Lifestyle education hub The Ship Campus, located in Batu Kawan, Penang, is set to open its doors to welcome the public in 2021.

The new headquarters of Peninsula College will also feature a retail walking street called The Grand Promenade, which will be home to popular lifestyle and food and beverage brands.

Peninsula College is the education arm of PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd, a higher learning institution offering certificate and diploma programmes.

It partners with the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom, to offer university programmes across disciplines such as logistics management, business management, accountancy, tourism, computer studies and engineering.

According to PKT Logistics Group chief executive and managing director Datuk Michael Tio, it is designed to cultivate well-rounded graduates who excel in their studies and beyond, while creating positive experiences.

“The Ship Campus prides itself as an education campus located inside an industrial park, namely the One Auto Hub.

“Students studying here can opt to work part time with PKT Logistics through the Jom! Bekerja Sambil Belajar (JBSB) programme, where they can gain industry exposure and work on real business projects, ” he said during a press tour of the hub.

Moreover, The Ship Campus will also feature the Entrepreneur Growth Hub, a co-working space targeted at start-ups that require business support beyond an office space.

Tio noted that entrepreneurs who need ad hoc assistance and manpower such as temporary helpers can reach out to the educational institution at The Ship Campus as its JBSB students can be assigned to them on an as-and-when basis.

While classes have moved online, in line with physical distancing and other new norms, he stressed that having a campus such as The Ship Campus remains important.

Here, students will be able to closely collaborate with industry partners and do part-time work while studying to gain a headstart in their careers.

In addition, it will enable them to develop other life skills through socialisation.

He explained, “Having a lifestyle campus such as The Ship Campus is to help students develop their social and interpersonal skills.

“These soft skills cannot be learnt in the classroom, but can only be developed through socialisation in a relaxed and comfortable environment.”

The Ship Campus continues Peninsula College’s campus-in-industry model, with the first being The Lighthouse Campus located inside PKT Logistics’ headquarters in Shah Alam.

He added, “The Ship Campus will most definitely create more excitement and job opportunities in Batu Kawan, which are in line with the Penang government’s vision of having Batu Kawan as a thriving commercial hub.”

The idea for Peninsula College was conceptualised by Tio in 2014, following the government’s introduction of the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2015.

The blueprint called for the need for academia and industry to collaborate in order to produce employable graduates.

After taking part in the Higher Education Ministry’s CEO@Faculty programme, he took the initiative to deploy the campus-in-industry concept at The Lighthouse Campus.