The Sarawak Academic, Innovation And Cultural Exchange Programme (SAICEP) 2024 was the collaborative effort between Jawatankuasa Kolej Mahasiswa Kolej Tuanku Canselor, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Jawatankuasa Perwakilan Kolej Allamanda, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). This programme has provided a platform for students from UTM and UNIMAS to freely exchange academic knowledge, innovative skills and culture. Consisting of 20 students from Kolej Tuanku Canselor, UTM, and 20 students from Kolej Allamanda, UNIMAS, these students are a diverse group of participants of various age, race, religion and academic disciplines.
SAICEP 2024 is a week-long programme that officially started on the 12th May 2024 and ended on the 17th May 2024. Throughout the programme, we have visited and held activities in various locations, including Kuching Family Park, SMK Bandar Samariang, Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Sarawak, Brooke’s Gallery and Borneo Cultures Museum. As the programme centres around academic, innovation and cultural exchange, some of the activities conducted included a STEM showcase, ferrocement (simenfero) making, SAICEP Garden (where chairs were made from used tires) and the exchange of traditions and cultures, which includes traditional dances (Zapin from Johor; Rejang Be’uh from Sarawak) and traditional games (batu seremban, ceper, batak lampong and tarik upih).
Participants from SAICEP and Kuching Family Park taking part in a friendly competition of tarik tali during the Festival Sukan Rakyat
The programme has given its participants a chance to apply knowledge gained from the lecture hall to the real world, and to engage in volunteer projects and knowledge sharing that are well aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the government initiative of Program Semarak Siswa Madani. Although coming from various academic disciplines such as engineering, life sciences, language and computer science, the participants were still able to partake in interdisciplinary discussions to achieve the goals and objectives of the programme.
Participating in this programme has been a truly eye-opening experience in terms of personal and academic growth as despite our various differences, we are still able to come together and work as a team to achieve our goals. It is with great hope that end of the SAICEP 2024 programme represents not the end but the beginning of a beautiful friendship between UTM and UNIMAS that will last for many years to come.
Participants from SAICEP 2024 and Festival Sukan Rakyat just before the prize giving ceremony at Kuching Family Park
First session of Basic Stem Learning: Building bottle rocket
Second session of Basic Stem Learning: Making parachute
Third session of Basic Stem Learning: Building Balloon Car
Some of participants of SAICEP 2024 in Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak
Some of the participants practising the traditional dance of Zapin from Johor at Studio Artkal 1, Allamanda college
Participants of ferrocement (simenfero) distributing the task to each other at Kuching Family Park
Photo of SAICEP participants and respected attendees
Prepared by SAICEP Programme Director from UNIMAS