FEBRUARY- MARCH ISSUE 2015
Bi-monthly Magazine | Issue 25
by
BEYOND EMPLOYABILITY Professor Dr Zaini Abdullah
Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
MORE IN THIS ISSUE: ISSN 2232-0342
FEATURED
BUSINESS SEGMENT
The Mathematics behind Everything Dr Goh Yong Kheng, Head of Programme (Master of Mathematics) at UTAR
MEET THE PIE-ONEERS A Pie Thing, the brainchild of Alex Yeo, Irene Ho and Chrisanne Oh
PP17103/19/2014 (030736) 2015 Issue 25/ 2015 FEBRUARY- MARCH Issue RM7.00 9772232034009
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THE MATHEMATICS BEHIND EVERYTHING Professor Dr Goh Yong Kheng Head of Programme (Master of Mathematics) at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
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EDITOR’S NOTE
EDITOR’S NOTE As an undergraduate, I thought of “university” as a primarily as an incubator to churn out students with strings of A’s that could help them secure a job upon graduation. Two years as editor for MBA Edge Postgraduate, however, have caused me to revise and enlarge that definition, for the better. If you look at universities in Malaysia, for example, they continue to offer traditional courses such as history, philosophy, economics and the sciences. But these universities have also actively developed new courses to respond to emerging market demands. In the process, many have changed the landscape in research and knowledge transfer. One of the most successful local examples is Universiti Teknologi MARA, the first local university to start a Business course in Malaysia. Back in the 70s when it was known as ITM,
it started the MBA programme in collaboration with Ohio University, who brought with them their syllabus and shared their expertise, before launching the local university launched its own MBA in 1998. It’s necessary to adopt a more holistic approach to produce passionate graduates who champion their fields and are in it for the “long game”, says Prof Zaini, as opposed to just high-achievers with a string of meaningless A’s. It’s a description that reminds me of Dr Goh Yong Kheng, Head of Programme (Master of Mathematics) at UTAR. Mathematics was a subject I dismissed as high-faluting and not very practical, to be honest, but one hour with the passionate Dr Goh converted me into a believer that mathematics was an underrated vehicle to “produce more of people we need in the future.”
If anything, Dr Goh has put The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, two Oscar-nominated movies about mathematicians who changed the world, on my to-watch list. Lastly, we also got up close and personal with the founders of A Pie Thing, the much buzzedabout artisanal pie shop started by three enterprising twenty somethings Alex Yeo, Irene Ho and Chrisanne Oh. Find out first-hand what it takes to transform a great concept into a viable business. (Hint: a lot more than the ability to make great pies). On that note, I trust you’ll find this issue a tasty and fulfilling read.
Alexandra Wong 5
CONTENT
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COVER STORY BEYOND EMPLOYABILITY
Look beyond employability is the clarion call from Professor Dr. Zaini Abdullah, the future-minded Dean of Universiti Teknologi MARA’s Faculty of Business and Management who is pursuing a loftier agenda – to create a nation of entrepreneurial-minded leaders and thinkers.
Featured
Events The Mathematics 28 behind Everything Dr Goh Yong Kheng, Head of Programme (Master of Mathematics) at UTAR throws his hat into the ring and reveals that not only is mathematics an utterly viable career option, demand for highly trained analytical thinkers in the job market is surging.
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STAR Education Fair
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1600 Pandas World Tour In Malaysia
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CONTENT
FEATURED 46
VUMBA: WORK-RELEVANT MBA Dr Hendry Ng Head of VUMBA programme, Sunway College KL
MEET THE PIE-ONEERS
It takes follow-through, persistence and a huge amount of entrepreneurial drive to transform a great concept into a viable business. One good example is the buzzed-about artisanal pie shop A Pie Thing, the brainchild of Alex Yeo, Irene Ho and Chrisanne Oh, twentysomethings who left secure jobs to dive into the unknown territory of food and beverage.
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BUSINESS SEGMENT Interview Syazali Bin Zambri
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Chong Hoc Mun
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Badrul Hisham bin Zainal Abidin
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Shanthan A/L Sanmugam
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Clarence Chee Chow Liu
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Shalini Patten
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Ang Kok Sze
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Saranya Thangarajah
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Tennii Cheah Kar Yeng
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Yap Ying Ying
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COVER STORY
BEYOND EMPLOYABILITY L ook beyond employability is the clarion call from Professor Dr. Zaini Abdullah, the future-minded Dean of Universiti Teknologi MARA’s Faculty of Business and Management who is pursuing a loftier agenda – to create a nation of entrepreneurial-minded leaders and thinkers. His approach is perhaps unsurprising for a university that, despite its business focus, espouses a holistic education driven by an “entrepreneurology agenda” that caters for entrepreneurs as well as those who join the corporate world. MBA Edge Postgraduate speaks to the straight-talking professor.
Professor Dr Zaini Abdullah brings a wealth of experience to his role as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)., Zaini made the transition to UiTM after working for KONTENA NASIONAL BHD and PERNAS SIME-DARBY shipping. Throughout his illustrious tenure in UiTM, he has served in various leadership roles including Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, Deputy Director of Centre for Asean Studies and Assistant Vice-Chancellor, UiTM International Centre (UIC). Between 2003 and 2007, Dr Zaini served as a fellow at the Institute of Knowledge Advancement (INKA). A native of Butterworth, Dr Zaini studied at Penang Free School and began his tertiary education in UiTM, before pursuing a degree in Business Administration, majoring in Transportation and Logistics at Western Illinois University, USA, and obtained his MBA from the same university in 1986. His doctoral qualifications in TQM-based performance Management was gained from a twinning programme conducted by the University of Memphis, USA and Universiti Utara Malaysia.
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COVER STORY
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COVER STORY
Q01
Dr Zaini, in the last issue we ran an interview about the challenges of churning out employable graduates. What is your take on that?
Our country is very much concerned with the quality of graduates which translates into employability. UiTM, generally, and the Faculty of Business & Management, particularly, has a high alert rate on this issue. Graduate employability is an issue close to our core business. As with all other universities we face challenges too. However, the findings on Jobstreet, come from Jobstreet which means that the statistics churned out came from job seekers who go on the portal looking for employment. For big universities like us, we have got our own Jobstreet.
