The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Malaysia’s lead digital economy agency, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), has established the Digital Innovator Programme (DIP), Malaysia’s maiden secondary educational programme for talented young innovators.
The programme was launched and officiated virtually by Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin, Senior Minister of Education. It focuses on developing future innovators through project-based learning (PBL) curriculum that ensures a consistent development of tech talents to fuel the digital economy.
DIP was built on MDEC’s successful Digital Ninja programme, an extra-curricular initiative organised for Form 1 to Form 5 students during the school holidays, and has successfully produced 515 high potential young digital innovators over the last five years.
“DIP is an important initiative that serves the purpose of producing digital creators and innovators to realise the goals set forth in the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL). Having a focused secondary gifted programme, which replicates the key success factors of the Digital Ninja Programme, in addition to the sustained engagement between students, teachers and industry mentors will help to nurture more innovators in the country,” says Mahadhir Aziz, CEO, MDEC.
As part of MDEC’s continuous push to uplift digital literacy, skills and knowledge, DIP represents an important milestone as it seeks to introduce a digital technology track into the education curriculum, aligned with the #SayaDigital Movement.
The Movement aims to improve Malaysians’ skills to succeed in the digital economy by creating awareness in smart lifestyles, equal opportunities and digital technology in the urban and rural communities.
Equipped with an advanced Digital Maker Space, DIP will be able to harness students’ innate creativity to solve real-world problems via digital technologies while providing ample PBL opportunities and mentorships to cultivate entrepreneurial skills.
In addition, the students will also learn advanced programming and other related skills that touch on Data Science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity and Mobile App Development throughout their educational journey at Kolej GENIUS@Pintar Negara, UKM.
“DIP is a collaboration between UKM and the industry, namely MDEC, in an effort to strengthen digital culture based on UKM’s five core values. This digital culture employs futuristic education in teaching and learning methods. It emphasises an educational ecosystem that is equipped with robot and drone creation technology, augmented and virtual reality, and wearables that have propelled UKM to the forefront of global higher education.
“I hope that this collaboration will contribute to the transformation of national education. UKM will support this aspiration by honing quality talents to provide ICT expertise for the country’s economic development in the future,” said Prof. Dato Ts Dr Mohd Ekhwan Hj. Toriman, Vice-Chancellor of UKM.
Pusat GENIUS@Pintar Negara, UKM is an educational institution for gifted and talented local youth aged 12 to 17. Previously, the institution provided a full fundamental Sciences Track for all gifted students.
“MoE has always played an active role in providing a specific, challenging and holistic education system to nurture the gifted and talented students for them to achieve their optimum potential, consequently making them valuable national assets.
