UOW MALAYSIA KDU PENANG BATU KAWAN CAMPUS LAUNCH
SPEECH BY YAB CHOW KON YEOW
THE CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG
UOW MALAYSIA KDU PENANG BATU KAWAN
CAMPUS LAUNCH
16TH JUNE 2022
YB Prof. Dr. Ramasamy a/l Palanisamy
Deputy Chief Minister (II) of Penang
YB Yeoh Soon Hin
Penang State EXCO for Tourism and Creative Economy
YB Soon Lip Chee
Penang State EXCO for Youth and Sports
YB Goh Choon Aik
State Assemblymen for Bukit Tambun
YB Kasthuriraani A/P Patto
Member of Parliament for Batu Kawan
YBhg Dato’ Azhar bin Haji Arshad
Mayor of Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP)
YBhg Dato’ Ar Yew Tung Seang
Mayor of Penang Island City Council (MBPP)
YBhg Datuk Seri (Dr) Michael Yam Kong Choy
Chancellor of UOW Malaysia KDU
Professor Patricia M. Davidson
Vice-Chancellor and President of University of Wollongong
Mr. Noel Cornish
Member of the Order of Australia
Non-Executive Director of UOWGE and Chairman of UOW Malaysia KDU
Ms. Marisa Mastroianni
Managing Director & Group CEO of UOW Global Enterprises
Ms. Jennifer Ng
CEO Asia & CEO UOW Malaysia KDU
Ms. Fiona Morris
Counsellor (Education & Science)
Australian High Commission in Malaysia
Mr. Jeffrey Chew
Group Chief Executive Officer
Paramount Corporation Berhad
Distinguished guests,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning and welcome to Penang.
It gives me great pleasure to be here today to officiate the launch of the UOW Malaysia KDU Penang Batu Kawan Campus.
As we are all aware, teaching and learning were things that happened in fits and starts in olden times. You can see traces of how it might have been done when you walk around the heritage area in George Town. Until today, the ornate premises of various guilds still exist in our state.
There was a long-held belief that the old masters would only teach their disciples 9 things and keep the 10th thing to themselves. This, it was said, was done to prevent the disciples from someday outdoing the masters. And some people would attest that this really did happen.
But whether or not that had really happened, things changed with the advent of formal education. When educators stepped away from their professions and crafts and focused solely on teaching the younger generation, they contributed to human progress at an unprecedented rate. Today, Penang is blessed with the presence of many tertiary educational institutions dedicated to the training of young minds.
Recognizing the significance of global interaction, we are certainly delighted to have Australian educators from the University of Wollongong join us. In fact, UOW has two campuses in Penang: one along Jalan Anson in George Town, and now one more here in Batu Kawan.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Batu Kawan is home to more than 30 multinational corporations (MNCs) and large local companies (LLCs) engaged in hi-tech manufacturing and research and development.
Linked to the island via the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge, this industrial park’s proximity to Penang International Airport makes it ideal for hi-tech manufacturers to ship out complex products and components by air. And now, the presence of a hi-tech university campus will add even more geographic advantage to the industrial community here.
I am told that UOW Malaysia KDU’s Batu Kawan campus is set to grow into a hub for experimentation on new, emerging technologies, focussing on research into IR 4.0 innovations such as smart homes, intelligent farming, artificial intelligence for food detection, COVIDNet, and many more.
The State Government is aware that UOW Malaysia KDU actively arranges for its students to be sent to hi-tech companies for industrial training, and these students take part in the problem solving and efficiency enhancement projects of the companies. Therefore, the proximity between this campus and Penang’s latest industrial players will bring about greater progress, especially in the effort of building young minds to take up new challenges.
Today, at the launch of this campus, leaders of MNCs and LLCs in Penang are present in a panel session and their task is to tell the university about the kind of talents and skills that the industries urgently need from fresh graduates. The State hopes to have graduates who can build digital worlds the moment they leave your campuses. We need them to grab Industrial Revolution 4.0 by the horns.
I anticipate many more manufacturing companies coming to Batu Kawan Industrial Park and expanding their research and development here. As such, the development of a robust and skilled talent pool is imperative to support the growth of strategic industries in Penang.
There is a need to foster the collaboration between industries and universities in Penang because this is the only way for all of us to keep up with technological advancements and at the same time pass it on to future generations. Holding on to that, the State, through its various agencies such as PYDC, PSDC and STEM Penang, has been consistently implementing multifaceted approaches in talent attraction and development.
In addition, STUDYPenang was established to advance and promote Penang as a Centre of Educational Excellence. Our hope is that more will come to understand the value of this industry and recognise Penang as a hub for world-class education.
In the same vein, I would like to express my gratitude to UOW Malaysia KDU for all of their initiatives and efforts, and I hope that with the opening of UOW Malaysia KDU's Batu Kawan satellite campus, we will be able to further strengthen Australia- Penang collaboration and propel our young talents to greater heights.
Thank you.