The world celebrated the ITU’s ‘Girls in ICT Day’ on 26 April 2012. In Malaysia, the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) and Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) held ITU’s ‘Girls in ICT Day’ programme under the auspices of the International Telecommunication Union-Universiti Utara Malaysia Asia Pacific Centre of Excellence for Rural ICT Development (ITU-UUM ASP CoE).
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The world celebrated the ITU’s ‘Girls in ICT Day’ on 26 April 2012. In Malaysia, the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) and Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) held ITU’s ‘Girls in ICT Day’ programme under the auspices of the International Telecommunication Union-Universiti Utara Malaysia Asia Pacific Centre of Excellence for Rural ICT Development (ITU-UUM ASP CoE).
The event, which is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in April, honours girls’ interests and strengths, and encourages them to choose a career in information and communication technologies.
The one-day programme comprised various activities for the edification of the participants from over 300 students from UUM and several secondary schools around the Kubang Pasu district in Kedah. Among the activities were a talk on ICT awareness by James L. Sinclair, Programme Manager for Broadcast Engineering at the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD); a talk on Soft Skills Development by Huraizah Abdul Rahman, Manager of the Desa Balik Pulau Internet Centre, Penang; a talk on Careers in ICT by Dr. Azizah Ahmad, a lecturer at UUM; a quiz on ICT; and a creative video contest.
The Deputy Secretary-General (Communication), Ministry of Information, Communication, and Culture, Ybhg. Tn. Che Azemi Haron, when officiating the opening of the event at the Seminar Hall of the School of Computing, UUM, said that ICT was fast becoming integral to every aspect of the world of work, practically paralleling the pivotal importance of the economic factor in the advancement of a developing nation.
He said that many countries around the world were now facing a dearth of suitably qualified personnel in the fields of mathematics, science, engineering, and computing. In consequence, he said, to meet the increasing demand for such personnel in the workforce, big corporations were vying with each other in the recruitment of qualified women in this sector.
“This fortuitous phenomenon has presented highly qualified women in the technical field the golden opportunity to carve for themselves a place in the sun in terms of their career development and prospects. At present, at the global level, there is a need for an estimated two million ICT professionals. This huge imbalance in the supply-demand dynamic of this field is largely due to the glaring want of awareness among students, teachers, and parents concerning career prospects in this area,” he averred.
In light of this, he hoped that ITU’s ‘Girls in ICT Day’ programme would be duly appreciated as another invaluable contribution by ITU-UUM and AIBD to the nation by way of raising consciousness among the people concerning the importance of ICT to national development, cautioning them against ICT abuses, and educating them about the rapid advancements and career prospects in this field.
AIBD/UUM Celebrate ITU’s ‘Girls in ICT Day’
The world celebrated the ITU’s ‘Girls in ICT Day’ on 26 April 2012. In Malaysia, the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) and Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) held ITU’s ‘Girls in ICT Day’ programme under the auspices of the International Telecommunication Union-Universiti Utara Malaysia Asia Pacific Centre of Excellence for Rural ICT Development (ITU-UUM ASP CoE).
AIBD Hosts GMCD Board Meeting
The 4th Board of Director’s Meeting for the Global Media Centre for Development (GMCD) was conducted at the AIBD headquarters on 30 January 2012. Among those attending the meeting includes AIBD Director Yang Binyuan, GMCD Chairman Hugues D’annoux and GMCD General Manager Dimitri Mendjisky.
Professional Debate on Developing the Public Service Broadcasting in the Arab Region
On December 15, 2011, the Professional Debate on “Developing the Public Service Broadcasting in the Arab Region” was held in Tunis during the 31st ordinary session of the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) General Assembly.
PMPC 2011
The Pacific Media Partnership meeting today adopted a key declaration calling on the governments, international organisations and all stakeholders to assist and empower the broadcasters in the Pacific region to help them carry out their mandate of providing information, education and entertainment through their services to audiences. This is deemed as an important step in the development and sustenance of the broadcasting industry in the region.
AIBD At PBI 2011
AIBD Director Yang Binyuan, together with AIBD Programme Manager, Saqib Sheikh, attended Public Broadcasters International (PBI) 2011 from 26 to 29 October in Singapore. The conference is in its 20th edition and gathered some 200 members of the global public broadcasting industry.
UNICEF’s invitation for the Facebook Launch of “Communicating with Children”
UNICEF’s Communication for Development Team (Division of Policy and Practice) has extended an invitation to AIBD members to the launch of “Communicating with Children: Principles and Practices to Nurture, Inspire, Excite, Educate and Heal”
AIBD at Book Exhibition
As part of a gesture of close cooperation between AIBD and Tun Abdul Razak Broadcasting and Information Institute (IPPTAR), AIBD was recently invited to exhibit its publications in conjunction with MENTION 2011.
I Got INPUT!
AIBD, the Goethe-Institut, KBS and the Korea Foundation enabled producers and executives of broadcasters from nine Southeast Asian countries to meet in Seoul at INPUT 2011 in May, with the aim to improve the quality of the ASEAN co-production edutainment series “I Got It!” and to be inspired by new TV formats, challenging content and innovative technologies under the conference motto “Dare the Future”.
AIBD at Broadcast Asia 2011
AIBD took part in Broadcast Asia 2011 from 21 to 24 June in Singapore. The conference is in its 16th edition and gathers the industry’s leading broadcast players. For the first time, AIBD has been offered a booth at the exhibition.
During Broadcast Asia 2011, AIBD Director Yang Binyuan attended conference sessions and met participants and exhibitors at AIBD booth. It’s the first time that AIBD has had a booth at the exhibition and the organizer of Broadcast Asia 2011 offered it free of charge as the conference is supported by AIBD.