Winning is Not the Ultimate Goal, Experience Counts MDIT x DOSM Datathon 2023
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From August 26 until September 25, 2023, eleven teams from UMPSA participated in the MDIT x DOSM Datathon 2023. Specifically, there were ten teams from the BSD program and one team from the BPD program. The entrance fees were sponsored by the CoE for Artificial Intelligence & Data Science (Data Science Centre) at UMPSA. This prestigious national competition is held once every two years for students from IPTA and IPTS. It is organized by UiTM and the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in collaboration with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). Each team consisted of four members. The teams were coached by Prof. Madya Dr. Roslinazairimah Zakaria, Dr. Siti Roslindar Yaziz, and Dr. Zetty Ain Kamaruzzaman (six groups); Dr. Siti Zanariah Satari (two groups); Dr. Nor Azuana Ramli (two groups); and Dr. Noryanti Muhammad (one group).
The theme of the program was “Smart Data Empower Malaysia's Future,” with the objective of enhancing the use of big data and encouraging critical thinking in data analysis and problem-solving. The program was conducted in several sessions, including online workshops and live pitching. A total of 90 teams, comprising 360 students from private and local universities all over Malaysia, participated in this event. The challenge was tough, requiring students to creatively create and propose a dashboard using data from either DOSM, BNM, or any other Malaysian data source. In addition to this, participants were required to write a report and prepare a video to demonstrate their dashboard.
Our teams managed to be listed in the top 50 (five groups) and top 30 (three groups), coached by Prof. Madya Dr. Roslinazairimah Zakaria, Dr. Siti Zanariah Satari, Dr. Siti Roslindar Yaziz, and Dr. Zetty Ain Kamaruzzaman. However, we did not make it to the top 10. Nevertheless, students gained a lot of experience through the process and were exposed to various competency skills such as communication, teamwork, leadership, and the opportunity to extend their networking with students from other universities in Malaysia.
