Post Graduate 21 October 2014

8/10/2019 Post Graduate 21 October 2014

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HE STAR Tuesday 21 October 2014

Training the best talents > 6 Traits of effective leadership > 8

Star Special

Challenging

the ordinaryExploring lessons in diversity.


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POSTGRADUATE StarSpecial, Tuesday 21 October 2014

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S t ar Spec ial THE STAR Sunday

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SOUTHERNPROPERTYStar Special

THE STAR Thursday 30 January 2014

Rise ofthe south

Supplement T ea m Email: supp@thestar .com.my

0 3 -7 9 6 6 8 2 3 7 jy c h ia @th e s ta r.c o m .m y

0 3 - 7 9 6 6 8 2 2 7k a m a ria h @t h e s t a r.c o m .m y

From bone to satelliteBY TINA CARMILLIA

N the quest to understand thehistory of humankind, it is notsurprising that Israel and the

West Bank the site of manyiblical events linked to the Old

Testament narrative are themost researched pieces of land inhe world.

One of the most important

rchaeologists to have dug theres Dame Kathleen Kenyon, whooday is widely recognised ashe most inuential femalerchaeologist.

Dame Kathleen is best knownor her excavations of Jericho inhe 1950s and Jerusalem in the960s.

She and many femaleesearchers and scientists,ncluding physicist and chemist

Marie Curie and Googles headecurity engineer Parisa Tabrizre some of the handful ofanomalies in an otherwise male-ominant world, but their rolesave certainly shaped the coursef our lives.

The importance of science inur daily lives may not be obviousand the role of women in science

s even less so.While Datuk Dr Sheikh

Muszaphar Shukor becameMalaysias rst astronaut, it waseading astrophysicist, Datuk Dr

Mazlan Othman, who headed therogramme to launch the rst

Malaysian astronaut to space.Her work as the founding

irector general of Angkasa,he Malaysian National Space

Agency, led to Dr Muszapharsuccessful completion of his spacerogramme and space ight in007.

So, why do women oftennd up in the back seat of majorreakthroughs in science,echnology, engineering and

mathematics (STEM)? Doesisual culture play a major role inccurately representing the STEMemography?

A picture that spoke ahousand words

Recently, the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRA)ecame the fourth space agencyo reach Mars, behind the Sovietpace programme, the Unitedtates National Aeronautics andpace Administration (NASA) and

he European Space Agency.When photos of the Indian

pace scientists in the commandontrol room were released, many

were caught by surprise.Women in brightly coloured

aris exploded into applause andubilantly congratulated eachther after they successfully put aatellite into Mars orbit.

Yet, no matter how muchwomen succeed, the focusltimately falls back on what theyre wearing.

Instead of lab coats or westernusiness suits, the women werelad in saris, spurring curiousiscussions on social media.

I love that picture. Its astark contrast to the scientistsinaccurately portrayed in manyHollywood sci- lms, saysBakhtiar Bukari, a biologist andpostgraduate candidate in a localuniversity.

Biochemist Arianna Ariff addsthat to improve the cultural andvisual representation of sciencein the country, public outreach iscrucial.

We need good sciencecommunicators such as NeildeGrasse Tyson, Brian Cox andBill Nye. The media shouldimprove their standards in sciencecommunication using properterms to convey scientic dataor risk being misrepresented andmisinterpreted by the public, shesays.

A throwback to the past

Indeed, deGrasse Tysonsreboot of Carl Sagans Cosmoshas garnered a lot of attentionaround the world and reignitedconversations and interest inscience.

The science community isoptimistic that the documentaryseries will improve the severe lackof scientic literacy among thegeneral public.

Nevertheless, in Malaysia, arecently published article in a localnewspaper titled R&D syok sendiri(self-serving) that claimed thatresearch and development (R&D)efforts have failed to produceprot has irked several Malaysianscientists, including Arianna.

People have to understandthe role and purpose of R&D.Even the works of many NobelPrize winners have not beencommercialised but haveimpacted humankind in many

ways such as with the discovery ofDNA, she says.

Bakhtiar, too, was none toopleased with the report.

It says a lot about whatis expected from the sciencecommunity that universitiesand research centres are supposedto be factories chugging outvaccines or new breed of mangoesor whatever that can be sold forbillions at the end. It doesnt workthat way, he says.

He cautions that it is adangerous idea to make the publicfeel as though the Malaysianscientic community has beendoing nothing of value.

