42 Malaysia has opened its second campus at Sunway Grid Hub in Iskandar Puteri. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
THE country’s first tuition-free coding school, 42 Malaysia (42MY), has opened its second campus to provide technology education to individuals.
Its chief operating officer Jeff Sandhu said the expansion in Iskandar Puteri was in line with 42MY’s aim of developing 10,000 skilled tech talents by 2033, which is part of a nation-building initiative under the Sunway Education Group and Khazanah Nasional Bhd.
“After our main campus in Kuala Lumpur, 42 Iskandar Puteri is the second and it marks a significant milestone in reshaping the future of technology education.
“With many data centres being set up in Johor, especially in the Iskandar Malaysia region, and the arrival of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, our presence in the southern state is timely.
“I believe we have a key role in training individuals with high technology skills to fulfil the jobs required by the digital and technology industries,” he said during a media tour of the 42 Iskandar Puteri campus at Sunway Grid Hub.
He said the tuition-free coding education not only taught technical skills which met industry demands, students also learned soft skills needed to navigate the working world due to the way the curriculum was designed.
Sandhu said 42MY’s education model was also a shift from that of a conventional higher learning institute’s, as it offers a peer-to-peer learning environment that lets students excel through an innovative project-based learning approach.
“Anyone over the age of 17 is welcome to join our free programme.
“You do not even need any prior coding or programming skills.
“Some of our students at 42 Kuala Lumpur came from law and medical backgrounds.
“Some of our success stories include a woman who had no Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia qualification.
“But she excelled in our training programme and is now working as a software engineer at a global information services firm.
“We also had a hearing-and-speech-impaired student at our Kuala Lumpur campus who did well and found a job as a web engineer at a financial technology company.
“We hope to find similar talents in Johor and put their skills to good use at the relevant companies.”
Besides Iskandar Puteri, 42MY is in the midst of preparing to set up campuses in other parts of the country such as Penang, Kuching and Miri in Sarawak as well as Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, said Sandhu.
He said he welcomed partnerships with educational institutions and corporate entities to provide essential resources, expertise and reskilling opportunities that could significantly contribute to building a more inclusive and skilled tech community.
To kickstart 42 Iskandar Puteri, a month-long bootcamp will be held on Sept 23.
“The bootcamp is limited to 120 individuals,” said Sandhu.
“Upon completion, selected students will have the opportunity to join our global programme for a duration of 12 to 18 months to become industry-ready digital talents.”
Interested participants can apply for the bootcamp at shorturl.at/Pjzza or visit www.42iskandarputeri.edu.my for more information.
