Hunt the bug.
Build the proof.
Present your case.
MSTB’s flagship university-level SQA competition returns — now spanning requirements engineering, automation, and the full DevOps mindset. Form a team. Take on a real-world black-box challenge. Defend your strategy in front of the people who’ll hire you.
A flagship university competition, expanded for today’s industry
The Test Design Competition is the Malaysian Software Testing Board’s flagship university-level competition. It has been running since 2014, putting undergraduate teams in front of industry practitioners with real-world software quality problems to solve.
Version 2.0 deliberately widens the scope. It is no longer about test design alone. Teams now bridge requirements engineering with testing, implement and run automation with real tools, and operate in a DevOps and Agile mindset throughout. Hard and soft skills — presentation, critical thinking, defending decisions — are explicitly part of the score.
Four new dimensions distinguish this edition
TDC 2.0 expands beyond test design into the adjacent practices that today’s industry actually demands. The core rigour is unchanged — the surface area is wider.
A new dimension to the competition
Teams now reason from requirements through to tests, rather than picking up the work downstream of an SRS that may not even exist.
Implement & automate with real tools
Not paper-based design. Teams pick a stack, justify the choice, and run it. The automation has to work, not just be specified.
Team orientation, test management, DevOps & Agile
Modern delivery practices are woven into the workflow. Teams set up team orientation and test management, plan and iterate, and operate the way real product teams do.
Technical proficiency, critical thinking, innovation
Technical proficiencies are scored alongside personal attributes — critical thinking, presentation craft, the ability to defend decisions, and the innovation to challenge assumptions.
On campus, then on stage
The competition runs across two challenges. On campus, teams complete the work in two parts. At Over-the-Weekend, they defend it on stage.
At Campus
- Part 1 Strategize, Analyze & Design Develop the SQA strategy, do the test analysis & design, plan the test implementation, and select the test tools.
- Part 2 Execute the Automation Test Implement and execute the test using the tools selected. All work products submitted online by 21 August.
On Stage
Teams present and defend their work products and test outcomes to a panel of industry practitioner judges, followed by a knowledge-sharing session with the wider community.
Key dates, end to end
Nine milestones across roughly four-and-a-half months. The journey runs from preparation, through the hunt, to recognition on the SOFTECAsia 2026 stage.
A live system. No SRS. Your strategy.
A real-world, in-production IT system — a “black box” with poor or no Software Requirements Specifications.
Apply SQA knowledge and practice to analyse and design, develop and implement the quality and test strategies. Use automation tools to implement and execute the tests. Compile and present the work products and outcomes.
Three audiences. One competition.
TDC 2.0 is built to serve students, lecturers, and the industry that hires them — in that order of work, but each with a clear stake in the outcome.
Be ready for the work, not just the exam
Build knowledge, experience, resourcefulness, confidence, and professional character before entering the job market — under pressure that resembles real industry conditions, in front of the people who will be hiring you.
Bring industry challenges into your teaching
Enrich your knowledge and exposure to current industry practice in SQA — directly benefiting your current cohort and every cohort that follows. Aligned with bodies of knowledge already familiar to your teaching.
A shorter path to job-ready graduates
Access a pool of fresh graduates with improved, industry-relevant SQA awareness and practical skills. Sit on the judging panel, sponsor the work, or simply note who’s on the winners’ list each year.
Who can join
TDC 2.0 is open to undergraduate teams from any university in Malaysia. Each team needs a supervising lecturer.
- Teams from any university in Malaysia.
- Each team: one supervising lecturer plus four to five undergraduate students.
- The supervising lecturer must be a Malaysian citizen.
- Maximum one international student per team.
- Universities may field multiple teams, subject to MSTB approval.
What’s at stake
Cash prizes, a champion’s plaque, and recognition on the SOFTECAsia stage in front of the country’s SQA community.
Prize-giving is held on 14 September at SOFTECAsia 2026, where winners are announced before the wider Malaysian software quality community — lecturers, practitioners, and prospective employers.
TDC 2025 — the run-up to 2.0
Last year’s edition brought together undergraduate teams from across Malaysia for the on-site challenge weekend and a knowledge-sharing session at SOFTECAsia 2025. TDC 2.0 builds directly on that foundation, with an expanded scope and a new format.
- All intellectual property of submitted work transfers to MSTB.
- Judges’ scoring and the recognition of winners are final.
TDC 2.0 is delivered with the support of the Ministry of Higher Education as Strategic Partner, reflecting the competition’s alignment with national priorities for graduate employability in software quality assurance.
Register by 15 May. Build the proof by 21 August. Defend it on stage.
Six weeks of campus execution, one weekend of presentation, and recognition at SOFTECAsia 2026. RM 648 (inclusive of SST) covers your team end to end.