More than 40 UTM undergraduate and postgraduate students recently obtained certification in cloud computing from Alibaba Cloud Academy. Guided by certified trainers, these students gained professional certification, enhancing their skills in information technology and broadening their industry-relevant knowledge
UTM has been implementing several initiatives in recent years to support the integration of digital technology education within tourism and hospitality studies. The aim is to train a new generation of qualified, interdisciplinary professionals capable of supporting the economic diversification of Macao.
As part of its efforts, the University is collaborating with Alibaba Cloud Academy, having launched the Alibaba Cloud Academic Empowerment Program (AAEP) in late 2021. The academy is an educational arm of the digital technology conglomerate Alibaba Group.
The partnership aims to provide resources for students to advance their proficiency and knowledge in cloud computing. Last month, a batch of 42 undergraduate and postgraduate students received the Alibaba Cloud Certificate Associate – Cloud Computing (ACA) certification, a professional certification recognised within the information technology industry.
The certification was achieved as part of the studies at UTM. Since the start of the current academic year, UTM has officially integrated the Alibaba Cloud Academic Empowerment Program into its curriculum.
UTM Lecturer Mr. Joe Lam, an Alibaba Cloud Certified Professional Trainer, was involved in the certification process of the latest batch of students. He explains that UTM students enrolled in selected academic programmes were originally required to take a compulsory course called Digital Competence, focused on information and communication technology use.
“We further enhanced our course by integrating the contents of the AAEP so that students could learn the knowledge and skills the industry needs. Meanwhile, students are given an opportunity to gain recognition through a real-life certification exam,” he says.
With this initiative, UTM is effectively incorporating industry-standard information technology knowledge on cloud computing into its curriculum. Consequently, the enhanced Digital Competence course enables students to participate in various learning processes leading to the Alibaba Cloud Certificate Associate – Cloud Computing certification.
“As we specialise in tourism and hospitality, we understand that information technologies have a critical role in this industry,” says Mr. Lam. “This (ACA) is a type of endeavour that can broaden students’ mindsets and prepare them to be future-proof when challenges emerge,” he adds.
Fiona Ian Hio Tong was among the latest batch of UTM undergraduate students getting the Alibaba cloud computing certification. The Year 2 Tourism Event Management student admits she did not have a strong interest in information technology before taking the relevant UTM course. But, “as students of Event Management, we should learn to be versatile; there are conventions and events on different topics and needs. Thus, ACA builds foundation for that,” she says.
Fellow Tourism Event Management student Francesca Jian Jie agrees. “We’ve learned how to implement a content management system. That is a useful tool to attract participants when we need to host events of different scales,” she adds.
Cheerry Zhang Yin Tao, from the same UTM programme, echoes a similar sentiment. “I am not interested in coding, but this course taught us how to handle online transactions without coding. We learnt the logic behind it, which is very useful for us.”
The Tourism Event Management students highlight that preparing for the ACA exam required effort, particularly as they come from an academic background indirectly related to information technology. “The exam contents were challenging,” says student Tiffany Lei Man Kei. “However, it is good for us to learn different concepts related to databases and elastic computing services, to better equip us for the future.”
Fellow colleague Xin Zhou Xin Luo points out that information technology involves “another way of thinking.” In her opinion, “computing is more direct and requires clear logic; we have to have a clear mind to master the framework construction in computing to harness its potential power.”
Editor: UTM Public Relations Team



