Held over two days from 17 – 18 October 2016, the 4th TAR UC International Conference ('TIC 2016') was successfully held in the Kuala Lumpur Main Campus. The theme of this year's conference was 'Empowering 21st Century Learners Through Holistic and Enterprising Learning,' which focused on three areas namely Globalised Online Learning, Methodologies and Strategies for Holistic and Enterprising Learning and Curriculum Enhancement and Pedagogical Models. More than 130 participants from 13 countries attended the conference. Besides this, the conference received the strong support from 12 conference partners namely Griffith University, University of South Australia, Athlone Institute of Technology, Cork Institute of Technology, Dublin Institution of Technology, Waterford Institute of Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Chung Yuan Christian University, Coventry University, Robert Gordon University, Sheffield Hallam University and Campbell University with Cengage Learning as the main sponsor of the conference.
YBhg Datuk Prof Dr Roziah Omar, Deputy Director General of Higher Education, Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia was present at the opening ceremony to officially launch the conference. Also in attendance at the opening ceremony were Datuk Dr Tan Chik Heok, President of TAR UC and Dr Wan-Lee Cheng, Project Leader of the Elite Study in Taiwan and Chair Professor of Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan.
In her keynote address, YBhg Datuk Prof Dr Roziah Omar stressed on the importance of cultivating innovation to develop the necessary skill talent. "Today, human talent is a critical factor in economic growth and considered just as important as other economic and social resources. Skill talent is now the new goal. The knowledge economy relies on intellectual capabilities to spark rapid acceleration in the technical and scientific fields, placing innovation above all future professions that will require not only emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics but also social sciences. Evidently innovation is vital to Malaysia and countries across the globe as job opportunities have increased due to the development in the economy," she said. In addition to this, she also highlighted: "The government is very happy that many overseas institutions of higher learning are coming to work closely with our institutions. The ministry hopes that this type of collaboration will lead to the synergy of not only producing high impact programmes but also global citizens in the long run."
Highlighting the role of this year's conference in the area of teaching and learning, Datuk Dr Tan Chik Heok said: "TAR UC International Conference aims to serve as a platform to congregate educators and academicians from Malaysia and all over the world to share, discuss and exchange knowledge and information with the goal of producing world-class global workforce. With that in mind, TAR UC International Conference seeks to deliver the most up-to-date contents that are of international standards with inputs, empirical research findings and best practices from around the globe."
Among the key speakers who presented at the conference were TAR UC's Vice Presidents namely Ms Kho Sok Kee and Assoc Prof Dr Ng Swee Chin who gave a presentation on 'Internationalisation through Dual Awards.' Other notable speakers who presented at the conference were Professor John Latham, Vice-Chancellor and CEO of Coventry University, Professor Allan Evans, Provost and Chief Academic Officer of University of South Australia and Dr John Wall, Head of School of Lifelong Learning and Education, Waterford Institute of Technology.