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One of the contentions was that as far as bumiputera students are concerned the second call for interview, the rates dropped significantly.
Our statistics are more encompassing because we have many students who engage in the survey as it is more accessible to them.
When you talk about going for job interviews, why is that bumiputera students don’t get called for the second interview? This means they failed the first interview. I mean if you make a general conclusion, it would be that. But our argument is that many of those who went for the first interview, either they already got the job the first time so there wasn’t any recall, or the other thing is, they decided not to come for the recall because they’ve already got some other opportunity.
Q02
So it could be other possibilities which surveys don’t take into account.
Let’s go back to the sample. For the Faculty of Business in UiTM, the reported unemployment rate is 32% across the board. There are other faculties with greater percentages of unemployment. However, If you compare this to our Faculties of Pharmacy, Dentistry and Medicine, their graduates would certainly gain faster employment on the first call because there is a national need for doctors, dentists and pharmacists. It is also important to bear in mind their smaller student intake number which is approximately 60 students. The Faculty of Business, on the other hand, our student intake for Shah Alam alone comes close to 600 per intake. So you can imagine the numbers we are dealing with. If you say 32% unemployed, the term unemployed is in the context of six months after graduation, which is to say, the University
senate says “All right. We’ll pass this student with Honors”. So the minute the student gets that, we start counting the time it takes for the student to find employment. As far as employability is concerned, the parameters of period have to be clearly defined. Is it 6 months upon the students receiving their results or 6 months upon graduation. This makes a lot of difference in the number game. Interviews alone can take 3 months. There will be recall and the bureaucracy of waiting time, not every organisation has the time to call you for an interview from day one. The issue is focusing on percentages but not taking into account numbers. 32% may be high in the context of percentage but if in numbers 32% could only be a few hundreds.
Q03
So it’s pretty hard to conduct an objective study because they’re so many factors and variables.
My belief is that people who choose to pursue a postgraduate degree are those who want something better than what they already have. They’re looking for more gainful engagements. They’re doing it in the hopes of being able to score better positions in companies because a better position means better pay.
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COVER STORY
Q04
There is a rising trend of young people with no prior business education or experience setting up their own businesses and becoming very successful. In this context, how valuable is a formal business education? What additional value would they be able to gain from a formal business education?
As far as the Business Faculty of this university is concerned, we pursue what we call an “entrepreneurology agenda”. It has always been the clarion of the ministry because when there’s difficulty in finding jobs, people will then create their own. But to create entrepreneurs, we need to first create an entrepreneurial mindset and environment. Anyone of us can be entrepreneurs if we put our hearts to it. Opportunities are all around us and if you’re willing to take the risks involved. Entrepreneurial risks are very high because it is basically going into unchartered waters. But in
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going for these opportunities, your chances of success are far greater with knowledge of the rudiments of the business entity. This is where the education in business becomes pivotal. What universities can do is create the climate or ecosystem of entrepreneurship to nurture the entrepreneurial mindset. In UiTM, in the early 70s, we first started the entrepreneurology agenda with the aid of the World Bank to have what was then called Malaysian Entrepreneurship Development Center (MEDEC). The idea was not to teach
entrepreneurship but to get students and people from the industry particularly women and tell them why they need to be entrepreneurs. How we can help them and how we can engage them with successful entrepreneurs etc. But over the years, the entrepreneurship agenda has become so important that we started incorporating it into our curriculum. We then designed a course called Entrepreneurship in the 80s which is compulsory for every student to go through whether you are an engineering student or working for your medical degree.
COVER STORY
Q05
Isn’t that rather unusual for a local public university?
Yes. But we did it because the agenda of the ministry is for us to teach them how to fish. We started it simply because we wanted to create entrepreneurship opportunities for students from other programmes and not just the ones from the business faculty alone.
Q07
Did you face any objections?
There naturally was resistance, which is normal when change occurs. We got our fair share of students from other faculties who question the relevance of the entrepreneurship course. This was overcome by closing the gap, efforts of meeting all stakeholders and disseminating correct information. After MEDEC, it became known as Malaysian Academy for Small Medium Enterprise (MASMED). We moved from development to small medium sized entrepreneurs because it was our plan all along to respond to the national agenda of creating more SMEs.
Q06
That’s farsighted.
It was, for way back then.
But to create entrepreneurs, we need to first create an entrepreneurial mindset and environment. Anyone of us can be entrepreneurs if we put our hearts to it.
Q08
A plan which had foresight, because today, 99% of business establishments in Malaysia are SMEs. As a matter of fact, even in countries like USA, SMEs provide the supporting infrastructure of business started before they grew to become corporate giants. That’s the way to go for Malaysia. How many enterprises or large-scale businesses can we create in terms of start-up? You have to start small. MASMED was never an academic unit but more of a service unit. It serves the whole university and serves the agenda of entrepreneurship to universities.
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COVER STORY
Q09
Tell us about the university’s academicindustrial relationships.
We have a very clear policy that everything has to link with the world of practice. If you are not connecting your students to the world of practice, you are doing something wrong. In practical terms this means we spend substantial time building industrial links. We cannot respond to their needs unless they come and help by telling us what they want out of our graduates. One fruitful collaboration is with PKT Logistics Group. As a result of the Dato Michael Tio Hull Study Trip, which I found very engaging, I created a formula:
Exponential learning =
work x adventure x discussion x fun! Recently, we had an eyeopening chat with the folks from United Engineers of Malaysia. In addition to talking about graduate employability, UEM raised the possibility of opportunities for our students to not only work in companies but also to look into opportunity of business where they can become vendors to company projects.
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COVER STORY
Q10
Are we talking about going beyond employability?
Yes, business courses have gone to another agenda beyond improving employability, but also creating employment opportunities. It may not happen tomorrow but if a business graduate can supply us all those things, the possibilities are
Q11
My question is, how are universities going to engage themselves in this?
Coming back to postgraduate studies, we have to ask ourselves, why do students go for a postgraduate degree like MBA or a Masters in Management? It is the expectation to be better than what you were before because you spent money and time
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limitless. We’re also working closely with Johor Corp, which espouses the intrapreneurship model. The organization helps its own staff to start their own businesses. These are the kinds of things that companies are looking at particularly GLCs.
doing your postgraduate. Your expectation must be a very clear one. Do you want your salary to increase? Do you want your boss to entrust you with greater responsibilities because now you are more equipped? That’s what I mean by gainful engagements.
