The students from Bachelor of International Tourism Management (Hons.) (Events Management) programme had the opportunity to collaborate with students of S1 Event Programme from Universitas Prasetiya Mulya (UPM) Indonesia in successfully organized a fundraising event “Auesome T-shirt Design Competition”. This event also partnered with Rumah Autis, Indonesia and Autism Cafe Project Malaysia. A total of 64 students; 33 from SHTE, 31 from UPM were supervised by Taylor's Live Event Project Module Leader, Ms. Dhiya Hikmahana Abdul Razak and Ms. Peni Zulandari from Social Community Project, UPM.
The main objective of this collaboration was to raise fund for Rumah Autis, Indonesia and Autism Café Project Malaysia as well as creating awareness about autism to the public. This collaboration was an initiative by the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events (SHTE) as part of the Global Classroom Learning Experience where students from both institutions were working together in every aspect of the project from research, planning and execution of the event. Numerous Zoom meetings were conducted for weekly progress updates and planning for the award ceremony.
There were 34 participants from Indonesia and Malaysia participated in this t-shirt design competition. All registration fees will be donated to both autism NGOs. Meanwhile, the winning t-shirt design was selected as merchandise t-shirt for the fundraising. The students managed to host the event successfully and received positive feedbacks from the participants as well as the NGOs. Most of the participants from both countries felt that the event was a good way to show support towards the autism community internationally.
In addition, the Director of Rumah Autis, Ms. Henny Ma’rifah and owner of Autism Café Project, Mr. Adli Yahya were very grateful with the initiative took by the students to help and support the autism community. This collaboration has given the student a valuable learning experience where they can exchange ideas, suggestions, creativity and improved their communication, teamwork, problem solving and time management. This was indeed a good learning experience for the students where they get the opportunity to work internationally, experiencing different cultures and being out of their comfort zone, as said by Mr. Adli “this is an international event”.
