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Collaborative Industrial Partners

Computing & Technology

Industry-academia collaboration is a strategic necessity to ensure the quality and relevance of our programmes. Through our Industry-Academia Collaboration (IAC) model, we design programmes in collaboration with inputs from the industry, that are also aligned with the government’s initiatives to address the shortage of skilled talents. Over the years, APU has established collaborations with key industry players worldwide; we have been delivering highly-relevant programmes that help us develop skilled and professional graduates for the workforce.



Under the Elevating IT Education (ELITE) program, a unique Education Outreach Program set up by Tecforte Group, a Security Operation Centre (SOC) is set up in APU to produce career-ready graduates that are able to “hit the ground running” upon graduation and are equipped with relevant cybersecurity skillsets that would meet the expectation from the industry. By manning the live industry-grade Security Operations Centre, students get to have practical hands-on & Industry-like experience from the People, Process and Technology perspectives.

The state-of-the-art Cisco Networking Academy laboratory in collaboration with Cisco is built to provide hands-on experience and vibrant environment to gain practical experience and learn modern concepts and industry practices in computer networks. Equipped with routers, switches and a multitude of academic and commercial software to design, simulate, test, monitor, analysis and manage computer networks, the laboratory is used by the Cisco Networking Academy program to equip students with hands-on digital skills training.

The joint collaboration between APU and Salesforce is committed towards talent development of customer relationship management (CRM) professionals in Malaysia and the region. Salesforce is a developer, manufacturer and distributor of CRM technologies and with this partnership APU looks forward to having a working relationship with Salesforce in the teaching of CRM concepts to IT professionals for the industry.

Materialise and APU have collaborated to mutually work to facilitate opportunities for consultancy or project development services directly towards talent building in the field of computer engineering, online services and 3D printing. This agreement is intended to facilitate the industrial relationship between both parties concerning opportunities for consultancy services in the areas of expertise of APU.

Cyber Test Systems is a French company composed of experts with more than 20 years of experience in the field of cyber defense training. The Cyber Test Systems introduced the first of its kind cyber defence technologies called “Cyber Range” in Malaysia, that can simulate highly complex cyber-attacks in a hyper realistic environment, enabling cyber security professionals and students to prepare themselves in dealing with real cyber threat attack when it happens.

The collaboration between APU and KPMG is intended to drive Cyber Security capability building and students involvement within APU which is relevant to ICT industry requirements by tapping into KPMG’s experience and network. KPMG has also been involved in industry review and feedback of APU’s Cyber Security programmes.

APU is the first Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector Transformation Partner in Malaysia. This partnership enables students & staff to obtain free computing resources, gain access to free workshops, trainings, boot camps and other activities organized by AWS. With the prestige under this partnership, students & staff also have the opportunities to work on research projects, that are funded by AWS to support our academic activities.

APU has signed a MoA with HILTI allowing for HILTI to sit in our industrial advisory panel for curriculum development.HILTI is where many of APU graduates are currently working having established OJTs in Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Traditionally APU academicians have been judges and students as participants in HILTI industrial competitions in which APU has done well constantly.

APU-ISACA Student Group is officially recognized by ISACA International Headquarters. It is the first officially recognized ISACA Student Group in Malaysia.ISACA Student Groups (ISGs) encourage education beyond the classroom by allowing students to network and learn from each other, and connect with a supportive group of professionals. Upon the establishment of this group, APU is accessible to ISACA’s material, tools as well as a range of other benefits.

APU and SAS have signed an MoA in partnership to develop Data Scientists in Malaysia. SAS also has endorsed the UG and PG level programmes in Data Analytics by providing tools and educational material support for learning and research purposes. All UG and PG Data Analytics graduates will received a Joint Professional Certificate from SAS.

Microsoft has been an APU industrial partner for over two decades. APU is one of the frontier universities on the Microsoft Talent Development programme. Students at APU have continued to engage directly with professionals from Microsoft via workshops and talk sessions. Many of these students have also attained professional Microsoft certification allowing for greater job prospects. APU has also received the Microsoft Azure Educator Grant Award.

APU continues to work closely with MDEC on the development of IT graduates feeding into the industry. APU has built itself as a top institution serving the needs of digital, computing and IT employability in Malaysia. This is further enhanced via student competitions and projects that APU has been directly involved with.

