• First established in Paris as Ecole (School) 42 and then in Silicon Valley, the 42 campus to be housed at FutureX building in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

• 42KL, a groundbreaking coding school with a disruptive education model with zero tuition fees, zero teachers and zero traditional classrooms, is a completely merit-based programme.

One thing the top 10 jobs in LinkedIn’s 2020 Emerging Jobs Report Malaysia have in common is that it is digitally related – from data scientist, data engineer to data analysts, they are all proofs that digital skills are highly sought after in this decade of emerging digital economy.

If you are interested to go towards that direction in your career but have no idea where to start, 42KL has the solution.

Education game-changer in 2020

42KL is a groundbreaking coding school with a disruptive education model with zero tuition fees, zero teachers and zero traditional classrooms.

It is the first in the world to offer peer-to-peer learning and is completely merit-based. The only requirement is that students must be above 18 years old.

42KL at Sunway FutureX Building, Sunway City Kuala Lumpur.

Focusing on project-based learning imitating real-world work, the school encourages students to learn time management and build conceptual frameworks that can be applied to industry challenges and problem statements.

This is via peer-to-peer learning where students are responsible for their own success and the whole programme is gamified, where progress is accounted for using experience points through the completion of each project.

Ecole 42 campus in Paris, France

First established in Paris as Ecole (School) 42 and then in Silicon Valley, the 42 campus to be housed at Sunway FutureX building in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, as part of its FutureX Talent, is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

Sunway FutureX building in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur.

Officiated by the Minister of Multimedia and Communications YB Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah in a virtual ceremony, 42KL will operate with 42’s innovative model in collaboration with Sunway Education Group, Sunway iLabs and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). Anchor partners that have signed up thus far include Sunway Group, CIMB, Roland Berger, DHL, Huawei, Carsome, HSBC, SITEC, Standard Chartered and KWSP.

“This is indeed a brilliant idea of coming up with a new methodology, a new system and a new approach to education. We are now facing a very fast-changing geopolitical advancement in the world, but nothing can challenge the advancement of technology,” said YB Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah.

“Education has to move together with such advancements – that is why I take it that 42KL is moving in the right direction,” he added.

Sunway Education Group Chief Executive Officer Dr Elizabeth Lee (left) and Sunway Group Chief Innovation Officer and Sunway iLabs Director Matt van Leeuwen at Sunway University.

The groundbreaking coding school

Aimed at producing work-ready talents, 42KL offers students a combination of technical skills in block chain, cybersecurity, cloud computing, data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning, amongst others as well as soft skills that include teamwork, leadership, learnability and attitude, in the lead up to their industry placements.

These will equip students with the technical knowledge for a coding and programming role, while preparing them for the real world.

Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah looks forward to contributing to and helping the nation by producing quality talents relevant to various industries, to overcome challenges in an era of rapid changes.

“42KL will help lay the foundation for Malaysia to become the leading digital economy in ASEAN. The venture also testifies to our commitment to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations.

“We recognise that realising the SDGs is not the responsibility of governments alone. It requires the commitment of all segments of society – the private sector, academia, civil society… every single individual. The partnership among Sunway’s educational institutions, MDEC, industry players and Ecole 42 serves as an excellent example of this philosophy,” said founder and chairman of Sunway Group, Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah.

42KL now open for application!

Applications are open now for all Malaysians aged 18 and above. First on-site assessment is tentatively slated for 20 November 2020 followed by the core programme in February 2021. Admission is based on merit, requirements such as grades, GPA and transcripts or experience in the field are not required.

Applicants will go through two assessments before they embark on the curriculum.

A maximum of 3,000 applicants will sit in an online test, where the top 450 students will be selected to enter what 42KL called “The Pool” and undergo an on-site assessment for four weeks. From there, 150 students will embark on Levels 1 to 7 for the core curriculum stage, for approximately 12 months. After this period, students will carry out an industry placement for 3 to 6 months with one of 42KL’s partner companies where they can apply the skills developed during the core curriculum.

Afterwards, students have two options: 1. to seek employment, or 2. return to the 42KL campus to continue their studies from Levels 8 to 21 for another 24 months. This will then culminate in their graduation from 42KL and their entry into the workforce.

Visit 42KL to find out more. 42KL is also open to welcoming more industry partners interested in developing and recruiting Malaysia’s top technology talents.