Open University Malaysia (OUM) and INTI Information Technology Centre (IITC) Sdn Bhd jointly organised the second EMTECH (Education Management through Technology) Conference on 4 August 2005 at Putrajaya. With the theme of Managing the Education Enterprise, the Conference highlighted three critical aspects; Management of Education Enterprise, Business Critical Issues of Education Management and Education Best Practices. The EMTECH Conference featured discussions on the latest issues, strategies, research and development, to explore new technologies, and to implement solutions for today’s challenges related to education management and administration.

The Conference was officiated by Deputy Prime Minister in Higher Education, YB Dato’ Fu Ah Kiau, representing YB Dato’ Dr Haji Shafie bin Haji Mohd Salleh, Minister of Higher Education Malaysia.

YB Dato’ Fu Ah Kiau, Deputy Prime Minister of Higher Education in his speech accorded education as the cornerstone of the nation’s success. "Malaysia has been very fortunate for having a well-planned educational system reflected in the large amount of allocations in annual budget by the government. "This however does not guarantee for a successful education system and for this reason, an implementation system

with effective delivery mechanisms is necessary" he added.

He further reiterated, "Technology/ICT has affected human lives in many ways and in a very short span of time has acquired an important place in almost all aspects of our economic and social activities; and particularly in the field of education. More and more institutions of higher education are depending on technology to manage their day to day operations and the dependence on technology is becoming more crucial everyday."

This annual Conference served as a knowledge platform that brought the intersections of research findings, insights and experiences from local government educators, private education practitioners, policy makers, IT business leaders, expert technologists and others affiliated with higher education. Conference participants included Government and Corporate policy makers of Higher Education, Senior Academic Administrators, Heads of Information Technology/ Heads of Computer Studies, Registrars and Bursars/ Financial Controllers.