We need our own home-grown science communicators.In the UK, they have painters,astronomers, mathematicians,historians, authors and quantumphysicists as prime time TVcelebrities. It would be nice if wecould move in that direction, too,he continues.

Science portrayal in massmedia is nothing new, whether itis in TV documentaries, series orsci- lms. Stanley Kubricks 1958lm 2001: A Space Odyssey wasone of the earliest depictions ofspace exploration on lm.

The lm opens with a tribe ofherbivorous early hominids whodiscovers and uses the rst man-made tool a bone that was usedas the weapon to kill the leaderand claim control over anothertribe.

The new leader, in triumph,throws his weapon-tool into theair before the scene cuts to fourmillion years ahead to a far moremodern tool a satellite in space.

The transition in the scenesbecame one of the most infamousillustrations drawing theconnection between two objects

a primitive and a modern toolrespectively and captureshumanitys technological progressup to that point, before becoming

one of the most famous and oft-copied tropes in cinema.Although hailed as one of

the most accurate depictions ofscience on lm at that time, thelm also received criticism for itslack of female characters. But thefact is, the lm was not far fromthe truth women only becamecommonly involved in spaceprogrammes in the 1980s andbeyond.

Challenging the limits

In 1960, Dr RandolphLovelace, the chairman at thattime of NASAs Special AdvisoryCommittee on Life Sciences, wasone of the few scientists who triedto convince NASA that womenwere superior candidates for spacetravel.

Dr Lovelaces argumentsincluded the fact that the smaller-sized women would require lessoxygen, could withstand longeramounts of time in sensorydeprivation simulations andwere proven to perform better incramped spaces.

Their lighter weight wouldalso require less fuel to propel thesame distance, reducing the costof the mission.

Dr Lovelaces reasoning camefrom extensive physical andpsychological testing, which 32men and 19 women underwent.Of this number, 13 women passed,in comparison to 18 men.

How much better did thewomen fare, precisely? Onesensory deprivation test shows astriking result.

Based on previousexperiments in several hundredsubjects, it was thought that sixhours was the absolute limit oftolerance for this experiencebefore the onset of hallucinations,wrote Donald Kilgore, the doctorwho evaluated both male andfemale space ight candidates atLovelaces clinic.

However, Jerrie Cobb, one ofthe female candidates, spentnine hours and 40 minutes inthe experiment before it wasterminated by the staff.

Subsequently, two otherwomen underwent the test andeach spent more than 10 hours inthe sensory isolation tank beforetermination by the staff.

Yet, the womens involvementin the programme was short-lived.In an article by Wired , RightStuff, Wrong Sex, the writerpointed out that the women inthe programme were held toa different standard than men.Citing John Glenns memoirs, thearticle goes on to describe how

women were being forced to sitin cold isolation tanks for muchlonger than Glenn a maleastronaut had to.

During the sensory deprivationtests, the women were immersedin a lightless tank of cold waterwhereas Glenns memoirsrecounts being tested in a dimly-lit room where he was alsoprovided with a pen and paper. Helasted just three hours.

A bone of contentionno more?

The fact that women are heldto a different standard comparedto men is true even in otherindustries.

As reported by consulting rmMcKinsey, men are typically hiredfor their potential while womenfor their experience and trackrecord.

Women who actually make itin any male-dominant workplaceare in fact much better than theirmale counterparts because theyare not expected to meet theminimum requirements for therole they have to surpass theserequirements in order to even beconsidered for the job, explainsMien Ly, activist and independentlmmaker.

Nonetheless, the lm and TVindustry may be catching up.Films such as Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Gravity (2013) depictlead characters who are more thancapable in making do on their ownand who also happen to be female.

But according to Bakhtiar, it isnot just important to make sciencemore approachable but alsofor lm and TV series to moveaway from depicting the sciencecommunity as an exclusive club ofmen in lab coats.

To sell the idea that everyoneis a scientist providing that theyare inquisitive, have an open mindand willing to give ideas sterntests is the greater objective andI believe will give a far reachingimpact to the society.

It seems innocuous but ithelps to understand that unlikeclaims by PAS Youth leader AhmadTarmizi Sulaiman, Iranian Islamicauthority Kazem Seddiqi, and PASassemblyman Hasan Mahmood,tight kebayas do not cause planecrashes, cleavage does not causeearthquakes and unIslamicgovernance does not cause thespread of dengue, says Bakhtiar.

Until everyone embracestheir inner scientists regardlessof gender (or anything else, forthat matter), we may get fromprimitive tools to advancedtechnology in the material worldbut will continue to suffer fromsocial and economic inequalitythat will bog down the progressof civilisation.

