LABUAN — Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) achieved a major milestone by winning the Best Community Transformation Award at the Impact Digital Community Tourism (IDCT) 2.0 Programme.
The university also secured the IDCT 2.0 Overall Gold Medal, cementing its position among the top-performing institutions in the prestigious competition.
The event, which took place from June 13 to 14 in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, was organized by the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) in collaboration with the UNIMAS Entrepreneurship Centre. It brought together 23 higher education institutions from across Malaysia to showcase high-impact projects centered on community tourism, social innovation, and digital transformation.
UMS’ success is a testament to the hard work, creativity, and commitment of its team in developing digital solutions that empower community-based tourism and create a meaningful local impact.
The winning project was developed by a team of third-year Business Computing students from the Faculty of Computing and Informatics (FKI) at the UMS Labuan International Campus (UMSKAL). The students are Shivaani Tamil Selvan, Iffah Adhwa Jamadil, Muhammad Haziq Hazim Amir, Farah Ain Maisyarah Hamzah, and Mohamad Syafiq Syahmil Mat Julih.
The team was guided throughout the project by their mentor and FKI lecturer, Ts. Hadzariah Ismail.
Their project demonstrated that university students are not only capable of generating innovative ideas but can also effectively apply digital technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and social entrepreneurship to improve community well-being.
Entries for IDCT 2.0 were evaluated by a panel of 71 judges comprising public university academics, polytechnic lecturers, and industry representatives, ensuring a professional, transparent, and merit-based judging process to honor truly impactful initiatives.