What kind of students does UiTM take in for your postgraduate business programmes?
We have students who come directly after completing their undergraduate programme. Normally we would recommend students to have at least 3 years of working experience before they enroll into the
programme. We also take in candidates with working experience since in pursuing an MBA, working experience is an added advantage. You can then leverage on your experience to add analytical value to your learning process.
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COVER STORY
Q13
So how do you address the situation?
We have the full-time MBA which is what most fresh graduates would pick. We also offer the executive MBA where executives come for classes in the weekends and the evening track MBA where working
students attend classes after office hours.
Q14
I’ve been told that the first Business course in a local university was started at UiTM. What’s the history behind this? Back then we were known as ITM. Even in the 70s, we have been very good in terms of collaborating with universities overseas. In those days people were asking why we need to collaborate when we have our own internationally recognized homemade programmes. But we needed the collaborations because we were not allowed to award our own Master’s degree, not having achieved university status yet back then. We started the MBA programme in the mid-70s in collaboration with Ohio University, USA. We went by their templates and grading of papers fell into their domain. The degree was a conferment via the 16
collaboration of two universities. The collaboration turned out to be a very good opportunity. We went on to collaborate with other universities in the US and the UK who brought with them their syllabus and shared their expertise.
If you are not connecting your students to the world of practice, you are doing something wrong. In practical terms this means we spend substantial time building industrial links.
COVER STORY
Q15
Talk about being ahead of your time.
So that was what happened. Eventually, when we felt that we were ready to do this on our own, we parted ways with the collaborators amicably and moved on, and in 1998 the Faculty of Business and Management launched its own MBA replacing the MBA ITMOU and the MBA ITM-Cardiff programmes.
Q16
In your opinion, what’s the difference between the MBA programmes offered today with the ones back then?
We had these universities come in because they are experts in MBA, especially the MBA programme by Ohio University. To them, the first condition for students who wish to pursue an MBA is to have working experience. They went so far as to make it mandatory, because they were teaching things that are relevant to real life business-related situations.
Without working experience, students were not able to relate. So back in those days, it was only mature students who were taking the programmes. Of late though, so many universities and schools have jumped onto the MBA bandwagon that it has become oversaturated to the point where articles questioning the relevance of MBA today are being written.
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COVER STORY
Exponential learning =
work x adventure x discussion x fun!
Q17
And what would your counter argument to that be?
I’d say that an MBA is as relevant as it ever was but only if it’s done correctly with a high standard of integrity. When you choose to pursue an
Q18
And what is this reason or reasons?
MBA is not as suited to those who choose to be academics because it is designed for the purpose of actual application in the business environment. MBM is more general and will work if you’re only looking for something to add to your credentials to give yourself an edge which is why the MBM degrees offered are in-tandem with professional bodies. If you wish to better yourself in terms of vocation and have
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MBA or a Masters in Business Management (MBM), you should have a proper reason for doing it as well as being cautious in choosing a reputable university.
spent a decade or more working but realize you can’t climb any higher up the corporate ladder unless you have the necessary qualification. For that, you’ll need to up your game by getting a specialized Masters as well. An MBA isn’t focused on any one field and until the day comes when it is, what we’re doing is specialized Masters programmes like Masters in Finance, Masters in Customer Service, etc so holders of these degrees can be recognized as experts.
Q19
Is that currently a trend in academia or is it something that happening only in UITM?
When people go for Masters, they only have their undergraduate degrees. For some, their undergraduate degrees may not even be business-related. It could be general ones like Mathematics or Chemistry but it could also be specific ones like Human Resource or Hotel Management because the nature of jobs calls for something more focused. So if you have a degree like this and decide to pursue an MBA, you’re not going to do it justice because by doing MBA, it means that you are pursuing a professional postgraduate degree. It’s just a matter of how many subjects you take. But specialization is something else entirely. It comes with official professional recognition by relevant professional bodies so the certification carries a lot of weight in its intended field. For example, if your Masters is in Logistics, your certification will come from the Institute of Logistics. If it’s Finance, then I think it’d be the Malaysian
Financial Association (MFA). We design our Masters programme in this way to make them more meaningful. So on one hand, we have our undergraduate rollouts that enter the job market and are allegedly not meeting with much success, hence the issue of employability we were talking about. On the other, we have this set of graduates that have got the experience and drive to improve themselves and contribute towards the country’s need for educated professionals in the job market. And it doesn’t matter if these educated professionals hold a Bachelor’s and a Master’s that are completely unrelated as long as their Master’s proves them as qualified in that specific area of knowledge. These are the alternatives that we want to create. And for people who want a career in academics, we have PhD programmes as well and Masters by Research. The
research option is relevant for academics who want to publish papers and journal articles and need to conduct masterful and thorough researches in order to write them. It’s even more daunting at the PhD level because you need to research the subject. Findings must not stop at merely increasing the boundaries of knowledge but also how these increased boundaries can be put into practice. We are also offering a fleximode programme. A lot of people working out there don’t have the time to run the entire gamut of an 18-month programme. And some of these business executives may find that they want to learn something related to their nature of work even though they don’t hold the relevant degree. They can attend normal classes but at the same time they have to follow the lesson plan, go through continual assessments and sit for exams, if there are any.
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COVER STORY
Q20
What’s the name of the programme or certificate?
It’s called the Postgrad Certificate or Postgrad Diploma of, for example, Management. The last part will vary depending on the course a student picks. It’s modular and the student takes four subjects—which isn’t heavy— over a period of 6 months. At the end of it, they receive a Postgrad Certificate. Here, if they like, they can choose to move on the second phase which covers another four modules that are available as options within the programme, like, say, Finance or Managerial Accounting, if they want to focus on things that are more specific. And upon completion of this second phase, the student will now receive their Postgrad Diploma. The credit they would have accumulated by now would be sufficient for them to receive one. By now, they would’ve completed two-
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thirds of the full programme. If they want to run the whole nine yards and complete the last portion, then it’s into phase three. This is the phase where things become hands-on where students will have to do applied research. They start off with a research methodology class where they learn the A to Z of properly doing research. After that students are required to take on an applied business or management project that is more consultancy-based in nature complete with a supervisor who will guide the student throughout the entire process. And once that’s done, the student will receive an Executive Masters of the course they have completed. They would have done everything required of a postgraduate and the Executive Masters degree they’re holding is as good as a Masters.