Women shouldbe recognisedfor their roles

in scientificbreakthroughs.


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StarSpecial 3uesday 21 October 2014


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VC COLUMN

By PROFCHRISTINEENNEW


The importance of language learningT

HE debate about the

standards of English inMalaysia and strategies formprovement is often talkedbout on the news whethern the context of the growthf international schools, themployability of graduates or thenactment of new policies andegulations by government.

When I went to school inhe United Kingdom, languageearning was simply not a big deal.

Indeed the only language Iearnt to any standard was Latinnd while I can still read some

Latin poetry, it is not a languagehat I have found particularlyseful in my working life. I picked

up a smattering of French and

German, which makes visitsto countries speaking thoselanguages a little easier as I canat least, manage rudimentaryconversations.

The failure to acquire a secondlanguage is one of my greatestregrets. And while I am tryingto learn Bahasa Malaysia, acombination of age and workcommitments makes thisincreasingly challenging.

Of course, I do have theadvantage of being a nativeEnglish speaker and that hasprobably made me (and manyothers) lazy. English is so widelyspoken as a second or third

language that communicationinternationally is rarely difficultand in my own profession(academia), English is the workinglanguage.

The reality of our increasinglyglobalised world is that Englishis probably the most widelyused medium for internationalcommunication and thatprociency in the language is,and will continue to be, a highlyvalued skill throughout theworkforce.

So, concerns about fallingstandards of English language inMalaysia are well founded.

Remedies are more difficultto identify and implement. Thegrowing popularity of English-medium international schoolsamong the more affluent sectorsof society is, at least in part, dueto the perceptions that schoolingin English will confer longer termbenets to the children whoreceive it.

But a national language is a keycomponent of national identityand gives rise to a perfectly

understandable desire to resist the

widespread implementation ofEnglish-medium schooling.Academics have debated

the relative merits of nationallanguage schooling versus Englishlanguage schooling and willcontinue to do so.

What is much less debateableis the importance of learning alanguage at an early age and not just learning in the classroom butbeing encouraged to practise andto use the language to embed thatlearning.

Regular testing is an importantelement of the learning process,but test performance must beseen, not as an end in itself, butrather as a means to an end tohelp learners develop and enhancelanguage acquisition.

Of course, all this depends onthe availability of appropriatelyqualied teachers to ensurethat the capacity exists acrossall schools to give children theopportunity to acquire English.

And it is perhaps of particularimportance to ensure that thisapplies to rural as well as urbanschools to schools that serve thepoorer sections of society as wellas those serving the middle andupper classes.

If education underpins socialmobility, then ensuring thatchildren from lower socio-

economic backgrounds gain

the opportunity to acquireEnglish language skills must be aparticular focus of attention.

In all of this, the tertiary sectorhas a key role to play partlythrough the further enhancementof the language skills of individualstudents but perhaps moreimportantly, through its role ineducating the individuals who willteach the English language andthose who will teach the teachersof English language.

Unfortunately, it is still the casethat careers in teaching are lessvalued than careers in banking,accounting or engineering.

Such professions arecharacterised by greater prestigeand greater nancial reward andas a result, they typically attractthe countrys brightest and best.

While it might be difficult tochange the nancial rewardsassociated with differentprofessions, we all have aresponsibility to ensure that thosewho aspire to a career in teachingreceive the status and recognitionthat go with such an importantand potentially transformationalcareer.

n Prof Christine Ennew is thechief executive officer and provostof The University of NottinghamMalaysia Campus.

Premier MBA withleading UK universitySUNWAY Universitys dual-award MBAis a premier programme and is deliveredin collaboration with a leading UnitedKingdom business school LancasterUniversity Management School. LancasterUniversitys MBAs is consistently rankedamong the best in the world.

Upon completion of the MBA, graduateswill be awarded with two certicates onefrom Sunway University and one fromLancaster University.

Sunway University is a renownedbusiness education provider in Malaysiaand has been awarded the SETARA 5(Excellent) rating by the Malaysian Ministryof Education while Lancaster University isa UK-based university that is ranked in theworlds top 1% of universities.

The MBA dual-award programmefocuses on transforming aspiring managersby helping them discover the leader within.

Students hone their cognitive andcollaborative skills, judgment and decision-making abilities through application andreection.

The exible two-year part-time modularformat is designed to suit busy workingadults.

