Taylor’s University Partners With Snap to Bring Augmented Reality to Students

From Left – Juan David Borerro, Director of Snap Inc. International Markets; Nana Murugesan, Snap Inc. Managing Director of International Markets; Professor Dr Pradeep Nair, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer and Professor Dr Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences & Leisure Management.

Taylor’s University announced its partnership with Snap Inc today, making it the first of such collaboration in Southeast Asia. The partnership will see an incorporation of augmented reality (AR) learning into the curriculum of the university’s American Degree Transfer Program (ADP) with the aim to equip students with skills necessary for the digital economy.

The ADP students will learn how to create AR experiences on Snapchat, a global multimedia messaging app used by 210 million users daily, by participating in Lens Studios workshops. Snap Inc. will also be part of the Taylor’s University’s advisory panel to provide relevant support on curriculum development by ensuring the syllabus is in-line with the industry and focuses on the specific skills required by future employers.

“It is important that our students acquire the AR know-hows and connections to the wider tech community, as our nation is looking to boost its digital economy,” said Taylor’s University Deputy Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer, Prof Dr Pradeep Nair.

He added that this becomes more important as the value added of the Malaysian digital economy, on average, has grown 9% annually from 2010 to 2016 which is statistically faster than Malaysia’s overall GDP growth.

“As we continue to lead the way in AR, we are investing in making the creation process more accessible as well as nurturing the next generation of talent to develop and power AR experiences on Snapchat,” said Snap Inc. Managing Director of International Markets, Nana Murugesan. “We are excited that our partnership with Taylor’s University will enable us to educate and inspire students in Malaysia on the opportunity that AR technology offers.”

Some of the ADP students have already attended the Lens Studio workshops and among them is Bernard Yap Kah Huan. “This is a great introduction to augmented reality for students at Taylor’s ADP, as AR technology is used to better the quality of life in many aspects, from entertainment and mobile apps to military and medicine. I feel AR is the way forward,” he said.

Snap, a leader in Augmented Reality has been heavily investing in like Lens Studio, a free, user-friendly desktop app for creating Snapchat Lenses using which, the Snapchat community has created over 600,000 lenses to date.