Industry Engagement That Inspires BERJAYA UC Students Joins PROTON X70 Challenge
Kuala Lumpur: Recent studies have shown that experiential learning supplements traditional methods of learning by gaining additional skills, perspectives and understanding of relationships. John Dewey, philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer (1900’s) has always advocated that “education and learning are social and interactive processes”. He believed that “students thrive in an environment where they are allowed to experience, interact with the curriculum, and have the opportunity to take part in their own learning.”
This type of learning has always been encouraged at BERJAYA University College (BERJAYA UC). Often referred to BERJAYA Immersion Methodology, this pedagogy supports traditional classroom experiences. Recently, students from the School of Tourism took part in the “Proton X70 – Intelligence that Inspires Challenge”. The students worked as a team to come up with a proposal on “How to maintain Proton X70 as lead selling position in SUV market in your city?” The second round was to conduct a community relation activity using Proton X70 as the main platform.
“One of the courses in the School of Tourism is “Team Development Skills”. Working as a team promotes changes in behaviour and enhances students’ motivation,” said Associate Professor Dr. Ng Mei Leng, Dean, Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism at BERJAYA UC.
“The challenge is an industry engagement where the students worked in a group to come up with a Marketing proposal. The team were judged based on the creativity, WOW factor, effectiveness of the proposed marketing plan, quality and style of the proposal, “said Mr. Ch’ng Chor Ban, Lecturer.
Ms. Kit Thong, Head of Programme – Events adds “the semi-final of the competition requires the students to come out with a creative Community Relations activity using Proton X70 as a main focus. To achieve their objectives, the students selected Generating Opportunities for Learning Disabled (GOLD) as the benefiting charity and planned the event to be held at the GOLD Centre. GOLD aims to help individuals with learning disability and special needs to be compete in important living and social skills so that they can eventually take up gainful employment.”
The students teamed up with the teens from GOLD to compete for the best decorated Raya-themed hampers. They had fun baking honey cornflakes cookies as well as making Hari Raya greetings cards together. The students found the interaction very meaningful as they get to understand the challenges faced by people with learning disabilities. The teens from GOLD were also given a special treat to go on fun rides in the Proton X70 where they get to experience the unique features of the car.
The founder and Vice Chairperson of GOLD, Pn. Juairiah Hj Johari, Mr Eric Cheng, Branch Manager and Pn. Norzita binti Musa, Assistant Branch Manager of Proton Edar Jalan Chan Sow Lin expressed their appreciation to the students for organising such a meaningful activity for the competition.
“We learnt a lot from this completion as it can be tough to juggle between studies and completing tasks for this competition. But seeing all these happy faces enjoying the fun rides and the activities that we planned made it all worthwhile” said the beaming Ms Jolyn Soh, leader of the team.
Making honey cornflakes cookies together, just in time for Raya celebrations.
The students having a fun time decorating the Raya hampers.
BERJAYA UC students and GOLD teens happily posing with the Proton X70 before their “balik kampung” drive.