While maintaining their jobs,

participants become part of anintellectually engaging learning communityand are able to apply what they have learnteffectively at work.

This is why the programme is perfectfor Loo Hoey Theen. Currently a seniormarketing manager at a retail mall, Loosays that the programme exceeds herexpectations.

Apart from an accessible online researchdatabase, the facilities here are fantastic.Classes are delivered in the state-of-the-art

Loo Hoey Theen is an MBA student at SunwayUniversity.

purpose-built graduate centre.The university even provides access to

a nursing room to ensure my nursing needsare met, says Loo, who has a newbornbaby.

The design and delivery of thisprogramme involves a faculty of someof the best management consultants,educators and research scholars to providecomprehensive support in completion of theprogramme.

Despite the premier nature of the MBAdual-award programme, it is nanciallyaccessible. Candidates joining thisprogramme will also receive nancial aid ofup to RM25,000 per student.

n For more information, call 03-7491 8701or visit www.sunway.edu.my/MBA

ducators play an important role in the English language development of studentsn Malaysia.


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ByPROF DATUK WIRADR MOHAMEDMUSTAFA ISHAK

VC COLUMN

Training the best talentsFOR a university, one of the most crucialfactors in improving the quality of itsgraduates is a highly qualied staff.

Good-quality graduates will boost theuality of the workforce, which in turn, willoost the nations socio-economic well-being.

Indeed, the strength of an academicnstitution lies largely in its highly qualiednd dedicated staff.

While a strong grounding in subject-matter knowledge is an important requisiteor an educator, Universiti Utara MalaysiaUUM) also places emphasis on a widerray of skills, including pedagogical,dministrative and entrepreneurial abilities.

With faculty members who have vast andiverse experience as educators, some eveneing industry leaders, I am condent thatur academic staff are well-trained to deliverheir best in their appointed roles.

We send our academic staff to do theirmasters and PhD programmes at topniversities in the country and abroad,

with a strong leaning towards the top 100niversities in the world.

Apart from that, we also send ourcademic staff members who hold

management posts to high-impact trainingrogrammes organised by highly reputable

training providers within the countryand overseas, including countries suchas the United States, Holland, the UnitedKingdom and India.

This approach allows our facultymembers to have the distinct advantage ofinternational exposure.

Retention is, without a doubt,competitive in the academic industry.While incentives, promotions andrecognition for achievements areattractive at UUM, I am glad to say thatour workforce benets the most fromenjoying a work-life balance.

We regularly conduct programmes to

cover not only professional development,but also personal growth.Apart from that, we also conduct

physical, spiritual and integrity-relatedprogrammes because we believe thatphysically, spiritually and morally balancedindividuals will be able to give their utmostcommitment to their duties.

In fact, it is not an uncommon featurefor the families of our staff to participatein some of the events organised by theuniversity, schools or departments.

We ensure that human capitaldevelopment remains one of the corethrusts in our strategic plan.

Besides ensuring that it is consistentlyfocused on during our recruitment toursand promotional campaigns, we also layemphasis on it in our hiring process.

We ensure that, during interviews, thepotential employees are introduced to ourstrategic agenda so that we can recruitstaff based on our needs as well as theirreadiness to embrace our vision, missionand values.

Human capital development does notend at simply hiring staff members who arealigned with the universitys philosophyand objectives.

To ensure that the staff membersremain well-trained and equipped for theirresponsibilities, we have a comprehensivestaff development programme.

The training initiatives can be broadlydivided into two categories, namelyin-house training programmes and externaltraining programmes.

These are important to ensure that wekeep abreast with the latest developmentsin education and technology.

In-house training programmes areconducted by our own departments. Forexample, the University Teaching andLearning Centre (UTLC) conducts regulartraining programmes related to teachingand learning.

Our staff members also benet fromthe in-house training programmes runby our Human Resource Departmentwith the support of Uniutama Education& Consultancy (UEC) a UUM subsidiarycompany.

Moreover, the Institute of QualityManagement provides insights into qualityassurance and quality management.

It may seem we invest a lot of resourcesin our staff by requiring them to undergo

Retention is, without adoubt, competitive in theacademic industry. Whileincentives, promotionsand recognition forachievements areattractive at UUM, Iam glad to say that ourworkforce benefits themost from enjoying awork-life balance.We regularly conductprogrammes to covernot only professionaldevelopment but alsopersonal growth.

rigorous training and developmentprogrammes, but I believe that this isall carried out on the premise of theimportance of having the right people forthe right roles.

