iTrain Asia & Asia E University to Produce 1000 Digital Specialists by 2022 with 1st Micro Credentials Programme

• Non-tech grads to be trained in Data Engineering, UX Design, AI by year 2022
• Programme designed to create more tech inventors instead of tech consumers

One of Asia’s leading digital technology certification body, iTrain Asia has partnered with Asia E University, to design Malaysia’s very first Digital Tech Micro Credentials Programme that focuses on reskilling non-tech individuals.

The goal is to train 1000 non-tech graduates in the field of Data Engineering, Full-stack Development, UX Design and Deep Learning (AI) by year 2022.

For the employment of these graduates, iTrain Asia is partnering with PIKOM, The National Tech Association of Malaysia to engage its members. iTrain Asia is also open to partner with individual employers.  An International AI solution provider has committed to employ 50 Deep Learning Engineers with a starting salary of US$960 (RM4,000).

In higher education, a microdegree is a credential focused upon a specified professional or career discipline and typically comprises one or more sources of accelerated educational experiences.

Microdegrees are a single manifestation of Competency Based Education (CBE) which seek to tie credentialing to specific skills sets.

Having transformed various industries, government sectors, and educational institutions

digitally through professional certification training for over a decade, iTrain Asia opens up doors that help the global community advance into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The partnership with Asia e University assists in the rapid narrowing of the skills gap. The university is known for its unique curricula of blended offline and online learning that allows individuals to learn remotely, apart from on-campus programmes.

The Malaysian Employer Federation (MEF) acknowledges that graduates often end up in jobs that do not match their academic qualifications while universities show major delays in transforming content to suit current job market demands.

Talent and Learning Solutions for APAC from LinkedIn lists that the highest-ranked emerging jobs are all related to technology, naming a few like UX Designer, Data Scientist and Full-Stack Engineer.

The Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) predicted a total of 540,000 digital jobs available within the year, which is a 15% growth from previous years. These jobs will be spread out amongst emerging areas such as FinTech, Creative Content, eCommerce, IoT, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Presently, there are only 14,000 data professionals and 8,000 cybersecurity professionals within the country, opening up more opportunities for individuals to venture into a tech career.

The Malaysian Qualification Agency recognises (2019, p. 5) micro-credentials as a critical asset to upskill and reskill workforces because of its much smaller learning modules than conventional academic awards, allowing learners to achieve their goals within a shorter period of time.

“We designed this program with the intention of building more technology inventors instead of technology consumers. With the increase of digital talent, we’re able to be more responsive to rapid globalisation and new business demands,” says Eric Ku, executive director of iTrain Group.

All the microdegree programmes include 160 hours of F2F or virtual classes, real world projects, career support and micro-credentials certificate by AeU.

The schedule of programmes is compact, with a balanced combination of 70% Lecture Classes and Practical Classes, and 30% of real world projects that pushes learners to reach their full potential, seven days a week, for a total of 160 hours. The programme tries to spark personal development in ways that will help students succeed in high-pressure tech working environment. Designed to replicate real-world scenarios, the programme is extremely intense. The curriculum is consistently iterated based on feedback from employers, where it gets more challenging, demanding, and lengthy in real-time.

It turns out, most software projects do not fail on the back of technical challenges. They fail for human reasons.

“AeU has always been at the forefront of innovative human capital development. Microdegrees is one such effort to meet the challenge of equipping the workforce with bite-sized education for immediate impact to rejuvenate the economy.” says Prof Dr Ansary Ahmed, Founder President of Asia e University (AeU)

With this innovative micro credential programme, non-tech graduates can venture into tech-related roles all within a few months.

AeU’s Microdegrees open for registration are:

1. Full-Stack Developer

2. Data Engineer

3. UX Designer

4. Deep Learning Engineer

The AeU Microdegree programme will be launched with a forum on 25th August 2020 (Tuesday) 2pm to 4pm at AeU Campus Subang Jaya. Be part of the virtual online forum from 3pm to 4pm on Micro-Credentials: Bridging the Digital Talent Gap with speakers from MDEC AeU, iTrain Asia, PIKOM and Human Resource Development Fund. Register here.

To know more about the micro credentials programme and enrolment, visit iTrain or email [email protected].