Limkokwing University partnered with Google to conduct Malaysia’s first Google-sponsored university programme – Google Ignite.
Google Ignite is a certification training for Google Adwords which focuses on giving valuable insight to students about digital marketing and provides internship opportunities in multinational corporations.
With nearly 90 percent pass rate in getting Google Adwords certified, Limkokwing University is one of the highest-performing universities in Malaysia.
The programme, which also involves six other private universities in Malaysia, aims to equip students with highly-demanded digital skills that are lacking in the academic-centered education system practised throughout the Asian region.
Apart from being Google Adwords certified at the end of the programme, a total of 150 outstanding students receive internship positions in multinational corporations to jumpstart their careers in digital marketing and advertising.
Ariff Kamal, Google Regional Trainer who held the final workshop in Limkokwing University on September 8, believes that there are a lot of opportunities for those who are pursuing their careers in the digital field.
“Due to the shift of consumer behaviour, more and more digital natives and digital immigrants are using technologies to consume content and hence, today’s conventional advertising does not work as it used to. We have to integrate various platforms to achieve our objectives,” Ariff explained.
According to him, brands and agencies are recruiting talents who have skills to understand the digital shift of the consumer behaviour and digital analytics technologies.
On his experience conducting the in-university training at Limkokwing, Ariff was fascinated by the unique pull of students coming from various walks of life.
“Throughout my journey in this programme at Malaysia, I went to various universities and truly, Limkokwing University has very interesting demographics and it’s a good environment to begin in terms of reaching out to diverse groups of students,” he exclaimed.
Aymen Mohamed Elnour from Sudan (MBA in Multimedia Management) felt that workshops like these are more helpful than a whole semester of classes because it is focused and provides students with exactly what they need to learn.
“The experience gave me an eye-opening insight on how digital advertising is becoming more important than traditional ways of advertising,” he said.
Muhammad Faizal, who is a Games Technology student from Pakistan, insisted that it’s important for game developers to learn about digital marketing to promote their games.
“Digital marketing provides more possibilities to reach our target audience. You can make your game a brand itself,” he added.
Faizal also acknowledged the University’s efforts in bringing industry practitioners and sharing their expertise as it also gives opportunities for students from third-world countries who otherwise will never be given such industrial exposure.
Limkokwing University pioneers the concept of Indusity, a term coined from combining the words industry and university. The University promotes the collaboration of academic and industry players by inviting professional consultants and trainers to share their knowledge and experiences. The initiative enables students to develop a deeper understanding on how the industry works before even stepping into it.