I have always encouraged our staffto use UUM as their platform to reachtheir true potential in their academic oradministrative roles, and the dividends ofsuch an investment are clearly evident.

I can condently say that the peopleon our staff are dynamic and vibrant.Specically, we have a large pool of youngand talented leaders who are ready to takethis university to another level at any giventime.

They are focused, hard-working andalways in pursuit of better performance.

All this is very much due to our well-crafted human capital development andsuccession plan.

Above all, we are consistent in ourpursuit of realising our vision, which is to bean eminent management university.

This outlook, grounded in our 30 yearsof existence, has enabled us to create ourown tradition and culture and promises afullling future for UUM.

n Prof Datuk Wira Dr Mohamed MustafaIshak is the vice-chancellor of UniversitiUtara Malaysia.

At UUM, human capitaldevelopment remains one of thecore thrusts in its strategic plan.


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8 POSTGRADUATE StarSpecial, Tuesday 21 October 2014

Traits ofeffectiveleadershipB EING promoted to amanagerial position issomething most graduatesaspire to achieve. However, notmany are aware of the intricatebehavioural and psychologicalcharacteristics that make uptruly effective and inspiringleaders.

There are so many keycharacteristics that make up agreat leader, depending on thelevel of leadership, the businessenvironment and so on. Ivealways been interested to lookat executive leadership andhow a leader inuences peoplesdiscretionary behaviour, saysProf Iain Densten, a prominentleadership scholar for more than20 years and current director ofthe MBA programme at MonashUniversity Malaysia.

Prof Densten adds that atan executive leadership level,one of the challenges wasnding the right motivation foremployees.

If I tell my students, If youcome to my class 10 minutesearly every day, Ill give youone extra point each time, thenstudents will surely come early.But once I stop, it is highly likelythat they wont come earlyanymore. Thats a transactionalway of looking at how to leadpeople.

This is not a sustainablemethod because youll needto keep giving rewards tomotivate people. But soonyoull run out of rewards. Sowhat leaders need to try to dois to inspire people to do thingswithout rewards, to rise abovehaving money as a source ofmotivation, he says.

Prof Denstens currentresearch interest is in using gazeto achieve leadership goals.

A person can actuallyinuence another just bylooking at him or her. So whenyou have a leader who has totalk to three or four people,how the leader uses his gazeto communicate with all thesepeople at one time is what Imcurrently looking into, he says.

Prof Densten also plans tomerge his current study interestwith an area he has worked onfor many years understandingexecutive leadership at the CEOlevel.

One of the interestingaspects I look at is socialdesirability. We all have atendency to say things that

make us socially desirable, aswe are social creatures.But for a leader, having that

need to be socially desirable canactually be a handicap. If youalways need to have everybodylike you, while having to tellpeople off when something iswrong, theres denitely goingto be a conict, he says.

Prof Densten emphasisesthat whatever the organisation,

Prof Iain Densten is the director ofthe MBA programme at MonashUniversity Malaysia.

a leaders inherent role isto mould the culture of anorganisation by creating theright climate.

When a person enters anorganisation, he or she comesin with a xed culture thatcannot be changed, but aleader can change the climate.If the employee is exposed tothis climate every day, it willeventually affect the cultureof the person as well as theorganisation.

Leadership is aboutchanging the culture of anorganisation through how theyact, how they behave and soon. For example, if the CEO of acompany is less compassionate,the organisation will be lesscompassionate.

Spearheading the launchof Monash Universitys MBAprogramme next year, ProfDensten says he is excited aboutintroducing a course that willprepare students to lead in anever-changing global businessenvironment.

Leaders need to be ableto be exible in the way theylead because it is only throughthem that an organisationwill be able to change andadapt to changing business

environments, he says.We believe that the workwe do here at Monash for ourbusiness students will preparethem for such an environment.

The Monash MBA in Malaysiaprogramme commences in January 2015.

n For more information, visitwww.buseco.monash.edu.my/ mba

Leaders need to beable to be flexiblein the way they leadbecause it is onlythrough them thatan organisationwill be able tochange and adapt tochanging business

environments.


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StarSpecial, Tuesday 21 October 2014 POSTGRADUATE 9

Prof Hii (left) and a postgraduate student using an adsorption drier.

Research to improve food processingOOD processing remains onef the most important income-arning sectors in Malaysia.One of the strategic thrusts

hat has been set under Thirdndustrial Master Plan (IMP3)006-2020 is to intensifyesearch and development inood processing to make Malaysian important regional foodroduction and distribution hub.

