ALIBABA Business School, in collaboration with the Higher Education Ministry, recently concluded its Global E-Commerce Talent (GET) Train the Trainers programme, which was held in Universiti Utara Malaysia over five days. The programme aims to enhance Malaysian educator’s understanding of the e-commerce industry with a target of reaching more than 5,000 Malaysian students with competitive skills required in the global e-commerce industry.
Fifty educators from six institutions — Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Department of Polytechnic Education, Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah and Politeknik Metro — participated in the programme.
Conducted by nine experts from Alibaba Business School, the programme included theoretical and practical training for local education professionals, and provided a holistic view of the e-commerce ecosystem, digitisation of Malaysia’s economy, e-commerce rules and principles, business management and operations, as well as product development, sales strategy and financial management. Certified trainers can integrate the resources and knowledge acquired in this training into the e-commerce courses at their universities.
Higher Education Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur said: “With the emerging e-commerce economy and the fourth industrial revolution, the younger generation must be open to embracing the new era. We believe world-class training programmes, such as this, will contribute significantly to grooming students to meet the demands of Industry 4.0.
Alibaba Group vice-president Brian Wong said: “We are very excited about the progress of our partnership with the Higher Education Ministry and UUM. We are grateful for their trust in the value that Alibaba Business School will bring to students and the enterprising youth of Malaysia. Through this partnership, we hope to cultivate e-commerce talents that will accelerate the development of the digital economy in Malaysia and build their capability, confidence and competitive edge in the global e-commerce trade.”
In November, Alibaba Business School signed a memorandum of understanding with UUM, the first partnership with a Malaysian public university, to design and implement the GET programme in Malaysia.
The collaboration also includes the Youth E-Commerce Programme (YEP) to provide training for students to enhance their businesses and entrepreneurial skills in global e-commerce. The first course will comprise 30 students and will be conducted via experiential learning at the Alibaba Business School in Hangzhou, China, from Jan 22-29.
“Malaysia’s e-commerce industry holds enormous potential for rapid expansion as it stands at a great inflection point in its growth. With the creation of Malaysia’s Digital Free Trade Zone and its National eCommerce Strategic Roadmap, there is now a greater need for e-commerce talents to power this transformation through our collaboration with the ministry and programmes like GET,” said Wong.
With its mission “to make it easy to do business anywhere” and recognising a shortage of e-commerce talent in many countries, Alibaba initiated the GET programme, under which it collaborates with universities, colleges, business schools and training centres across the globe to empower cross-border trading communities through training, assessment, certification, as well as career development and guidance.
The training of local talent is a key focus of the eWTP initiative to ensure a sustainable business ecosystem.
Beyond the GET programme, Alibaba Business School has also offered a range of B2B e-commerce courses to more than 1,000 university students and completed training of almost 140 university faculty members in Malaysia under its “Train the Trainers” programme.
In December, Alibaba Business School, in collaboration with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, concluded a two-week e-commerce training programme with more than 330 small- and medium-sized enterprises across nine cities in Malaysia.
Alibaba Business School will continue to roll out training initiatives in Malaysia to support the growth of its e-commerce industry.