Is that a recently-introduced programme?
This has already been in practice for a while in Australia and certain parts of Europe.
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I’d say that an MBA is as relevant as it ever was but only if it’s done correctly with a high standard of integrity.
Q22
What was the purpose of building a new campus?
The new campus in Puncak Alam was built because the Shah Alam campus was becoming overcrowded. The buildings were pushing up to hold multiple faculties so the government decided that we needed a twin campus here in Puncak Alam. We moved in April 2014.
Q23
Do you like it here?
Apart from the distance, this is a beautiful and serene place. There’s still a lot of nature here as it’s still being developed. The major meetings still happen at the Shah Alam campus, though.
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COVER STORY
Q24
What is your aspiration for UiTM?
I would like for the Faculty of Business and Management to be the top undergraduate business faculty. To me, what is most important and urgent is that our undergraduate rollout must be excellent. Then we will cease to have the issue of graduate unemployability.
Q25
Where would you put yourself in comparison to other public universities?
We are the first institute of higher learning that offers the most complete business programme where others may only offer a general one. We started off on a vocational platform back in the 60s before moving on to diploma where we collaborated with foreign universities and finally maturing into having our own Masters and PhD programmes. Our main thrust and focus is to produce Bumiputera professionals. Hence we are constantly innovating our pedagogy to ensure we are able to deliver successfully. We strive to make sure that quality is maintained, which is why we have endorsements from professional bodies for all our programmes. There’s also the fact that the government
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insists upon the MQA rating that, although it’s not the public sector we are grooming our students for, we still need to obtain the recognition to make our degrees accepted within
that sphere as well. The Faculty of Business & Management has and will continue to contribute towards the economic development of the nation.
I always like to tell my management team to practice the triple bottomline. The first bottomline is our focus on teaching and learning. The second is the quality of work life for our staff. It’s important that we are happy when working. The third bottomline is our community engagement which makes our faculty and university accessible to and inclusive of the public.
Q26
Here’s my last question for all our academic interviewees: what is your educational philosophy?
I believe that everyone has the right to higher education. People must be allowed to pursue what they truly like and be shaped to their greatest potential. What this country really needs are people who are passionate about what they do. That way, they would fully commit themselves to their work and in turn, the country will prosper. Instead of say, making engineers out of the top-scoring population just by virtue of their high scores, why not play the long game and entice people into developing a passion for it and give the opportunity of becoming engineers to people who successfully developed a passion for it regardless of whether or not
they are top scorers. In the process of pursuing higher education, you will naturally become more resilient and stronger in reading, writing, counting and thinking, all of which are necessary for you to communicate well. Having a PhD in say, Chemistry doesn’t mean you have to spend your life doing Chemistry. Brilliant engineers do not necessarily have to come entirely from a pool of straight-A students. There may be late-bloomers with an inherent skill for a particular discipline that, under the right circumstances, can have their interest and passion ignited. The education system should be holistic enough to allow people the option to do that.
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CENTRE FOR POSTGRADUATE & PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
MASTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
In today’s highly competitive business environment, the roles and duties of HRM professionals are very critical to the success of the business or organisation. HRM professionals need to know the latest issues, trends, legislations and best practices which can impact HR and its organisations. The attraction, retention and development of high calibre people are a source of competitive advantage for organizations today and are the responsibility of human resource professionals. This puts human resource management at the centre of business performance and a critical partner for organisational success. Faculty of Business and Management’s Master of Human Resource Management has been designed to provide human resource management professionals with a combination of skills and credentials that will enable professional development of future HR managers. The programme is offered on a full time as well as part time basis, ideal for busy working adults who aspire to academically strengthen their resume. Our Master of HRM aims to produce well-rounded human resource practitioners with exemplary knowledge and relevant expertise to operate in today’s challenging business environment.
The programme incorporates the latest trends and developments in human resources. It is delivered by leading professors and qualified academic staff who are at the cutting-edge of HR research. We invite experienced and prominent guest speakers from the private and public sectors to ensure the programme reflects contemporary and current practice. The programme involves a taught and a project component. The taught course is assessed by through a mixture of assignments throughout the semester. Once these are completed, students work on a project and write an applied management research report. This HRM report is an opportunity to apply the techniques and insights presented in the programme and bring all of the year’s learning together in a piece of work unique to each student. The Master’s programme provides a gateway to a variety of career opportunities. Graduates will go on to a specialist management positions or consultancy roles in all areas of human resource management, including employee relations, reward and recognition, recruitment, retention, and people and organisational development within a diverse range of organisations.
MASTER IN OFFICE SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT – FLEXIMODE
Master in Office Systems Management is a programme designed to provide office executives with new knowledge and insights in the field of office management and technology. This programme leverages on the unique integration of three disciplines; namely, management, information technology, and communication. The primary objective of this programme is to develop individuals at the graduate level who are capable of integrating process, technology and people. The diversified course content developed in this programme will indeed prepare individuals to link or integrate office systems with other aspects of work to enhance the organizational performance. The strength of this programme lies in the integration of three main components built into the courses; information technology, management and communication. Our programme prepares executives for the company’s top position, helping them to understand the broad functions of an organization beyond their specialization. In addition, this programme provides a niche specifically in the process driven documentation for quality diversified office systems networks.
Upon completion of this programme, graduates can apply for these positions; Office Systems Manager, Business System Analyst, Senior Executive, Corporate Service Manager, Office Systems Analyst, HR and IS Manager and Administration Manager, to name a few. Realizing the need for higher education among executives who are currently holding important positions in the organizations, this programme is offered in three stages; namely, postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma and executive master, to suit their demanding time. In each stage, the candidates are required to take up certain courses before they can be awarded with certain qualifications. To progress from one stage to another, the candidates are given the opportunity to decide whether to immediately continue their studies or later in the near future. Tagged with “Advancing Knowledge, Transforming Life”, CPPS is highly determined in providing long life learning experience to those who have high aspiration to succeed in both their career and life.
