IBM and TAR UC establish Entrepreneurial Support Center

Kuala Lumpur, 6 June 2014: IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Tunku Abdul Rahman  University College (TAR UC) today announced the establishment of an Entrepreneurial Support Center to nurture real world skills and seed a culture of entrepreneurship among its undergraduates.

The Center, housed in the Faculty of Applied Science and Computing (FASC), complements IBM’s Academic Initiative On-Campus “Center of Excellence" (CoE) established at the tertiary institution in 2011.

Since then, more than 2,800 students have graduated with skills in IBM software technology such DB2, Lotus and Rational from the CoE. These graduates also possess knowledge of IBM Power Systems, including IBM i and Cloud Computing capabilities.  

The Entrepreneurial Support Center would complement the CoE by building proficiency in marketing, accounting, strategy, operations and management among its undergraduates. Undergraduates will also be able to incubate and test out their ideas in the Center.

“The collaboration signifies a stronger and closer collaboration between TAR UC and IBM to jointly develop and sustain the talent pipeline for the industry in Malaysia by cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset among the students,” said Dr Tan Chik Heok, President, TAR UC.

“Our efforts are consistent with the Government’s aspiration toward human capital development, specifically nurturing “real world experience” among students and to strengthen Malaysia’s position as a hub of skilled IT experts, software specialists and budding technopreneurs in South East Asia,” he said.

Members of the faculty, alumni, start-ups and small and mid-sized companies are also encouraged to incubate their ideas using IBM technologies at the Center.

“This is an ongoing effort by IBM to bring innovation and progress to the nation, and to support Malaysia’s quest to be a high-income, knowledge economy. The introduction of the Entrepreneurial Support Center at the Faculty is essential to produce graduates with skills in critical thinking, effective communication and problem solving so crucial in a modern workforce,” said Paul Moung, Managing Director, IBM Malaysia.

IBM will also help to identify its clients and business partners to collaborate with TAR UC for internships. Among the participating partners of its industrial training program for IBM certified graduates are Scope International – Standard Chartered Bank’s Group Global Technology and Operations Hub; Silverlake Axis, a leading banking and finance digital economy solutions and services provider; Dynafront, a leading life assurance solution provider; and Computer Business Solutions, IBM premier business partner specializing in IBM systems.

IBM continually seek out opportunities to collaborate with leading academic institutions to help build the skill set of students to enhance their employability and to meet the demands of the IT industry.

IBM's Academic Initiative is currently used by three million students and 25,000 faculty staff from 5,000 institutions globally culminating in more than 30,000 unique partnerships between IBM and higher education professionals to help advance curriculum in areas including Big Data and Analytics, Cloud Computing, Security and Social Business.

The initiative would give TAR UC students access to ‘cutting-edge’ thinking and practices from the world of business and technology, as well as a real world knowledge coupled with an enterprising mind-set that prepares them well for the future.