JOHOR BAHRU, June 15 — When the Digital Innovation & Technology Exhibition 2026 (DIGITEX 2026) opened its doors at the Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Johor Bahru, one of the most spirited contingents in the hall had also logged the longest journey to get there. 22 Software Engineering students from the Software Engineering Society (SOF-EA) at the Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), UTM Kuala Lumpur, made the cross-peninsular trip south. 21 of them packed onto a UTM bus for the long ride to Johor Bahru, with one teammate joining the competition virtually.
They did not travel for the scenery. By the evening prize-giving ceremony, the SOF-EA delegation had collected nine medals across the board: one Gold, three Silver and five Bronze, turning a long road trip into a genuine statement of intent.
The standout of the group was PrefabSearch, developed by Maliha Tasnim under the supervision of Dr. Zatul Alwani Shaffiei, which claimed the contingent’s sole Gold. It was a headline result for a single-member project competing against teams from institutions across Malaysia and abroad, and the highlight of a strong day for MJIIT’s software engineering cohort.
The Silver medals went to a trio of projects with real institutional utility. AutoLogic, led by Adam Dicky Aselan Fairus Mustafa @ Abdullah Fairuz, was among them, alongside SE-AMS: Automated Academic Management System, built by Tahia Tabassom Khan, Abdelrahman Hassan and Yibriw Binsama. Rounding out the Silver haul was I-FAMOUS (Intelligent FYP Assessment Management & Outcome System) from Wong Jia Soon, Hee Wah Hin, Daniel Ramlan and Julkar Nahin, a tool aimed squarely at streamlining the notoriously paperwork-heavy final-year project process.
The Bronze tally reflected the breadth of the SOF-EA line-up. It included the Data Driven Learning Management System by Awab Isameldin Hassan Hummieda; SE Senpai-Kohai Relationship Management System: KOQUEST, developed by Chen Jia E, Farah Nabihah Zainuddin and June Tiew Jia Xin; and the SOFEA Management System from Yang Dengkai, Zhang Yihan and Xu Chenkexin. Also earning Bronze were the Software Engineering Smart Academic Advisor System, built by Shaikh Amir Husaini Sh. Mohd Saifuddeen, Ahmad Fadzril Ahmad Badril and Adlan Hazim Abdul Rahman, and the File Management System by Chang Kai Yuan, Jeffrey Tan Zhi Yao and Qiu Jiang Yi.
A notable thread ran through the MJIIT projects: many were software solutions designed to serve the software engineering community itself. From academic and FYP management systems to a mentoring platform inspired by the Japanese senpai–kohai tradition and a dedicated SOFEA society management tool, the students turned everyday pain points in their own programme into working prototypes, a fitting reflection of MJIIT’s Malaysia-Japan character and its diverse, international student body.
Behind the medals stood a committed group of academic advisors who guided the teams through development and pitching, among them Dr. Halinawati Hirol, who co-supervised several of the winning projects, together with Dr. Zatul Alwani Shaffiei, Dr. Siti Nur Khadijah Aishah Ibrahim, Ts. Dr. Liyana ‘Adilla Burhanuddin, Ts. Dr. Nur Farhana Hordri, Dr. Kaiyisah Hanis Mohd Azmi, Dr. Neo Chin Chea and Dr. Nur Afiqah Suzelan Amir.
For SOF-EA, the results were more than a trophy count. Competing far from their Kuala Lumpur base, against finalists drawn from universities, schools, government agencies and international institutions, the MJIIT students demonstrated that solid software engineering fundamentals travel well. With nine medals loaded onto the bus for the ride home, the society leaves DIGITEX 2026 with momentum and a benchmark to build on when the next edition comes around.
By Wan Zafirzan Wan Tarmizan, SOF-EA President