MASTER IN CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGEMENT – FLEXIMODE Master in Customer Service Management is a programme specially developed to equip customer service executives with contemporary knowledge and insights in the field of customer service management. This programme focuses on the unique integration of various disciplines in the area of leadership and strategic management, service management, marketing, quality management, communication, people management and research management to ensure that the graduates are equipped with all necessary skills, knowledge and experience to prosper in the competitive work environment especially in service industry. The primary objective of this programme is to develop wholesome individuals at the graduate level who are capable of leveraging the relationship between the organisation and the customer so that both parties could optimize the benefits gained from it. Having this in mind, upon completion graduates can apply for these positions that include Customer Service Executive, Corporate Communication Executive, Marketing Executive, Quality Assurance Executive, and Administrative Executive in various industries including Tourism, Health Related Business, Banking, Training and Education Business, and Logistic Services.
This programme is offered in normal and flexible modes. For normal mode, students are required to take up 11 courses in three consecutive semesters before graduation. For flexible mode, which is suitable for working executive with hectic schedules, students are given options to complete their master qualification in stages; namely, postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma and executive master. In each stage, the candidates are required to take up certain courses before they can be awarded with certain qualifications. To advance from one stage to another, the candidates are given the opportunity to decide whether to instantly continue their studies or later in the near future. This flexible mode programme is aligned with the national aspiration of providing citizens with life-long learning opportunity to improve their living standards. It is also in tandem with CPPS tagline of “Advancing Knowledge, Transforming Life”.
INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW Masters in Office System Management (UiTM); Bachelor in Law (UiTM)
Syazali Bin Zambri
Why made you want to study Master in Office System Management? To have better leverage in the training and consultancy Director and Owner of business. The courses offered in Altezz Strategy Resources, Masters in OSM are parallel with where I provide training and the core principles of continuous consultancy In Continuous Quality quality improvement and Improvement; Owner-Operator include aspects of management of Happy Car Wash & Auto Spa) sciences as well as incorporate the Information Technological University: advancement and its application Universiti Teknologi Mara in Office System Management. (UiTM)
Occupation:
What inspires you? My late father always challenged his children to study. His achievement of getting a degree from USM in 1977, with lack of financial support and having a wife and a family of 3 kids, always amazed and inspired me to go for greater success.
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What is your Favourite Quotes?
“Failure is not the worst thing in the world, the worst is not trying�
INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW B.Sc (Aerospace Eng.) Glasgow University, Executive MBA
Badrul Hisham bin Zainal Abidin
What made you want to study an MBA?
Occupation: Country Manager of an Oil & Gas Service Provider
University: Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM)
Brief Job Descriptions:
I’m making an important transitional phase in my professional and personal development. Acquiring necessary formal business and entrepreneurship skills in the MBA programme will differentiate me from others.
Favorite quote
Life is but a dream and a goal is a dream, with a deadline.
What inspires you? Actually, it’s my wife and my late father who inspire me.
Senior Management Executive with over 20 years experience in management, operations, business development, sales and marketing across engineering services, maintenance services, technology services, consulting services, facilities management and business optimisation solutions in the oil & gas industry. My main roles are planning, directing and controlling sales business strategies and activities as well ensuring customer satisfaction through sales planning and account management as well as employee satisfaction through performance and career management.
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FEATURED
THE MATHEMATICS BEHIND EVERYTHING Hailing from Kuching, Assistant Professor Dr Goh Yong Kheng has a Doctor of Philosophy (Mathematics) from Imperial College London and Bachelor of Science (Physics) from University Malaya. He spent two and a half years in the University of Essex where he was part of the team that handled the University’s Propagation and Remote Sensing projects. After returning to Malaysia, he subsequently joined UTAR’s roster of highly accomplished faculty staff in 2005.
FEATURED
T
he ratio of people who love Mathematics, as opposed to those who find it daunting, used to be overwhelmingly skewed. Trickier still, those who do love it generally were not encouraged to pursue the field because popular opinion undermined its applicability as a career option. The tide may be turning though, in part thanks to movies like The Imitation Game, the Oscar-nominated film about Alan Turing, the mathematician who cracked the Nazi enigma code to help push the Allies to victory in World War II, and The Theory of Everything, the film which presents the use of science and mathematics in Stephen Hawking’s ground-breaking work on the origins of space and time. Here, Dr. Dr Goh Yong Kheng, Head of Programme (Master of Mathematics) at UTAR throws his hat into the ring and reveals that not only is mathematics an utterly viable career option, demand for highly trained analytical thinkers in the job market is surging.
Q01
Why did you choose to specialize in Mathematics?
I wanted to be a scientist ever since I was young. My family isn’t wealthy but I have a mother who allowed me the freedom to pursue whatever field of study I wanted. After getting my degree, I applied everywhere to get into a physics or mathematics-based PhD programme. The Mathematics Department at Imperial College London in the UK offered me
a spot doing physics in the Mathematics Department. That was when I got truly involved with Mathematics and using computers to solve and simulate natural phenomena using numerical simulations. I am fascinated with natural sciences, be it physics, chemistry, biology or mathematics, because you can apply them to any fields.
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FEATURED
Q02
Can you give me an example of a physics problem you solved using mathematics?
In my PhD, I used differential equations and computer simulations to model patterns from vibrating a layer of granular materials such as sand or powders. After I got my PhD, I joined the University of Essex as a researcher. I was in the University’s Propagation and Remote Sensing group. My job was to extract wind information from two or three different radars while observing the Po region in Italy. This information was needed to feed into weather predictions and the project was funded under European Union Framework Projects. It may seem like a physics problem at first but
Q03
What is it exactly?
It’s the colloquial term for Data Science. Some universities are looking into offering programmes that focus on Data Science, which essentially involves how to process, clean up and analyze or model the data, and finally the raw data can be converted into useful information that could help decision maker to decide. It’s basically a marriage between Mathematics and Computing.
