WE have seen driverless cars, cashless transactions, smart homes and many more innovations in our daily lives.
In the education space, Sunway Education Group is “disrupting” the norm by venturing into learning, which does not require any tuition fees and has a teacher-less environment.
It recently launched 42KL, Malaysia’s inaugural coding school that boasts peer-to-peer learning in a non-traditional classroom environment.
According to Sunway Group’s chief innovation officer and Sunway iLabs director Matthijs van Leeuwen, the concept will spearhead a paradigm shift in the education industry.
“42KL is a coding school with a disruptive educational model simply because it has zero tuition fees, zero teachers and zero traditional classrooms.
“It relies on peer-to-peer learning and being completely merit-based, everyone with a talent for coding and drive to succeed will be nurtured.
“Unlike traditional educational hubs, there is no age limit. As long as you are 18 years or older, you will be able to give it a shot,” he said.
How it’s done
The first campus utilising this revolutionary concept was established in Paris, France, with the second in Silicon Valley in the United States.
It has since expanded across the globe with over 20 centres. 42KL is the firsts of such campus to launch in Southeast Asia.
Explaining how the concept works, van Leeuwen said it focuses on project-based learning that imitates real-world work.
“Basically, students are encouraged to learn time management and build conceptual frameworks that can be applied to industry in a practical manner. Much of your success will depend on peer-to-peer learning,” he said.
Taking a page from the gaming playbook, 42KL adds an essential ingredient from games into the educational curriculum.
Progress is accounted for by collecting experience points through the completion of projects.
According to van Leeuwen, peer-to-peer learning is a revolutionary method that has delivered success worldwide.
“The old style of memorising and regurgitating answers in examinations will eventually go the way of the dodo,” he said.
One of the main gripes that employers have with tertiary education is that graduates are simply not good enough, lacking the abilities to tackle real-world problems.
“42KL intends to bridge this knowledge and skill divide by delivering workforce-ready graduates within the shortest time possible.
“With students working in teams from the beginning on actual workplace problems and coming up with viable solutions, such experience trumps paper qualifications,” he said.
Paying it forward
Sunway sees 42KL as a nation-building exercise.
“It is a fantastic opportunity for companies to partner and become a part of this. Right now, we see the trend of fast-growing tech companies recruiting from countries such as Vietnam and India,” said van Leeuwen.
“With 42KL, we hope that Malaysian companies can become the anchor and ‘pay it forward’.
“For instance, they can invest in 42KL infrastructure. In return, they get to pick first the students for industry placements. As part of the curriculum, these partner companies can organise projects to evaluate their real-world capability.”
The educational path
Anyone who is interested can sign up for the online assessment test.
According to van Leeuwen, candidates will be tasked with tackling questions on logic and creativity.
If they make the cut, they will be thrown into “The Pool”, which is a four-week on-site assessment where the number of students will be capped at 450.
After a month, the number of students will be whittled down to 150, where they will undergo 12 months of intensive learning that comprises seven levels under the core programme.
This will happen at the Malaysian campus which will be situated within the FutureX building in Sunway City.
The programme will be a collaboration between Sunway Education Group, Sunway iLabs and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).
“Each level has a three-month deadline. The completion rate will depend on the aptitude of the student. 42KL intends to grow the very best talent within the shortest time possible.
“Upon completion of the core programme, all students are required to undergo industry placement with Sunway Education Group’s partners,” said van Leeuwen.
Industry placement
To complete their studies, the students will work with a company anywhere from three to six months on an actual project.
“In fact, an interesting trend has emerged from the overseas campuses whereby 70 per cent of the students, because of their skills and aptitude, are offered full-time positions even before they complete the programme,” said van Leeuwen.
In terms of accreditation, van Leeuwen said 42KL students will receive a certificate from Sunway Education Group.
Since 42KL stresses project-based learning, students who make the cut are more than ready to work on actual industry situations.
The curriculum will be updated every six months to align itself with industry needs.
“You cannot place a value on talent, which is why it is the most important driver in any industry. If previously employers see a huge mismatch between what they want and what they get, this 42KL programme will bring both together,” he said.
“We intend to expand 42KL to cities such as Penang, Johor and those in Sabah and Sarawak. Our target is 10,000 students over the next five years,” he added.
Source:
NST