KDU UC Basketball Invitation Cup 2011 (Finals)

Once again, the Basketball Invitation Cup returns. An event full of energy, sweat, and encouragement. The students practised and trained hard to compete with other schools. Even the girls are active in basketball! The event was held for 3 days at the KDU Damansara Jaya Campus Auditorium.

Which school have what it takes to earn these medals?

KDU University College Basketball Invitation Cup 2011

Written by: Ann Teoh

Who will upstage the KDU University College Basketball Invitation Tournament Champion of 2010, that is, SMK Bandar Utama 3, this year? The winners for both the Girls’ and Boys’ Teams (Under 18) will have to qualify in several rounds: the preliminary, semi-final and the finals.

Running the tournament at the Damansara Jaya campus of KDU University College, was Mr. Choa Boon Leong, the dedicated coach of MSSD Petaling Utama District. He was at KDU at 6.30am, with a few students and all the basketball gear and equipment. He was eager to ensure that the tournament went on smoothly, without any hitches. Mr Choa was formerly a karate fighter for Malaysia, formerly an engineer with a multinational company and currently now, an entrepreneur. He was invited by the Principal of SMK Bandar Utama (3) to coach the basketball teams and proudly, he has groomed the boys’ team to be the reigning champion, and the girls’ team is a force to be reckoned with.

Penang Science Council (PSC) - Corporate Social Responsibility

B. Braun Medical Industries is given the honor to organize the Healthcare Professionals Day 2011, which was held on 23rd July 2011. This function is a collaborative effort between PSC–Medical Health, Life Sciences and KDU College Penang.

B. Braun Medical Industries is a Pillar Leader for Medical Health and Life Science, Sunrise Industry. The Pillar members of this Industry includes the following Companies:

Agilent Technology
Zontron Pharmaceuticals
Island Hospital
Gleneagles Medical Center
Penang Adventist Hospital
Pantai Hospital
Business Wise Consulting

As a Pillar Leader, the Company have organize various activities for the Industry. Some of the major activities that B. Braun have organized are Inter-school Science Competition, Children Adventure Camp and Med Tech Competency Program for workforce and students alike.

The objective of the Healthcare Professionals Day 2011 is many fold, however, to name a few, they are:

1. To inculcate awareness and nurture interest amongst students on the availability of various healthcare career opportunities.
2.Explore how each discipline can interact with another as a team provide the best quality patient care.
3.To understand the knowledge, skills, competencies and work requirements and environment in the healthcare industry.
4.To assist students in obtaining a career in the health care industries that matches their strength.

For B. Braun, 2010 has been a very significant year for the Company, B. Braun has been awarded Gold medal by Malaysian Society for Occupational Health and Safety. The Company have also received two awards from the Malaysian HR Award 2010, namely, Silver medal for HR Excellence and Bronze medal for HR Innovation.

Additionally, because the Company’s healthy financial results and the proven commitment, the Company have gain the trust of its Chairman Prof. Dato L.G. Braun to further invest in B. Braun Penang. A RM1.7 billion investment will see a tremendous changes in B. Braun Penang. These changes not only will transform the physical buildings of B. Braun into a much more state-of the-art setup but will also change the way its employees think and work. Today, B. Braun is no longer only a workbench manufacturing, it is also the Center of Excellence (CoE) of Intravenous Access (IVA). All these upcoming changes will require different level of knowledge and skills. For that, the company is committed to provide continuous learning via the B. Braun Business School.

These remarkable achievements and the entrusted future expansion opportunities are basically due to 1 important factor – the Company’s dedicated and committed employees.

Over the years, with the support from our employees, the Company have involved itself in many community projects such as tree planting, B. Braun for Children welfare support and so on. Not only that, the Company is actively introducing new technology to save energy, changing the material used for it’s products (for example, PVC & DEHP free), introducing pitch oil to reduce sulfur content to the environment and so on. The Company strong belief in green environment have given them an excellent recognition in March 2010 - The Honorable Mention for Outstanding Work Award in the category of Environment from Prime Minister Corporate Social Responsibility Award.

Games Design Challenge: A Creative Avenue!

The KDU-AMD Games Design Challenge 2011 was an event to be remembered. Organized by the Information Technology Department of KDU’s School of Engineering, Science & Technology and proudly sponsored by AMD Malaysia, the challenge aims to educate and create awareness on the prospects and opportunities within the games design industry to push across the message that it's not all about fun, but it's rewarding as well.