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solving it just require basic physics knowledge. It was more about handling data from satellites and radars. This data comes in a large volume and needed to be processed into useful information. Otherwise, it’s just a whole bunch of meaningless numbers. It seems that mathematics is relevant and necessary to everyday life. Mathematics is in every aspect of our life. And sometimes, mathematics in a particular area becomes so important that it branches out and develops into a discipline of its own. Big Data is a prime example.
Q04
The possibilities seem endless.
Yes, it is. The way the business world sees it, Big Data is akin to fashion. Everyone is talking about it. Some businesses are already zooming in on it so we need to act now or we’ll lose out. A lot of people are putting money into facilities or infrastructure to collect data but analyzing data is a different story. Data without analysis is just like iron in its ore. To effectively analyze
data we need people who are literate in handling numbers and computers. Currently, Malaysians are lacking in people who are capable of analyze data. According to a survey done in Maryland, it’s expected that we’ll need 1.5 million data analysts within the next 5 years. These are people who know statistics, can handle computing, and know how to extract information from data. It’s the Big Data revolution, so to speak.
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FEATURED
Mathematics is in every aspect of our life. And sometimes, mathematics in a particular area becomes so important that it branches out and develops into a discipline of its own.
Q05
Is this the kind of experts your Master of Mathematics programme will churn out?
It is what we hope to produce, yes.
FEATURED
Q06
Is the programme new or has it been around for some time?
It’s not exactly new, no. In the beginning, our Mathematics Department was not part of the engineering faculty. We were actually part of the ICT faculty. Our department was initially known as Department of Computer Science and Mathematics. The first degree we offered was Computer Science. Then we offered another degree in Mathematics with Computing. When I first joined in 2005, I didn’t see the connection between the two but I was lucky enough to cross paths with the external examiner for this programme, Professor Lee Sing Luan from NUS. He told me we were very lucky our mathematics department was part of the ICT faculty, because it is an excellent
Q07
marriage of two disciplines. I didn’t quite get it at first but the more we talked about how we apply mathematics in computer science, how a problem in computer science which involves a lot of data gets analyzed by using statistics, the more we realized that the degree will cater very well for the future. After that we have rolled out another Master degree in Mathematics to further emphasize the marriage of mathematics and computer science. However, the problem is the mindset we have here in Malaysia is different. If you ask someone what they think of their kids getting a Mathematics degree, the response would be something along the lines of, “And what are they going to do with it? Teach?”
How would you convince parents that there’s a bright future to be had in this too?
It’s tough because you have to change their mindsets. Usually what we do is give a programme promotional talk and try to convince them of the endless possibilities of mathematics applications. Mathematics is, in a sense, a general degree. It can be applied in different fields and it can branch out into different areas. It’s so general that when graduates come out to work, they need to
pick a complimenting specific domain area of knowledge. If they go into the petrol industry, then they will need to pick up skills on modeling chemical reactions. If they go into servicing, then they will need to pick up models that related to quality of service. When you open the newspaper, you’ll see many of the vacancy adverts do not restricts to recruiting from only one specific degree.
Most companies when they are recruiting for officers, planners, admin executives, marketing personnel, they are just looking for people with any degrees. What mathematics degree holders can offer to their employer is their numeracy skills, analytical thinking, patient, paying attention to details, quantitative and factual, and ability to pick up technical skill in short time. 33
FEATURED
Q08
How will having a Mathematics degree help you with getting the jobs that you have just mentioned?
Nowadays before we purchase anything, we read reviews first. And how are these reviews presented? They’re scored in numbers. How do you get the score? You need some kind of data collection. These are numbers. If you’re presenting a proposal for some kind of project, it has to be very convincing. And how do you convince people? You give them numbers and analysed
Q09
So the challenge is in understanding how to read the numbers so that you know the factors and such?
Nowadays, many people are so afraid of mathematics and it’s very difficult to attract people to pursue the subject. But mathematicians are exactly the kind of people we need more of
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data. It’s already implanted in the minds of Mathematics students, when they graduate, to be sensitive towards these kinds of things. It’s all about analytical thinking. Whether they’re analyzing or planning, they look at the facts and trends rather than emotional impulse or unconfirmed gossips.
in the future. Some people are saying that if we were to coin a name for this era, it would be the era of Data Science. The era that comes after would probably be the era of Data Algorithm
Q10
Facebook is a good example of algorithm usage.
If you have data and if you know how to make sense of it, then your data is useful. People are already subscribing eagerly into Data Science. Everywhere you look now, there are sensors and programmes collecting data. Websites like Google have counters and scripts collecting hits and information so they know where people are accessing from. When they have this info, they’ll know whether their website is effective and if it’s not, they’ll make changes accordingly. Google Analytic spews out a lot of data. Humans cannot handle this amount of data so what we need to do is to have a routine that will automate data analysis and generate reports. It is only possible to automate all these with the use of algorithm.
FEATURED
Currently, Malaysians are lacking in people who are capable of analyze data.
Q12
Q11
What does the course address?
It addresses mainly Applied Statistics. Our Masters programme specializes in Statistics. We thought of other specializations as well but because demand isn’t high, we
aren’t offering them. Statistics is more practical because from the point of view of companies, statistics is most relevant in their daily operations.
What do you study in Statistics?
Things like Statistical Influence, Sampling Techniques, Design of Experiments and Quality Engineering, Linear Models, etc. Statistical Inference is important as many decisions are made based on statistics from surveys and data, it is important to know the calculated stats are accurate and free from bias. Also, often the data collected is huge. It is a science and also an art to reduce this data into a manageable size and at the same time keep most of the information in the data. Sampling Techniques teaches us how to collect data under various conditions or restrictions. This is important if you’re working in a consultancy firm. They conduct surveys. So when collecting data, they need to know whether or not they’re doing it correctly because otherwise the conclusion becomes skewed. Design of
Experiments is sort of like, say, you’re testing drugs and you have several factors on which to test on. You suspect this drug may cause an allergic reaction among some people while others won’t receive any adverse effects. So how are you going to design your drug testing procedures so that you are fully in control of the factor that you being tested and avoiding false signal? How do you group your patients? How many factors affect the design? How to deal with factors that are happening randomly? Endeavors like that require statistics. With Linear Models, we learn how to study
the trends and develop models from the collected data to come out with viable business models. Do you see how broad the application of mathematics is? If it’s a specific area, we can target accordingly. But it’s not. So that’s the kind of problem we face most of the time when it comes to publicity for mathematics.
