UTeM Winter School 2024: An impetus to inter-cultural experience among multi-racial university students

Abstract

Inter-cultural disengagement among the younger generations, especially engineering and technology students, has been worsen by the technological evolution, which supplants traditional methods. The growing need to nurture cultural awareness is not necessarily to only be catered through a semester abroad program, but also a short-term one. UTeM Winter School (UWINS) 2024 offered traditional games, guided tour to craft complex with tie-dye activity, cooking demonstration and direct engagement with local communities. These activities aim to lively immerse both local and international participants from Indonesia, Brunei and Yemen, in Malaysian culture and heritage. From the results of a questionnaire, those activities receive promising feedback towards encouraging inter-cultural experience among participants. 81.8% of the respondents agree that the traditional games session provided them chance to learn and play folk games played by the locals. More than half of them had their first encounter playing ceper and coconut bowling. Meanwhile, 81.9% agree that the guided tour to Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex has provided them opportunity to learn about the local traditional crafts, with 72.7% had their first time experiencing the tie-dye activity. The cooking demonstration has significantly contributed to the embracement of local traditional food and culture with 91% coming to agreement. 90.9% of them also gained new culinary skills and managed to expand their cooking abilities by preparing onde-onde from scratch during the cooking demonstration. Finally, 95.5% of the respondents agree that UWINS 2024 has provided them opportunities to engage with the local community through CSR activities with school students and local agencies.