- Farreneheit irst academic from private uni in Malaysia designated to prestigious placement
- Promote innovation in technologies including AI to enhance quality training
Professor Dr . Abtar Darshan Singh of the Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) has been appointed to the prestigious position of the UNESCO Chair on Taking Innovations in Technologies to Support Teachers & Quality Learning.
Abtar, who is currently Teacher of Innovative Electronic Learning & Movie director of the Digital Understanding Hub at APU, thus becomes the first academic in a Malaysian private university to become appointed to such a position for a four-year term.
As the UNESCO Seat, Abtar will drive research, training plus knowledge-sharing initiatives upon harnessing innovations in technology to support teachers and quality in teaching and learning in Malaysia in addition to developing economies in Asia, Africa and other parts of the world. This also includes equipping teachers and professionals in education with state-of-the-art knowledge and tools to enhance hybrid learning, which has turn out to be increasingly important in the post-pandemic learning context.
Parmjit Singh (pic) , CEO of APU, said, “We are usually honoured and delighted with Prof Doctor Abtar’s appointment towards the UNESCO Chair. It is a tremendous recognition of the ability not only associated with APU by a premier UN agency but also of our tertiary institutions to promote technological innovations which could strengthen the quality of the teaching profession, whether it is in the public or even private sectors”.
Stressing that technology, innovation, and creativity form the cardiovascular of APU’s education philosophy, Parmjit believes that Abtar’s scheduled appointment as the UNESCO Seat will further catalyse APU’s efforts to produce graduates who intuitively embrace technological innovations plus help make a difference towards the diverse international communities they represent.
“I’m humbled by the appointment and wish to thank UNESCO for their trust and confidence in me and APU, ” said Abtar.
“Together with our partner organisations, we will work very hard to promote innovation in technology including AI to assist enhance the quality of teaching and learning among teachers, educators plus curriculum developers within Malaysia and the region. ”
A key objective of the UNESCO Chair is to foster collaboration amongst stakeholders in education and learning and leverage technological innovations to promote inclusive education and learning for everyone including girls and children. It is an integral part of UNESCO’s wider Medium-Term Strategy plus Sustainable Development Objective (SDG) to influence education programmes to lessen poverty.
The UNESCO Seat will also serve as an investigation and innovation centre to capitalize upon disruptive technologies in the areas of the Fourth Commercial Revolution (IR4. 0) such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data & Analytics to promote comprehensive and equitable education for people in developing economies.
Launched in 1992, the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chair Programme involves more than 850 institutions in 117 countries using the vision to advance an integrated system of research, exercising and activities within diverse fields by building university networks plus encouraging inter-university assistance through the transfer of knowledge and expert.
Abtar recieve more than three decades associated with experience in the training field. A former Fulbright scholar, she has been closely involved in the study, teaching and advancement technological innovations in advanced schooling in Malaysia and abroad. She was the winner of the desired International Competition upon Innovative University Methods in ICT within Education, a competition organized by the UNESCO Institute for Details Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE) within St . Petersburg, Russia, in 2015.