- Text: Nik Kamil Hazim Nik Kamaruzzaman (Corporate Communications Division Interns)
- photo: Fisol Ahmad
Tanjung Malim 29 Mac 2022 – University Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) through the Faculty of Computer Arts and Creative Industries (FSKIK) today developed a UPSI Green Education Center based on agriculture on the internet of things (IoT) at Zaaba College, Sultan Azlan Shah Campus, here.
According to UPSI Vice-Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr. Md Amin Md Taff said the construction of the 2000 square foot Green Education Center located in the college residential area of students is an educational cycle and economic cycle that involves the transfer of learning in the classroom to agriculture and developed digitally based on aquaponics, fertigation, compost, craft and use of internet of things (IoT) technology.
“Through the available expertise, students will be exposed to various techniques of planting seeds perfectly and up-to-date according to the passage of time,”
“Here, students will also learn to cultivate, understand the importance of agriculture and harvest the results themselves then enjoy the sales proceeds for the development of programs at their colleges later,” he explained during his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Green Education Center.
According to the project director of the UPSI Green Education Center, Professor Dr. Che Zalina Zulkifli said the garden management will be fully controlled intelligently through SMART GREEN SYSTEM@UPSI which will be equipped with a complete real-time monitoring system, including a wireless automated irrigation system (WARIS) and Smart Economical Food Waste Composter (SEFWC) through a smartphone application – irrigation and fertilization automatically depend on the moisture and biological media and crops.
“The development of the Green Education Center, which is already 50 percent perfect, however, intends to be such an education center as the best and foremost model in the country. Complete with greenhouses, hydroponics, and aquaponics, IoT sensors will be installed for intelligent watering and fertilization processes. Not only that, a regular watering schedule can save 80% of water consumption, ”he added.
According to Che Zalina, among the crops that will be sown in the UPSI Green Education Center garden are vegetables such as bakchoi, lettuce, mustard, and tomato hydroponically, eggplant, cabbage in border nursery and chili, black turmeric, and cucumber by fertigation.
Agriculture has a high personality among students, targets higher rankings UI Green Metric World University Ranking 2022
Also present, UPSI Deputy Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (HEPA), Associate Professor Dr. Norkhalid Salimin, this pilot program was implemented on campus after UPSI’s success in developing a green education center on a land area of about 0.56 hectares in Padang Chempedak as a result of a memorandum of understanding (MoA ) together with Urbanest Sdn. Bhd., March last year involved the cooperation of Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP), Penang.
“Agriculture on campus can educate a high level of personality among students even though they are equipped with the latest agricultural facilities. Indirectly, the students involved, are not only nurtured to love agriculture as a source of livelihood but will instill a sense of love and virtue to the land as soon as they graduate and become teachers and instill the same spirit in the nation later, “he added.
In addition to educating students’ personality applications, UPSI is also targeting a better UI Green Metric World University Ranking to sustain green campuses and reduce carbon. For the record, UPSI is ranked 176th best in the world.
Also present was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation Professor. Dr. Suriani Abu Bakar, UPSI Registrar Helmi Zaifura Abdul Rahman, UPSI Treasurer Mohamad Najib Mohamed, Director of Corporate Communications Associate Professor Dr. Mohd Izwan Shahril, Dean of FSKIK, Associate Professor Ts. Dr. Muhammad Zaffwan Idris as well as researchers, staff, and the College Student Council (MMK).
read more on: UtusanTV, KeluargaAna, NewsWav