The event kicked off with a total of 90 students from 11 schools lining up at the registration counter. Excited students were flocking all over the place with their Games Design Challenge t-shirt, posing and taking photos of each other. By 9am, students moved from the KDU foyer to the Lecture Theatre where they were briefed on what the challenge was all about. Students were seen listening intensively and writing down notes as to what they were going to do for the day itself. These students mean business - they weren't here only for fun, but also to educate themselves and to win the grand prize of RM500. This was clearly seen as several teams were even seen bringing their own games accessories to beef up their chances of winning the competition.

The students were then divided into 3 groups and then shifted into the respective labs, where the students have to undergo a short workshop, led by KDU College Penang's Computer club which consists of IT lecturers and students, on basic game design concepts and finally, on how to use the GameMaker 8, which is a beginner level game creation tool.

By 12pm, the students started to brainstorm on the storyline of their game and there were certainly a lot of friendly gamesmanship going on among the teams. The judges were wow-ed at every single stop they made in the labs. It was a tough decision to make for the judges although there were a few outstanding projects that stood out from the crowd.

After their presentation, students were then ushered to the Lecture Theatre again where they sat down eagerly waiting for the results to be announced. The whole place was filled with anxiety and excitement as the emcee took out the envelope with the name of the winners. SMJK Hua Lian emerged as the big winner for KDU-AMD Games Design Challenge 2011 as two of their teams nabbed Champion’s title (Quest: Chuah Kee Yang & Lim How Yang) and 1st Runner-up (Classified: Ng Ter Jing & Shu Ivan) together with prize money of RM500 and RM300 respectively while Penang Free School took the 2nd Runner-up placing with the prize of RM200. On hand to present the prizes was also Mr. C.C Leong, AMD’s Manager for Community Relations Communication and Public Relations. He was clearly impressed with the contestants’ work and performance as he also said “It’s fantastic to see such creative work coming from the young minds of today’s generation. We are proud to be a part of this competition together with KDU and our support towards this activity represents our continued commitment towards community related projects which helps to develop the young minds of today’s Gen. Zs.”

The KDU-AMD Games Design Challenge 2011 concluded in the afternoon and not only did it give the students a chance to creatively apply their new knowledge on creating a game, but also developed their communication and team working skills and in this light, everyone went home a champion.

Winds of change at Section 13 campus

Written by Loh Teck Hua, Lecturer, School of Business and Law

"We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves, otherwise we harden."(Johann von Goethe)

Business is, more often than not, about adapting to changes and the challenges of the economic environment. It goes through cycles of growth and swings between the two poles of adversity and economic boom. But for the Business School everything seems to indicate an upswing phase to the story.

July 2011 saw the appointment of Dr. Dr. Victor Yu Sing Ong as the new Head of the School of Business and Law, KDU UC. Yes, the School of Business and the School of Law (SBL) have merged again after almost a year of separation. SBL is going through exciting times and after the good work put in by Dr Todd Nelson, the former Head of Business School, SBL looks set to reach new heights under the wings of Dr. Dr. Victor Yu. The good Dr ’s credentials are impressive to say the least.

Prior to him joining KDU University College, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Economics & Commerce of Hoa Sen University in Vietnam. He started his career in Wall Street in the 1980s. He subsequently moved to Singapore where he was instrumental in establishing and managing the Investment Management Unit of the Central Provident Fund. He has also held senior level positions as a Research Director and Vice President of Investment Banking of various financial institutions in Singapore. As an entrepreneur, he established a management consulting firm, with offices in Singapore and the Philippines, which provided corporate advisory services to both the private and public sectors. He was also managing a private educational institution in Singapore before moving to Vietnam.

Au Revoir, Dr Todd, not goodbye!

Written by: Loh Teck Hua, Lecture, School of Business and Law

Dr Todd Nelson

The only thing that doesn't change in life is change itself, or so the saying goes. Positive change signals an evolution, often a metamorphosis of body and spirit. Come July 12th 2011, Dr Todd Nelson will take over the challenges of Head of KDU's Pre-U School while Dr Victor Yu will swap role and move over to the Business School at the section 13 campus.

Dr Todd Nelson brought changes to the Business School when he was appointed Head of Business School almost a year ago. With his presence, the business department acquired new life. There were activities like never before - increased student activities such as the Student Leader Project, staff team building, career talks, internship drive for our students and greater collaboration with industry leaders with the ultimate objective of opening more doors for our business graduates.

There were long term strategic initiatives like the setting up of an Advisory Council for the Business School comprising industry leaders like RHB Bank and Alliance General Insurance amongst others to upgrade KDU UC’s academic programmes to the requirements of the industry. Dr Todd Nelson organized “Money & Career” talks to raise the profile of the Business School and, at the same time, to provide an important service to the community.