| Universiti Putra Malaysia

Bentley Institute establishes BIM Advancement Lab at UPM, its first in Southeast Asia

By: Azman Zakaria

 

SERDANG, March 8 - Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) establishes Building Information Modelling (BIM) Advancement Lab which is expected to become the pioneer in the preparation of teaching and learning courses of international standard for the construction industry.

The lab, established in collaboration with Bentley Institute in Bentley Systems, a United States-based construction and infrastructure development software company, was the first to be established by the institute in Southeast Asia.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which establishes research collaboration, expertise transfer and training as well as the integration of BIM strategy into engineering education was signed by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Industry an Community Relation) UPM, Prof. Dato’ Dr.-ing. Ir. Renuganth Varatharajoo and Vice President and Global Head of Bentley Institute (Bentley Systems), Vinayak Trivedi.

Through this collaboration, the existing Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) lab at the Faculty of Engineering is upgraded to UPM-Bentley BIM Advancement Lab. 

The 2000 square foot lab will provide learning opportunities which will help engineering students develop into successful BIM and infrastructure professionals.

Through online courses and classroom conducted by Bentley’s subject matter experts, engineering students at UPM will learn Bentley software applications which encompass a range of infrastructure disciplines.

The lab will also serve as a knowledge centre for scenario-based learning, drawn from the experiences of Bentley Institute’s Digital Advancement Academies and infrastructure projects around the world.

Prof. Dato’ Dr.-ing. Ir. Renuganth said the trainings provided at BIM Advancement Lab would be monitored by Bentley’s experts to ensure the quality of the trainings.

He said that trainings for students would produce graduates who fulfil the needs of the market while the trainings for practitioners involved in construction and infrastructure management would ensure that the industry could reap the benefits of the utilisation of BIM technologies.

“With the available gadgets and technology in the lab, we are looking forward into making the lab as one of the role models for future classroom in UPM and in the country,” he said.

The lab is in a cyberphysical form towards a ‘future lab’ cum a ‘future classroom.’

UPM is given a campus-wide access to more than 55 commercial engineering software, Bentley online courses, Bentley e-Books, live interactions with experts from around the world, webinars (seminars conducted via the Internet), lecturer/student ambassador programmes and expert certifications, as well as mega commercial project experience sharing such as Cross London, MRT.

A typical value of a single commercial user of the 55 commercial engineering software is around RM4 millions. With Bentley project involvements in 170 countries, the campus-wide coverage value via UPM-Bentley BIM Advancement Lab is extensive.

Meanwhile, Vinayak said that BIM Advancement Lab would provide learning opportunities which would help engineering students develop into successful BIM and infrastructure professionals.

“Through such initiatives, Bentley Institute aims to empower students and future professionals with the necessary technical skills required to enhance their employability and help them to prepare for careers in the infrastructure industry,” he said. - UPM

 

 

 

SXDcXAK~