PETALING JAYA, 12th December, 2018 – First City University College has been at the forefront of the education industry for almost three remarkable decades, with a track record of producing graduates who are market-ready, industry-relevant and highly sought-after by employers. In line with its vision of producing graduates who are globally competitive, First City University College encourages its students to take part in academic and sports competitions at state, national and international levels.

In many instances, students of First City University College have successfully brought home awards from these competitions. For example, the students of the Faculty of Design and Built Environment have won a lot of design awards locally and overseas.

The most recent achievement was garnered by Zoe Tham Zhi-Min, a Year 2 student from the BA (Hons) Graphic Design Programme. Zoe made the Institution proud by winning the Japan Foundation Award at 2018 Asian Students Packaging Design Competition (ASPaC), held in Tokyo, Japan. Aged 18 years old, Zoe was the youngest out of 32 contestants from 10 Asian countries which include Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, China, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, Philippines, and Malaysia.

“Innovation” was the theme for this year’s edition of ASPac. With the vision to materialize a design that fits the theme, Zoe created a triangular orange juice packaging design called “Orange Juice Sacs” which had attractive features on it. It strayed from boring old juice packaging by being more fun, as the juice-packaging design by Zoe has “wings” that act as a lock system, making it able to attach to one another and create a circle. The design certainly added a fun twist to normal juice packaging we often come across in the market.

“I find juice packaging in the market as predictable and always coming in similar shapes. I wanted to think out of the box and create a unique shape for juice packaging. I took two weeks to envision the idea on how I wanted the design to be, and orange juice packaging struck me as the best vision that I wanted to make real. Thus, I started working on materializing the design, and it took me three weeks before I was satisfied with the final product”, Zoe shared.

Product designs for 2018 ASPaC were judged by Japan’s industry experts, and they were exhibited as attraction pieces at Good Design Marunouchi in Ginza. The Award Ceremony that took place saw recipients for the ASPaC Awards and Sponsors Awards, which were chosen by the sponsors of the event. Zoe’s design caught the eyes and interest of one of the main sponsors of the event, Japan Foundation which landed her the prize of 30 000 Yen, a medal, and a certificate.

“I am thrilled that my design was recognized and awarded in an international competition, and being the youngest contestant certainly has its perks, as it provided me with the opportunity to enter this competition again next year, with the hope of making First City University College and the country proud of me”, Zoe added.

First City University College upholds students’ excellence in academic pursuits as well as extra-curricular activities. Ideally located in the modern township of Bandar Utama, its eco-friendly urban campus is well-equipped with state-of-the art learning and teaching facilities which provide for a conducive learning environment for the students. First City University College offers Foundation, Diploma, Degree and Postgraduate programmes recognized and validated by international partner universities, as well as homegrown programmes. January 2019 Intake is in progress for all programmes! Embark on your journey in education, only at First City University College.