KBTG Unveils KBTG Kampus
KBTG has announced KBTG Kampus to advance tech education in Thailand, in collaboration with leading universities, EdTech startups and tech communities. The project aims to improve the quality of IT education, promote tech research which can be transformed into innovations for Thai businesses, and develop IT personnel for domestic and international tech industries. KBTG Kampus is piloted at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL).
Ruangroj Poonpol, Group Chairman of KASIKORN Business-Technology Group (KBTG), said KBTG’s Tech Kampus, launched in March 2021, has attracted high level of interest with a large number of participants. The initiative aspires to incubate and develop the potential of university students and IT professionals, who are looking for employment opportunities with leading Thai tech organizations.
To tackle problems related to tech education while contributing to the development of a more comprehensive tech education ecosystem, said project has been transformed into “KBTG Kampus”. With the pilot program at KMITL, KBTG plans to collaborate with other leading academic institutions, EdTech and tech community platforms to develop skills and conduct research. The pilot program at KMITL comprises:
1. KBTG Kampus ClassNest – A bootcamp for the young tech workforce. Last year, KBTG Kampus ClassNest arranged two bootcamps including Java Software Engineering and Cyber Security courses in collaboration with Skooldio and Thrive Venture Builder, respectively, with over 1,000 enrollments. On 21 October 2022, KBTG will be launching Go Software Engineering Bootcamp for new developers who want to gain Go language expertise. This 2-month course, jointly developed with KMITL and Thrive Venture Builder, offers nano credits to bootcamp graduates, in which KMITL undergraduates or to-be graduate students can transfer the nano credits to their degree program. KBTG provides scholarships for qualified candidates, who may also use the post-test scores to head straight to the final job interview with KBTG. If they are employed and pass probation, they will receive a full refund of the bootcamp tuition fees. Applicants can register for the Go Software Engineering Bootcamp from 21 October – 13 November 2022 on https://kbtgkampus.tech/classnest/go-software-engineering-bootcamp.
2. KBTG Kampus Apprentice allows 3rd and 4th year university students to gain work experience and hone their skills through real work at KBTG. Credits from the apprenticeship can be collected and their work can be used as a graduation project. They can start their career path at KBTG immediately after graduation without probation. KBTG is currently collaborating with the Faculty of Information Technology, KMITL, to pilot the apprenticeship program with 4th year students in the fields of data science and software engineering. The program will expand to other faculties and universities in the future to replace classroom learning with real working experience of 2,000 hours.
3. KBTG Kampus Co-Research extends from Tech Kampus to collaborative research between KBTG, its partners, leading universities in Thailand and international institutes, as well as government and private agencies on technological research development. KBTG Kampus Co-Research gives opportunities to innovateand drive new S-Curve businesses while increasing capability and promoting commercialization of Deep Tech research to create products and services that have real impact on users at a regional level. Examples include Thai NLP research applied to a chatbot on KBank Live’s Facebook page, which reduces customer waiting time by over 300,000 hours per year. Other research projects include a voice recognition algorithm, contactless technology, and eyeball tracking technology that is especially useful for UX/UI designers. Most recently, KBTG and MIT Media Lab have teamed up to conduct co-research on deep tech, where a representative of KBTG was sent to take part in the research in the U.S. with KBTG Fellow, Pat Pataranutaporn.
Mr. Ruangroj added that KBTG is committed to expanding the project to academic institutions with shared visions to provide opportunities for learners, universities, or academic institutions with an aspiration to develop high-caliber tech professionals. KBTG also seeks to partner with EdTech startups and communities, who have a passion to co-create courses that meet the needs of industries and the goal to take the Thai tech education ecosystem to a higher level. For more details and inquiries, please visit www.kbtgkampus.tech or contact us at kbtgkampus@kbtg.tech
