The Besut Campus is the newest and largest campus in UniSZA (Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin – UniSZA), which started operating in 2013. With an area of ​​956 acres, the Besut Campus is a quiet and comfortable place for students to study because of the natural and clean surrounding landscape. 

The goal at Kampus Besut is not only to produce graduates who excel in academic achievement, but who are moral, have a healthy competitiveness, are skilled, involved in volunteer and community work, and excel in sports and entrepreneurship.

Aware that accelerating the digital transformation in higher education and providing an innovative teaching environment are crucial steps toward empowering students with the latest learning experiences. UniSZA Kampus Besut has decided to upgrade all classrooms with BenQ Smart Projectors, transforming them into intelligent classrooms. 

UniSZA Kampus Besut faced challenges related to the development, comfort, and safety of its diverse student body, including a substantial number of international students and those engaged in remote, distance, and blended learning.

The success of UniSZA Kampus Besut's digital transformation with BenQ smart projectors offers valuable lessons and recommendations for other educational institutions:

1. Prioritize flexibility and integration when selecting technology solutions for the classroom.
2. Consider energy efficiency and long-term cost savings as essential factors in technology adoption.
3. Invest in comprehensive training and support programs for faculty and staff to ensure a smooth transition.
4. Embrace cloud-based collaboration tools to cater to diverse student populations, including international and remote learners.

Continuously assess and adapt technology solutions to align with evolving educational needs.

As Dr. Nordin Abdul Rahman, Professor of Computing and Director of UniSZA Kampus Besut, efficiently navigates the hallways of his vibrantly multicultural university, he treads confidently on swift heels. ”When I go to the classroom now, I just bring myself. No more files, materials, laptops, or other things,” he says as he heads to his next lecture.

Dedicated to the development, comfort, and safety of his students, including a significant and growing percentage of international students from across the world as well as remote, distance, and blended learning students, Dr. Nordin led the university to partner with BenQ to modernize its education delivery. This collaboration to deploy BenQ smart projectors enabled UniSZA Kampus Besut to overcome the challenges of flexible connectivity, system integration, maintenance, and total cost-effectiveness to bolster its pioneering leadership of digital education transformation.

To pave the way for future growth in the fast-evolving landscape of higher education, Dr.  Nordin knew UniSZA Kampus Besut needed to invest in technology to promote the digitalization of education and hybridization of learning. And in order to scale UniSZA’s growth in the global future, new technology must support the university’s renowned education system built upon the five fundamental pillars of Flexibility, Digital Learning, Cloud Access, Security / Privacy, and Scalable Modern Infrastructure.

To the delight of students, satisfaction of IT staff, and Dr.  Nordin’s gratification for a project successfully accomplished, BenQ smart projectors fully supported each pillar to propel the university’s digital education evolution for in-person, remote, and blended learning.

• Flexibility: BenQ smart projectors provide flexibility for various teaching methods, capable of both wired and wireless connection with any device in addition to self-contained smart cloud access. Professors can easily switch between different content sources on the cloud or local devices, add interactive whiteboard interactivity, all-in-one video conferencing, and collaborative tools.
• Integration with Digital Learning Platform: BenQ smart projectors seamlessly integrated with UniSZA’s innovative digital learning management platform, enabling educators to easily access, share, and present digital resources without any additional equipment.
• Cloud Access: Offering native cloud access, BenQ smart projectors enable collaboration among students and educators regardless of physical location. UniSZA’s cloud-based teaching platform facilitates sharing of class materials and assignments, and BenQ smart projectors also provide built-in video conferencing apps for remote participants.
• Security and Privacy: Equipped with robust security features including single sign-on, multifactor authentication, AES 128-bit encryption, and WPA2 wireless protection, BenQ smart projectors ensure the protection of proprietary teaching materials as well as sensitive student data and privacy.
• Energy Efficiency and Cost Savings: By design, BenQ smart projectors conserve energy and require minimal maintenance. BenQ smart projectors’ exclusive ECO and SmartEco modes and dust-resistant DLP sealed engines reduce the university's environmental footprint and operational costs, aligning with sustainability goals and achieving significant savings.

A key stakeholder instrumental in selecting BenQ smart projectors, UniSZA IT Officer Bokhairi Muhammad stated, “With our choice of the new BenQ smart projectors, the feedback from the lecturers, users, and students has been extremely positive for the computer-less concept in the classroom.”  According to Dr. Nordin and Mr. Bokhairi, this complete satisfaction stems in part from the smart projectors’ ability to overcome two critical challenges UniSZA Kampus Besut faced during the university’s prior usage of conventional projectors:

• Connectivity, Flexibility, and Integration: The outdated projectors lacked the connectivity and flexibility required for modern teaching methods, struggling to integrate seamlessly with other devices and platforms via multiple connector types and protocols.

In addition to PC-less cloud access, wired and wireless connectivity to any device, Mr. Bokhairi noted that BenQ smart projectors exceeded expectations by providing wireless screen mirroring to students’ smartphones as well as monitor outputs for additional large-format displays or projectors for larger lecture halls. The versatility of BenQ smart projectors even includes RJ45 wired Ethernet capability in case of any classrooms with weaker WiFi conditions.

• High Maintenance and Total Cost of Ownership: The LCD projectors required frequent maintenance due to dust accumulation, and the cost of upkeep was escalating. “Not only do BenQ smart projectors save energy and require less maintenance themselves, the fact that we no longer have to support any additional PCs or other equipment really cuts down on maintenance costs,” said Mr. Bokhairi.

BenQ Device Management Solution (DMS) software further reduced maintenance costs for Mr. Bokhairi’s IT staff by allowing remote centralized monitoring and management of BenQ smart projectors , including app installation and over-the-air updates. Added Mr. Bokhairi, “In fact, when we first installed the smart projectors, they were so intuitive that many professors did not even require any training to start benefitting from this new technology.”

Deploying BenQ smart projectors resulted in significant benefits for UniSZA Kampus Besut’s educators, students, and administration. The university’s ongoing mission of delivering high-quality digitalized education was enhanced by improved connectivity and flexibility in classrooms and remote learning scenarios, enabling professors and students to seamlessly access UniSZA Kampus Besut’s cloud-based teaching platform for lesson materials and assignments anywhere, anytime.

“Because my students and I can directly access all my teaching materials and student assignments…this technology provides us the opportunity and puts us in a good position to provide our academic delivery system effectively to our students and stakeholders,” said Dr. Nordin.

UniSZA Kampus Besut's continuing digital transformation with BenQ smart projectors has achieved remarkable results. By addressing the challenges of flexible connectivity, maintenance reduction, and energy efficiency, BenQ smart projectors fully supported the university’s fundamental pillars of high-quality education delivery to a diverse student population.

Amidst the paradigm shift from static education to dynamic, hybrid learning, UniSZA’s local, remote, or blended learning students and international students benefited from the enhanced accessibility and collaborative features of BenQ smart projectors. As students’ learning experience was enriched and barriers to participation were reduced, Professor Nordin also noted the scalability and growth potential of BenQ smart projector technology, ensuring the university’s ability to meet the increasing demand of its online resources for both synchronous real-time instruction and asynchronous review and study of recorded materials.

 “Our experience with UniSZA Kampus Besut’s digital transformation with BenQ smart projectors is a valuable reference for institutions looking to enhance education delivery through modern technology,” said General Manager of BenQ Malaysia, Brian Lee. “Highlighting the successful solution, challenges overcome, and results achieved together, we sincerely appreciate the opportunity for industry to collaborate with educators toward the greater benefit of society.”