JOURNEY TO ASTANA 2017 : My Experiences

What I know about Kazakhstan before going to EXPO 2017 Astana?

The most awarded female singers in Asia prove that Siti Nurhaliza is the best ever singer in Asia. The grand prize champion of voice of Asia in Kazakhstan showed that she deserved to be the best Asian singers
Malaysian PM Dato’ Sri Najib’s daughter’s married to Kazakhstan President’s nephew
Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor took off for International Space Station (ISS) from Baikonur in Kazakhstan

What I know about Kazakhstan after the visit trip around Astana City?

Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world.
The largest city of kazakhstan is Almaty – there is a direct flight (Air Astana) from Kuala Lumpur to Almaty
Astana – 1 ½ hours flight from Almaty is the capital city of kazakhstan, the second-largest city in Kazakhstan
In 1997 Astana replaced Almaty as the capital of Kazakhstan- the youngest capital city in the world
Is the second-coldest capital city in the world after Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Astana: The world’s weirdest capital city- CNN
The weirdest city in the world?- BBC said Astana is the city that oil money built

Activities during Week 10: Education Week

Point of Discussion from my talk

Percentage of unemployment among graduates in Malaysia has continuously become an issue.
Lack of soft skills becomes one of the factors of unemployment among graduates.
New Academia Learning Innovations (NALI) model introduced by UTM aims at fostering soft skills among students and to nurture creativity among lecturers in diversifying teaching and learning strategies in classrooms.
There are 2 modes namely Learning Mode (Pedagogy/Andragogy) and Learning Materials (Digital Resources in NALI model.
In this talk, I focused on BLOSSOMS project or a Blended Learning System for Learning Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and international service learning.
I also highlighted the establishment of Student-Centred Learning (SCL) Rooms at Faculty of Education UTM which can be used to fulfil all types of teaching and learning experiences. The SCL rooms are designed to support the implementation of NALI since they possess flexible learning environment.

My Presentation Slides

About 2017 EXPO Astana

Expo 2017 is an International Exposition which took place from June 10 to September 10, 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan
The theme chosen for the Expo 2017 was “Future Energy“. The theme was aimed to concentrate on the future of energy, and on innovative and practical energy solutions and their impacts.
115 countries and 22 international organizations participated in EXPO 2017 including Malaysia
They came up with their own theme about “Future Energy”

Some themes of countries’ pavilions

There were also cultural performances in pavillion of a few countries in order to attract visitors. A lot of new general knowledge I got about energy such as:

Cochin Airport India is the first airport in the world to run completely on solar power
Finland is the most stable country in the world
Pakistan Parliament becomes first in world to run entirely on solar power
Finland has the cleanest air in Europe

Conclusion

In my opinion, Malaysia Education Week of JTA program has achieved its goal.
Lecturers and students from public and private universities in Malaysia who were involved in the program had showed their commitment in all activities planned by the organizer.
The activities ranged from academic visits, information sharing sessions, forum and business matching.
As for UTM, my student and I did our best to promote our university’s academic programs and activities to the visitors.
It is hoped that our participation in Malaysian Education Week at Astana 2017 Expo will ensure Malaysian universities are recognized globally.