Total investments in thendustry is projected at RM24.6bilor the entire IMP3 period andxports are expected to grow atn average annual rate of 7.8% toeach RM24.2bil by 2020.

Various agencies andniversities are involved in foodrocessing research in Malaysiauch as Malaysian Agricultural

Research and Developmentnstitute, Malaysian Palm Oil

Board, Malaysian Cocoa Board,Department of Agriculture,Universiti Putra Malaysia,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,University Malaysia Sabah,Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,The University of NottinghamMalaysia Campus, UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman and more.

A diverse range of researchtudies are carried out to improvehe cost, safety and quality of foodroducts.

Some examples of recentesearch carried out in

Malaysia include functionalfood products, novel foodprocessing technologies, advancefood preservation, nutritionalproperties, food safety and halalfood products.

Currently, in the Centre forFood & Bio-product Processing(CFBP) at The University ofNottingham Malaysia Campus,various ongoing research isconducted under the following

four strategic research themes:l Product diversication andinnovation : Innovate and developnew food products to improvetheir functional and nutritionalproperties.

l Novel drying and dehydrationtechniques : Development of newdrying/dehydration techniques toproduce high-quality dried foodproducts.l Advance food processingtechnology : Developmentof advanced food processingmachineries/techniques tominimise food wastage andimprove production efficiency.l Bio-processing : Utiliseorganisms, tissues, cells or theirmolecular components fromboth plant and animal productsas a means to produce safe foodproducts.

CFBP has to date attractedresearch funding of more thanRM2mil and has establishedextensive linkages with local andinternational universities and

industrial collaborators.Some of its recent researchinclude zeolite adsorption dryer,heat pump dryer, vacuum fryer,dried fruit snacks (salak andchempedak), dried ganodermaand high polyphenols cocoa.

n For more information,e-mail Prof Hii Ching Lik [email protected]

At the forefront of educationG ETTING local graduates to beon par with their overseascounterparts is always an

ngoing issue. A major concernmong industry circles is thatraduates are not as skilled andompetent as the industries wouldike them to be.

Open University MalaysiaOUM) is at the frontline inerms of providing businessdministration, managementnd marketing programmesia its Faculty of Business and

Management.OUM has restructured

ts Faculty of Business andManagement to the OUM Business

chool (OUMBS). The school isow enhanced with experiencednstructors as well as soundupport and excellent students.

Pro Chancellor of OUM, Tan SriAzman Hashim, says that despiteompeting with a number ofublic and private institutions ofigher learning in the country,

OUM still has a signicantdvantage in terms of its virtualearning environment.

He adds that through the-learning system provided,tudents are required toarticipate in the online forumo discuss among themselves and

with their tutors on the subjectnd given assignments.

The Learning Managementystem (LMS) was developedy the staff of OUM when theniversity was established. Iterves as the main platform forhe delivery of content by theniversity.

Azman, who is also thehairman of AmBank Group,ays he will ensure that theelivery methods used will be the

most innovative with the use ofmultimedia and technology.

He continues that this is in

line with OUM maintainingits reputation as a top-notchuniversity.

We are making this effortso that no other insitutions cancompete with OUM in terms ofoffering quality education that isin line with the market demands.

Most students today tendto choose programmes that areconsidered easy but do not meetthe requirements of the market.This has caused the alarmingincrease in unemployment rates,he says.

Another grave concernexpressed by Azman is the poorcommand of English by morethan half of university graduates.He adds that OUM is tacklingthis issue by placing emphasison mastering the skills ofcommunication.

Azman adds that OUMBS

Administration, Bachelor inManagement and the Bachelor inMarketing.

Last month, OUMBS beganoffering the Bachelor of Bankingand Finance to meet the increasedmarket demands.

Meeting the industrys ever-changing patterns is the maingoal, in addition to producingquality graduates at the local,regional and global levels. Sofar, the number of postgraduatestudents at OUMBS has increasedbecause of operational efficiency,appropriate marketing initiativesand consistent programmequality, she says.

Dr Wardah adds that withexperienced lecturers in theelds of teaching, research andpublication, OUMBS would alsooffer additional programmesthat are relevant to the eld ofbusiness.

We also have lecturers whoare PhD holders from both foreignand local universities, she says,

adding that OUMBS strives tobe known as an institution thatcatalyses the knowledge and

critical thinking skills of a person.Academic staff and tutorsneed to be continuously trainedand upgraded in their pedagogicalskills. Learners, who are OUMsmost important stakeholders,need to be fully trained to cope intheir online learning environment.This will catapult OUMBS asa producer of innovative andcompetent graduates.