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FEATURED
Q13
What about the mindset overseas?
I came back from the UK about a decade ago, and at that time, a Mathematics degree was actually highly sought after there.
Q14
And what about here? Is it becoming more sought after here?
It’s starting to be, especially when there is more data collected in the business world and now we are starting to hear calls for skilled graduates to make sense of the data.
Q15
Lastly, what is your educational philosophy?
Simple mathematics is good mathematics. Mathematics is naturally and sometimes notoriously complex. However, if you are able to simplify it in a way that an average person is able to comprehend, then what you have created there is good mathematics.
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EVENTS
STAR EDUCATION
FAIR 38
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1600 PANDAS WORLD TOUR IN
MALAYSIA 40
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INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW Master of Business Administration
Clarence Chee Chow Liu, CFA What made you want to study an MBA? Occupation: Investment Manager at RM Capital Partners (Private Equity)
Current University: Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
Brief Job Descriptions: • Raising funds for investments from institutional and private investors • Pre-deal evaluation and analysis – Performing economic and business analysis, financial modeling, due diligence and deal structuring • Post-deal asset monitoring – Providing strategic / operational support to investee companies • Formulating and executing exit strategy, i.e. IPO, Trade Sale, M&A etc.
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The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after. Being committed to lifelong learning, education is one of the major aspects of life that I would like to pursue to the longest possible journey. I graduated as a Degree Holder from UTAR in year 2007. I would like to express my greatest gratitude and appreciation to UTAR for growing me to who I am now, and developing me to the next level in the future.
What inspire you? So long with the passion of learning, we will never cease to grow. I believe that one way to strengthen, if not at least maintain, our competitiveness is via continuous learning and education. There is a famous Chinese quote, “学如逆水行舟，不进 则退”. (Learning is like rowing upstream, it is either to keep progressing or to be washed backward)
What is your Favourite Quotes?
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW Master of Mathematics
Saranya Thangarajah What do you consider the best take away value from your postgraduate programme? I believe that the thirst for knowledge should be present in International School Teacher every individual who takes upon (Head of Department of Mathematics) any postgraduate programme. The postgraduate programme that I have selected will definitely help Current me in so many ways in whatever University: that I am currently doing and it will Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman also provide me with lots of other ideas as to what I can do in the near Brief Job future. The education process is Descriptions: always a two way process, teaching • As the Head of Department of and also learning at the same Mathematics, I am responsible time. As an educator, apart from to the Principal for the efficient teaching my students, there is running, development and always room for me to learn other performance of the department, things. Therefore, I am certain that by completing the Master in supporting all members of the department in their responsibilities, Mathematics programme with University Tunku Abdul Rahman, and directing, as appropriate, the it is definitely going to take me to work of those colleagues to different heights in life. ensure successful and effective
Occupation:
•
teaching and learning. As a Mathematics teacher, I plan and prepare lessons accordingly. Apart from that, I am also in charge of assessing, recording and reporting on the development, progress and attainment of thepupils according to the
school’s policy and schedule.
What is your advice to prospective postgraduate students to prepare for this programme?
Never give up and keep the passion going! We should do something that we are really passionate about. Only when it is done out of passion, we will definitely work really hard to
achieve our dreams. So keep the passion burning, and that spirit to learn in you should never die. Treat it like a lamp and make sure that the light never goes off.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I am confident that in 5 years’ time, I will be a PhD graduate and I will continue to spread the love for Mathematics, for as long as I can.
What is your motto in life?
‘The End of Education is Character’. I simply love this quote as this is something that I always revert back to. We must always remember that we can be a double or even a triple degree holder, get our masters and also PhD done, but all that does not matter if we do not have the right character and attitude. The more knowledge we gain, the more humble we should become and not the other way around.
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INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW Master of Mathematics
Tennii Cheah Kar Yeng What do you consider the best take away value from your postgraduate programme? Occupation: Tutor
Current University: Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
Brief Job Description: Private tuition to A-levels students taking Cambridge International papers. Teaching and guiding them to be capable of answering difficult questions, hence, boosting students’ self-confidence.
My first degree was Bachelor of Education (Maths majored), however I’ve been greedy when it comes to learning and I felt that it wasn’t enough. My current postgraduate programme allows me to ‘fill-in’ the knowledge and skills that I needed in order to teach higher level students, if, I wish to proceed to lecturing jobs. Aside from that, taking up this programme provide opportunities if I ever have a thought of going into the statistics field. The best of both worlds, postgraduate studies give me a broader choice in career, so why not?
What is your advice to prospective postgraduate students to prepare for this programme? Firstly, students have to prepare themselves mentally and physically. The pathway down the programme could be hard and you might be worn out before you even realise it but always reflect: why were you here in the first place.Secondly, time 44
management is important and never procrastinate! A laid back attitude is bad for your grades as well as in work.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Hopefully, by then, I’d be a PhD graduate and a well-travelled person!
What is your motto in life?
No one could take away your knowledge and wisdom, so learn and elevate, in a wise manner.
INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW Master of Business Administration
Yap Ying Ying
What made you want to study an MBA?
Occupation:
Finance Executive
Current University: Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
Brief Job Descriptions:
• Analyze complex financial information and reports to provide accurate and timely financial recommendations to management for decision making purposes •
Preparation of quarterly and monthly financial reports, capital expenditure analysis, industry group comparisons and other project reports as requested by senior management
• Preparation of budgets, financial forecasts • Tracking performance indicators, highlighting trends and analyzing causes of unexpected variance •
Leadership means planning, strategy, and taking the long view. In a sense, the MBA is much like studying for any advanced degree. This two-year program gives me time to step back, get away from the daily routine, and see the world from a much larger perspective. If that sounds like too much leisure and luxury, think about this – some of the biggest ideas in business came from time spent deep in thought. As an added bonus, a lot of big companies are willing to compensate their employees for graduating with an MBA.
What is your Favourite Quotes?
You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character.
What inspire you?
For me it would be my family and friends. I engage with some very interesting people on a daily basis. As long as I’m loved and adored, this is what keeps me going more than anything else in the world.