APU established Oracle Academy partnership which makes available CS education resources that are up-to-date, industryrelevant, and engaging. It also provides support in curriculum, Faculty Professional Development, Certifications and community building.

APU and F-Secure has been partners in joint students skills development enhancement in the areas of forensics and cyber security. F-Secure’s prominent industrial level competitions have been constantly participated in by APU students and they have traditionally done extremely well.

The collaboration between APU and ASTRO is to mutually facilitate opportunities to benefit the growing need for software engineers in the current ICT industry and the requirements of digital transformation. This is in line with projects by APU students as part of their coursework assignments or final year projects as supervised by APU academicians with ASTRO professionals as the industry supervisors. A project working space in the name of APU-ASTRO Innovation Zone (AIZ) to be provided for students to work on live projects with an ASTRO stationed personnel.

APU and LuxTag have agreed to work mutually to facilitate opportunities for consultancy and development services to benefit the growing need for technology and innovation in the current ICT industry. As the main focus, LuxTag will provide knowledge sharing services on Blockchain Technology to the students of APU, starting with seminars and workshops that could be embedded as part of the curriculum. In addition, this would provide opportunities for students and lecturers to participate in Research & Development activities.

APU became the first university in Malaysia to partner with EMC under its successful EAA initiative and introduced courses on Data Science and Big Data Analytics, Cloud Infrastructure and Services, Information Storage & Management to undergraduate students.

APU and Finterra Technologies have entered into a partnership to build on block chain capability by collaborating on industrial training and internship placements, industry inputs on academic programme development, student project supervision, guest lectures and adjunct appointments as well as on research and development.

APU joined MyUniAlliance SAP UAP in 2012. This alliance allows students to access SAP curriculums, demos, webinars, recorded videos and other learning platforms.

APU and Wizlynx have partnered to facilitate the industrial relationship and collaboration for research & development and for collaborative activities in IT Security and technology development.

APU became CompTIA’s First Academic Partner in Malaysia. It provided an excellent opportunity for APU students to get vendor- neutral IT education embedded in their curriculum through CompTIA.

APU has joined with Supercharger to develop future talents and academicians that are proficient in financial technology via FinTech Specialization Centre by allowing exchange of knowledge and expertise and to ensure talents are well prepared to enter the financial services industry.

Metronomik is a video game company founded by a FFXV lead game designer, Wan Hazmer (also an alumnus of APU), and an illustrator of Street Fighter, Daim Dziauddin in December 2017. They strive to have games and music co-exist without the need of making rhythm games.

Metronomik has been one of the APU Industrial Advisory Panel (IAP) members in providing industrial input and feedback on our Computer Games Development (CGD) programme. Besides, various activities such as the industrial visits, talks and seminars have been co-organised with Metronomik since 2018.

APU and Xhinobi have been in collaboration by providing industrial experience opportunities such as internship and industrial talks for our students in the area of computer games development.

Xhinobi is a game development studio established in Kuala Lumpur since 2018. This team houses a number of passionate and qualified artisans from diverse backgrounds and skills, who aspire to infuse enjoyable and gratifying experiences in clients’ interactive projects catering to various industries. Besides gamification for enterprises, they also provide solutions in video game development and VR & AR projects.

APU collaborated with IBM on academic initiative to deliver a series of technical workshop, technology talks, industry visits, etc. IBM academy collaboration has received overwhelming participations from APU students. APU has produced over 200 students as IBM certified solution designers and application developers so far.


Business, Management, Marketing & Tourism

Industry-academia collaboration is a strategic necessity to ensure the quality and relevance of our programmes. Through our Industry-Academia Collaboration (IAC) model, we design programmes in collaboration with inputs from the industry, that are also aligned with the government’s initiatives to address the shortage of skilled talents. Over the years, APU has established collaborations with key industry players worldwide; we have been delivering highly-relevant programmes that help us develop skilled and professional graduates for the workforce.

APU’s partnership with Home Deal allows students to have the opportunity to work on real-life projects as they experience listing their own products on the platform. They will be required to conduct seller and buyer analysis, marketing plans in order for their products to be marketable. It will be a truly hands-on experience for their future growth in e-business.