One of the universitys ongoingefforts to internationalise itscourses is the restructuring of itsfaculties.

OUM has chosen a fewcampuses to be national centresfor specic faculties. For example,the Sri Rampai branch is thenational centre for the Facultyof Information Technology andMultimedia Communication(FITMC) and the Petaling Jayabranch is the national centre forthe Nursing and Allied HealthScience Faculty.

OUMBS advantages include:l Delivery approach

50% academics + 50% industrypractitioners (qualied andexperienced) to conduct seminars.

l Community of learners Local and international studentsbenet from on-time credittransfers between OUM and itspartners.

l Flexible ow of professors between and among OUMpartners to teach students.

l Rapid updating ofknowledge in the syllabus sothat the topics discussed in theclassrooms or at seminars arecurrent and relevant.

n For more information,call 03-8922 2294, 03-2773 2211or visit www.oum.edu.my

Tan Sri Azman Hashim, Pro Chancellorof OUM.

Assoc Prof Dr Wardah Mohamad, deanand director of OUMBS.

We are making thiseffort so that no

other insitutionscan compete withOUM in terms ofoffering qualityeducation that is inline with the marketdemands.Most students todaytend to chooseprogrammes thatare considered easybut do not meet therequirements of the

market. Tan Sri Azman Hashim

graduates who wish to becomesuccessful entrepreneurs mustbe competitive and possess self-condence, including the abilityto improve their communicationskills in English.

Graduates must be willingto level themselves in the eldbecause there is stiff competitionin every business. They willotherwise be left behind.

Rebranding effortsees success

Meanwhile, dean and directorof OUMBS, Assoc Prof DrWardah Mohamad, says that therebranding of OUMBS has seena record intake of students since January.

She says that some of thepopular programmes offeredinclude the Bachelor of Business


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The Taylor s MBA is an industry-relevant curriculum that provides a balancebetween theoretical and practical education.

Affording studentsthe Oxford advantage

Business School.Students will also have the

opportunity to participate in theBusiness Circle gathering whereindustry and corporate leadersfrom top industries share theirthoughts and experiences withthe students.

This session is designed toallow face-to-face interactionand facilitate exchange of ideasbetween students and the guestspeakers.

The Taylors MBA isconducted by the TaylorsBusiness School, one of thelargest and most reputablebusiness schools in privatehigher education in Malaysia.

An industry-relevantcurriculum provides a balancebetween theoretical andpractical education based on thelatest professional standards,practices and requirementsof todays global businesscommunity.

The nal year project mustbe of an industrial-based model.

n For more information,call 03-5629 5000, [email protected] orvisit www.taylors.edu.my/mba

TODAYS working professionalshave plenty of options when

choosing their MBA education.Having an MBA givesworking professionals an upperhand to enhance their salaryand career growth.

While many MBAprogrammes consist oftraditional classroom learning,the Taylors MBA goes a stepfurther with the introduction ofthe global rotation programme.

Through this one-of-a-kind TaylorsOxfordEntrepreneurship LeadershipProgramme, students willspend between seven and ninedays from May to September atOxford University in the UnitedKingdom.

The programme wasdeveloped with the aim to givestudents access to professors inOxford University and networkswith industry leaders in theUK and students from thisprestigious university.

In addition, unlike other MBAprogrammes, the Taylors MBAmodules are designed togetherwith top industry leaders.

Students are set apartwith a curriculum that istaught by highly qualiedacademic experts and businesspractitioners, including anindustry advisory panel fromCIMB, Digi, LOreal, IBM, TokioMarine, IBM, Deloitte, KPMG,PwC, Ernst & Young and Maxis.

The case studies used in theclassrooms are related to theexperience of these companiesin the areas identied.

The learning experience isunique as it allows students towork on actual cases presentedby industry partners.

These real-life cases willallow them to learn techniquesand gain information. Plus,it is invaluable as they learnfrom past experience, saysVinitha Guptan, dean of Taylors

The programmewas developedwith the aim togive studentsaccess toprofessors inOxford Universityand networks withindustry leadersin the UK andstudents fromthis prestigiousuniversity.

A SIA e University (AeU) is aninternational institutionthat offers quality andexible academic programmes forrofessionals and working adults.

