Digital acceleration has continuously grown over the last year, making it impossible to deny that digital transformation has become imperative. Businesses are starting to target talents with digital skills that will help provide solutions to problems and grow through digital strategy.

This calls for graduates with a future-proof skill set in the areas of remote business management, cloud-enabled operations, contactless delivery, artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things and industrial automation.

In tandem with the need to adapt to these changes, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation’s (APU) is infusing technology into business modules to produce multi-faceted business graduates.

Yasmin Soraya Abdul Rahman, who graduated in 2021, shares that she has leveraged knowledge gained from her university studies to excel at her first job as a talent acquisition and branding specialist at one of the Big Four accounting firms, KPMG Malaysia.

“As a business student at APU, I was consistently reminded of how important technology is in the business sphere. Despite majoring in general international business management, my course was inclusive of e-business modules that have undoubtedly broadened my understanding of the ever-changing business environment and how it becomes a key driver to securing competitive advantage,” she recalls.

As part of her job to strategise and coordinate branding and attracting talents, Yasmin utilises her knowledge and skills, particularly in social customer relationship management strategies, interactive advertising and social media marketing. As a result, her team managed to secure the annual Top 10 Client’s Choice Award due to the firm’s strong presence in online branding and digital media communications.

Another APU student can also testify to the quality of APU’s tech-edge business modules. Juliana Winata, who has just been conferred a BA (Hons) in Business Management with a specialism in e-business, confessed that her learning experience has taught her how to successfully build a business from scratch.

“Through e-business learning, I have learned how to build a business from the ground up, not just in theory, but practical learning of how to establish a business online, sell goods, market goods, service customers, as well as collaborate with business partners,” she says.

Emphasising hands-on or experiential learning, APU’s School of Business has partnered with e-commerce platform HomeDeal through a memorandum of understanding signed in 2018, which enables students to experience real-life business within a supportive classroom environment with no risk or capital investment.

APU School of Business head Assoc Prof Dr Jason Turner emphasised that the experiential learning will allow students to experience the emotions of working in e-commerce, as well as being able to measure themselves in terms of market outcomes.

More than 250 students from eight intakes have participated in this e-commerce project and generated revenue from December 2019 to August 2021. On top of that, students who are under APU’s bachelor’s degree programmes can opt-in for the APU-DMU Dual Degree Scheme, where they will receive two degree certificates and transcripts upon graduation, namely one from APU and one from United Kingdom’s De Montfort University.

According to the latest Annual Graduate Tracer Study by the Higher Education Ministry, 100% of APU graduates were employed upon graduation, which clearly indicates the higher education institution’s success and pride in nurturing professionals for global careers.

Join Asia Pacific University and experience the many programmes that challenge you to be future-proof!