PMFEP), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)

This program has received a very encouraging response among students and hope that a program like this can be maintained not only to provide quality education to the students of Kolej Sepuluh even to the whole world. It's true what Al-Ghazali said: "Strike your brain to find as much knowledge as possible in order to find the great secret contained in the great thing called this world, but put a lamp in your heart, which is the lamp of the soul's life."

Date of Input: 26/06/2024 | Updated: 26/06/2024 | ruzaimi