The university recently celebratedts 4th Convocation Ceremony athe Putra World Trade Centre in

Kuala Lumpur.The ceremony also saw

Kumaresan Muthusamy, an MBAraduate, receiving this years

Chairmans award. Graduateswho attained excellent academicchievement and holistic personalttributes at the postgraduateevel were chosen to receive thisrestigious award. Kumaresaneceived a certicate, trophy andash prize for his achievement.

Kumaresan has a full-time job ashe head of risk management anduality assurance at Pengurusan

Aset Air Berhad.He has 14 years of experience

n internal audit, compliance,nterprise risk management,ssurance and governance.

Kumaresan obtained hisBSc (Hons) in Economics fromUniversiti Utara Malaysia in999. In August 2012, he enrolledn the MBA programme with apecialisation in risk managementt AeUs School of Management.

It took him six years of researcho nd a university that offeredn MBA programme with apecialisation in risk management.

Kumaresan found AeU MBAsurriculum, which combinesastern and western perspectives

with a special focus on Asianusiness perspectives, relevant tois professional career.

At rst, Kumaresan felt that itwas a challenge striking a balanceetween his work, studies and

amily but the exibility in learningt AeU made it much easier for him.AeUs new approach to

ertiary education has offeredme greater exibility in learning.t has also provided me with theecessary knowledge to cope

with a challenging workplacenvironment, says Kumaresan.

Kumaresan believes that therogramme has taken him toreater heights, both professionally

and personally.He adds that the AeU MBA

programme has broadenedhis knowledge in all aspects ofthe corporate sector and thesubjects offered were benecial indeveloping his knowledge, realisinghis potential and sharpening hisability in leading others.

His advice to prospectivestudents is to invest in their futurewith the AeU MBA.

Kumaresan is condent that AeUMBA graduates have an edge overothers as they are equipped withthe necessary skills to succeed ina highly competitive workplaceenvironment.

In addition, the programmegives opportunities for studentsto improve their communication,leadership, interpersonal andnetworking skills.

About AeU

Established in 2007, AeUhas grown to become a leadingprovider of open and distancelearning (ODL) in Asia. As anODL institution, AeUs focus is toprovide accessible and affordablehigher education for all.

AeU has received severalawards, including the Brand-Laureate Awards 2010 for BestBrand in Education e-Education,the Asia Pacic EntrepreneurshipAwards 2010 in the MostPromising Entrepreneur category.

In 2012, AeU was announcedas Best ACD Project during theAsia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD)meeting in Kuwait.

AeU offers more than 40academic programmes at all levelsthrough its ve schools School ofManagement, School of Education

and Cognitive Science, School ofInformation and CommunicationsTechnology, School of Arts,Humanities and Social Sciences,and School of Graduate Studies.

All programmes areinternationally benchmarked,approved by the MalaysianMinistry of Education (MOE)and accredited by the MalaysianQualications Agency. Inaddition, AeUs programmes are

also recognised by several ACDcountries and non-ACD countries.

The university also offersmore than 200 executive andprofessional programmes throughthe School of Professional andExecutive Education, and theSchool of Technical Education,Engineering and Re-skilling.

Since 2007, AeU has had morethan 16,000 enrolments andmore than 5,000 students havegraduated. By delivering a world-class learning experience, AeUaspires to be the leader and thepremier educational hub in thepromotion of affordable qualitye-learning throughout Asia.

AeU is one of the rst fewinstitutions in Malaysia toimplement the Open Entry System.

This system awards entry toindividuals with minimal formalcredentials who wish to pursuetheir tertiary education. About 20%of AeUs enrolment is made up ofopen-entry students.

AeU has also been involvedin MOEs teacher upgradingprogramme (ProgramPensiswazahan Guru) since March2011.

This programme assists theministry in its drive to enhance thequalication of local teachers.

AeU believes that collaborationwith renowned partner institutionsabroad is the best strategy inpropelling its programmes into theglobal arena.

In line with this, the universityis actively collaborating withnumerous universities, institutionsand corporations in both ACD andnon-ACD countries.

In recognition of its pioneeringrole in spearheading e-learningin the country, AeU has been

appointed as the GatewayUniversity for the development ofinternational online and distancelearning.

This is one of the Entry PointProjects, which is part of theGovernments Transformation Planin facilitating international distancelearning.

n For more information, call 1300300 238 or visit www.aeu.edu.my

Professional bagsprestigious award

Kumaresan Muthusamy (right) receiving the Chairmans Award during the convocation ceremony.


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Post Graduate 21 October 2014