A budding group of students from TAR UMT's Faculty of Communication and Creative Industries (FCCI) showcased their academic research findings in the Communication & Creativity in Practice online symposium on 4 January 2023, which focused on the multi-faceted usages and impacts of traditional, digital and social media.
Organised by the Centre of Media and Communication Research (CMCR) under FCCI, the symposium was aimed at encouraging final year advertising, public relations, broadcasting, journalism and media studies students to hone their academic know-hows and research capabilities by discussing their findings on the various practices of communication media as well as their impacts on humans and the world.
“TAR UMT’s Beyond Education philosophy entails imparting knowledge and skills that extends beyond classrooms to reach critical and creative applications that are exemplified by this symposium, in addition to our continuous real-world education that includes internship attachments, annual industry forums, practitioners’ sharings, guest speakers and practical campaigns,” said Ms Dearna Kee June Chen, Dean of FCCI in her opening speech.
Keynote speaker Mr Muhaimin Yussof, Creative Director of Educed Sdn Bhd, presented his lecture 'Creativity: How much do we have?', followed by second keynote speaker Ms Amalia Nurul Muthmainnah, Head of International Partnership Cooperation at Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Indonesia, who presented on the critical effects of data journalism that fastens information sourcing in the digital age thus aiding news coverage and making the media more robust.
Elise Wong Huey Wen from the Bachelor of Communication (Hons) in Journalism was honoured to present her final-year research project, which focused on gender perspectives of journalists.
"This symposium allowed me to showcase my project, gather constructive feedback, and expand my insight via exposure to other students' research topics and findings," said Elise.
Bachelor of Public Relations (Hons) student Elva Ng Yu Rou, who presented her study on leadership and gender among PR practitioners, said: “It was a pleasure and an amazing experience presenting my research paper, as not only was I able to share my findings with my coursemates and peers but I also got to learn from other areas of communication media, and the most valuable thing was the feedback from lecturers and fellow presenters.”
Dr Tang Mui Joo, Deputy Dean of FCCI and Chairperson of the symposium committee, added: "Our students will definitely benefit from critical thinking, analytical writing and presentation skills absorbed from their presentations and participation in this symposium, which they can bring into their careers after graduation as TAR UMT aims to produce graduates who are academically capable and also grasp industry needs.”
