Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has contributed significantly as one of five Partner Universities (PUs) to the success of the 2nd installation of the prestigious Asian Undergraduate Summit (AUS) organised by the National University of Singapore’s NUS Students’ University Scholars’ Club (USC).

The AUS is an annual thematic program that was inaugurated in 2015 by NUS-USC.  The AUS brings together strictly selected Asian universities (the PUs) to host the “Overseas Leg” program of the summit in which NUS students would visit for one week.  In return, NUS would host the main “Singapore Leg” program that hosts students from PUs also for one week.

The AUS 2016 has been aptly themed “Leadership in a Complex World: Smart Cities Smart Citizens”.  UTM, through the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (JPBW), Faculty of Built Environment (FAB), played host to ten  NUS students on 20-24 June 2016 with a rich array of intellectually charged input lectures from the academia and industry; site visits and briefings; interactive discussions; group activities and presentations.

Ten students from the Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning Program (SBEP) then descended on NUS on 11-16 July 2016 together with participants from the other PUs that comprise: 1) Mahidol University, Thailand; 2) Universitas Airlangga Indonesia; 3) Vietnam National University; and 4) Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia.

In Singapore, some 90 AUS participants from NUS and the five PUs were treated to interesting input lectures; exciting site visits; stimulating design thinking workshops; and group activities.  The program culminated with Group Final Presentations from the participants which were judged by a panel of facilitators.

UTM participants contributed to three group awards, including two “Most Feasible Award” which is nominated by the judges for practical and easy to implement product (a software); and one “Facilitators Choice Award” which is nominated by the all facilitators based on their evaluation on participants’ design thinking process.

UTM participants’ positive contribution to the successful organization of the AUS 2016 testifies to the quality and effectiveness of research and teaching in the university, and the innovativeness and competency of UTM graduates, which are at par with prominent institutions in the region.