Ateneo Electronics Engineering students win awards at ASEAN Experiential Learning Programme 2023

Fourth-year electronics engineering students John Kyle C Lluz and Jed Matthew A San Luis joined fellow undergraduate students from all around the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region who converged in Singapore on 18–24 June 2023 for the ASEAN Experiential Learning Programme (AELP) 2023.

AELP is one of the flagship initiatives of the ASEAN University Network (AUN) Student Affairs Network (AUN-SAN). It brings together undergraduates from the 30 AUN core member universities every two years for a learning program designed to offer real-world learning and experiences and meant to expose students to the social, economic, and environmental issues faced by ASEAN citizens.

40 undergraduate students representing their AUN core member university participated in the third edition of the program in Singapore. It was hosted by Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore with the theme “Smart Nation: Transforming Your Nation Through Technology.” The students learned the various smart technological adaptations and advances by visiting them at different sites in Singapore. A day in the learning program was dedicated to each of the four pillars of a smart nation: township planning, transportation, healthcare, and digital inclusivity.

As the main project of AELP, the students were asked to cultivate feasible solutions for a fictional nation. Students were randomly assigned into six groups and were tasked to come up with solutions to develop their country based on what the students learned from the program. Lluz was assigned to group 5 and San Luis to group 6. They both worked on the project of their groups with students from other AUN universities. Groups 4–6 were assigned the fictional nation “Sinusha” as a case study. Sinusha has traits of other developing Southeast Asian countries: high population, poor township planning, and rapid urbanization. The groups then presented their projects in front of their fellow student representatives and heads of the host universities. At the closing ceremony of AELP 2023, group 5, with Lluz, was awarded Best Presentation for garnering the highest score based on the evaluation of the judges. On the other hand, group 6, with San Luis, was awarded Best Project Solution for coming up with the best solution to their case study.

Participation of Lluz and San Luis in AELP 2023 was sponsored by the Ateneo School of Science and Engineering. Mr Christian E Pulmano, a faculty member of the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS), chaperoned the students in Singapore during the event. Ateneo de Manila University is one of the 30 core member universities of AUN and one of only three in the Philippines.