Through our collaboration with SAP, students will have the opportunity to undergo SAP & ERP related modules. They will have the hands-on experience through assignments & case studies under the modules, in which these can be applied in their future careers, as they embark onto their journey as business professionals. As these systems are widely used in the industry, such exposure provides them with an added advantage, making them even more well-equipped and employable.


Design & Creative Media

APU’s Design & Media programmes are crafted to provide you with relevant exposure to the industry. Through the collaboration with our industrial partners, we enhance your learning experience by embedding industryrelevant curriculum, conducting frequent industry visits, arranging career exposure activities and guiding you on building your personal portfolio.

APU is recognised as the First Toon Boom Centre of Excellence (COE) in Malaysia! The Toon Boom Centre of Excellence program recognises key academic institutions that are contributing, at an exceptional level, to the teaching of the latest industry techniques and technology in storyboarding and animation. Under the COE Certification, our students are entitled to various privileges such as Free Desktop Subscription of the award-winning software and granted full assess to Toon Boom Learning Resources.

NetsEco is one of the award winning company focusing on offering sustainable solution such as eco printing, eco packaging and eco product development. The Eco Innovation and Design Centre has been working closely with APU in eco product design, research and development and Structured Internship Programme (SIP). NetsEco believes in grooming young minds is the way to shape a better future.

REACH 360 is a turnkey business-solutions-provider for our clients in Home Furniture. We have been working with factories in Malaysia and Indonesia for over 10 years and have done a transaction of over USD 50 Million with factories in both countries.

APU and Reach 360 have been collaborating in various students’ projects, consultation and internship opportunities, especially with the Industrial Design Programme.

Based in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, OpenMinds serves hundreds of brands globally in the area of marketing technologies since 2012. They specialize in martech consultation, digital transformation and has subsidiaries in performance marketing and edutech. Their work has also been featured across various media globally and is recognised for their innovative solutions. With SOMAD, OpenMinds provides a platform to expose students to industry working environments alongside brands via a student agency.

Founded in 2013, EFXCO (formerly known as HKVFX Visual Effects Training) by Hussin Khan. Hussin was the Head of Education at Rhythm & Hues Studios, an Academy Award winning studios based in Los Angeles. For the last  6  years, EFXCO has been providing professional level training and certification for the Creative Industry. EFXCO is and accredited training provider for ADOBE, UNITY, NUKE, HRDF, MBOT, MOF, INSKEN and Pearson.

xR Stage Malaysia by 3Particle is Malaysia’s first dedicated xR Studio space. They offer business and production companies new technology and opportunities within the realm of xR (Extended Reality). xR Stage has been an active industry partner and advisor for APU’s Visual Effects and Animation programme. They have contributed to valuable inputs to enhance the curriculum as well as speaker and workshop sessions in efforts to groom our graduates to be industryready professionals.

Pixelpost is one of the leading media companies servicing a broad spectrum of Post Production requirements throughout the Asia Pacific region. From Animation, Post-production, Creative Content, Design and broadcast solution PixelPost has been making it mark in the creative industry. PixelPost has been associated with SOMAD not only as an active Industry Advisory Member but has been providing industrial experience opportunities for our media student.

Anima has been one of the leading 3D animation studios in the Nordic region for two decades. The studio consists of seamlessly connected sites at Helsinki and Kuala Lumpur.

Anima have produced 9000+ minutes of aired animation ranging from animated TV series and commercials to feature films. Passion for character animation and telling stories through animation together with artistic ambition are the driving forces behind the studio’s success.

APU’s collaboration with Motorola Solutions is aimed at grooming high quality Industrial Designers to cater for the current and future markets. Motorola Solutions supports APU in various aspects such as field visits, talks, workshops and other academic initiatives. Projects with Motorola Solutions have given good insights and valuable experiences to APU students.

Lemon Sky has grown to the forefront of the video game industry with 300 creative talents tailoring custom visual art solutions for our partners. Over the years we have provided a premier art outsourcing service for the biggest brands in the international market such as Blizzard Entertainment, Naughty Dog, 2K Games, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Microsoft Studios, EA Sports & Games, and Sega.

LemonSky has been associated with SOMAD by providing industrial experience opportunities for our school student in the area of VFX and Animation.