Aziz (2nd from right) and Azlan (2nd from left) exchanging documents after the signing ceremony.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Asean Quantity Surveyors Association (AQSA) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s School of Professional and Continuing Education (UTMSpace) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to offer professional courses to Asean nations.
The MoU marks a milestone in enhancing synergy among the cost engineering and quantity surveyors (QS) fraternity in the Asean construction industry and would contribute to generating world-class QS to compete in the international market.
AQSA chairman Datuk Aziz Abdullah said the construction industry’s landscape had changed tremendously following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Therefore, change is inevitable, and construction stakeholders in the Asean region must try to embrace these persistent ups and downs and learn to thrive in this era of disruptions,” he said.
As a result of the collaboration between AQSA and UTMSpace, the professional courses would mean that Malaysian experts and professionals will be able to export their expertise to Asean nations so that qualified surveyors overseas can attain the proper paper certifications to remain employable.
There are workers in many Asean countries who have the skill but not the paper qualification. When it comes to being employed by multinational companies, they cannot qualify, added UTMSpace managing director and chief executive officer Prof Azlan Abdul Rahman.
The curriculum will be carried out physically and digitally, given the new norm, to cater to overseas students.
“We will fly over to conduct classes in the affiliated universities who are signing on with us,” he said.
With today’s technology, the lecturers and students can save time and cost when interacting with each other via the digital platform, he said.
The target market is working professionals who do not yet have the paper qualifications, although university students can also apply.
Azlan said the professional courses offered would be rolled out soon, targeting nations like Indonesia and The Philippines first before extending them to other Asean nations.
He said the professional courses’ execution would leverage on both the expertise of UTM Space and AQSA.
Aziz pointed out that AQSA was established in 2020 to promote the adoption of best practices on standards of quantity surveying and cost engineering education, professional practises and qualifications in the Asean regions.
As such, the formation of AQSA was initiated by five professional institutions from Asean countries, namely:
- Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM)
- Singapore Institute of Surveyors & Valuers (SISV)
- Philippine Institute of Certified Quantity Surveyors (PICQS)
- Persatuan Ukur, Jurutera dan Akitek Negara Brunei Darussalam (PUJA) and
- Ikatan Quantity Surveyor Indonesia (IQSI)
UTMSpace is the corporate entity of UTM, established in 1993, responsible for implementing its lifelong learning agenda.
It runs various full time and part-time programmes that are popular among working professionals.
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