Supporting senior management and departments heads with in-depth analysis of financials and tracking the same against the budget
• Develop financial models and cost benefit analysis to support strategic initiatives • Present reports on variance analysis 45
VUMBA
WORK-RELEVANT MBA
M
odern firms need efficient managers who are critical thinkers and professional problem solvers. Critical thinking is undeniably the key competency that business organizations are expecting from their managers. Although operations managers who have risen through the company’s ranks are adept in getting routine things done, they may not be critical thinkers. And an MBA qualification is no guarantee to a top job. The question is how may business
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schools produce critical thinkers who can professionally deal with ambiguity and solve complex problems in a volatile and uncertain business environment. To achieve such organizational needs, an appropriate pedagogical approach is syncretizing the work-relevant curriculum and the students themselves. To put it simply, the students are the curriculum. Work-relevant MBA will depend on two criteria: students are working adults who are working while studying; and theories & concepts acquired in class are readily applicable in their workplaces.
FEATURED
The syllabi of MBA programmes are basically similar across different programmes. The differences are in their delivery and assessment methods which are critical to nurturing work ready graduates for the sake of organizational performance. Theory has most value when it can be explored in practice. So, the students ought to be taught requisite competences through live case studies, work-relevant workshops and coursework.
To achieve the managerial competences, the MBA curriculum ought to teach students how to evaluate business dilemmas and formulate the best plan of action. These competences include analysis, problem solving, creativity and decisionmaking. In this way, the subjects’ learning objectives are to strengthen and hone interpersonal, communication and leadership abilities – all of which prepare the working adult students for success within their organizations. For example, a competent manager does not only evaluate a business by looking at its financials, but also ask if the numbers make sense in terms of other realities. The students are taught how to conduct business research – to frame problems, ask questions, collect data, analyze information and propose & justify feasible solutions. In other words, they learn to answer more than just stock questions. Through
practice, they will be able to deal with ambiguity and create changes that help their firms to thrive in the competitive environment. Victoria University MBA (VUMBA) is a work relevant MBA programme. It has an invaluable business network of 120 active students and over 500 alumni. The subjects relevant to work include Organisation Change Management, Supply Chain & Logistics Management, Marketing Management, Financial Analysis, and Art & Practice of Leadership. SAP is used as the teaching software. Also, VUMBA provides a practical research experience after 6 weeks of workshops of business research methods, the students are enabled to carry out consultancy-based projects. Contact Dr Hendry Ng (hendryng@sunway.edu.my) for more details about VUMBA at Sunway.
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TESTIMONIALS
WHAT MAKES VUMBA SO GREAT? VUMBA alumni testify ‌ Trained as a Quantity Surveyor and an Arbitrator, I came to a point in life where I realised that technical know-how and expertise are not enough to thrive in the business world. It is important to equip ourselves with necessary knowledge and skills in order to keep pace with the ever-changing world that requires us to make better decisions. VUMBA has increased my technical skills and provided more useful insights in my career development. With convenient lecture times, learned and passionate lecturers, and industry players to share their experiences about business issues, VUMBA has given me a very good learning experience. It helped me to understand better about managing available resources, employee-relations, engagements with my boss and colleagues. It has increased my business acumen. With MBA in hand, I now have more to offer to the industry.
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Dr Sivaghami Palaniveloo, Assistant Medical Director, PMCare Sdn Bhd
Jayson Lee Jye Shyan, BBA, PMP, PRINCE2, ITIL V3 Expert, CPF, RFP, MBA ; IT Service Manager at British American Tobacco (M) Bhd.
Azita Mohamed Tahir, Head, Procurement Dept. , Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Corp Sdn Bhd.
Landing a job as an administrative doctor in a corporate company was way different from my training and work as a clinician. MBA has helped me to be more involved in the company’s direction and contribute effectively towards it. I now understand key business processes and how my decisions affect them. More valuable is meeting a great group of friends from all walks of life, making our interaction in class rich with unique experiences.
In Sept 2011, I enrolled in the VUMBA program with the objectives to gain the latest management know-how and to add value to my professional qualifications. However, it was a more challenging learning experience than I anticipated. While working full time, I was learning how to apply business concepts at work, question the status quo, and communicate through writing and oral presentation of findings. It helped me to be more professional, logical, and structured. VUMBA has been a life changing experience. Also, it opened doors to many new friendships.
TESTIMONIALS
Studying at VUMBA has been very rewarding. Prior to MBA, the professional certifications related to the industry did not quite focus on business administration. However, making the right choice of MBA is important for busy executives. VUMBA fitted my needs in terms of weekend classes, efficient administration, and personal attributes development. Thank you VUMBA. As the Senior Manager and Head of Department, I am leading a team of talented young Malaysians in product design and innovation, system testing and qualification, process and quality control, and other functions to ensure customer order fulfilment. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and Master in Industrial Engineering, an MBA enables me to relate business to my engineering work better. For instance, I am able to understand the human behaviour of my staff better and have the necessary skill to discuss with my HQ about financial and other issues.
Phoebe Than Lee Lee, Lecturer, Financial Courses Division, Sunway Education Group
Richard Ong, Strategic & Analytics Consultant, IBM
I have enjoyed myself during my studies at VUMBA. I love how the course was structured to fit my hectic schedule. It was also beneficial that the university’s facility was well equipped. My network has grown tremendously since then as I have come to meet other individuals from different industries, leveraging on their knowledge to complete our assignments. In terms of career development, I am now able to engage with my clients better. As an IT consultant to various industries, it is important for me to understand their business. The MBA has provided me that foundation of understanding to take the next step.
Steven Lim Kai Tuan, Senior Manager, BESI Apac Sdn Bhd.
Vilsonm Wong, Founder, TANYA mobile application; VP, Circlic mobile application; Director, CatchTheEye Event & Production House; Director, FRAME IT Sdn Bhd
In 2007, I decided to pursue my MBA - an investment in myself instead of property. VUMBA was my choice because of the 6-weeks-per-subject module which allowed me to be singleminded without unnecessary distractions. I was the President of VUMBA Club, which allowed me to demonstrate my leadership skill. Upon graduation, an opportunity came to be a Regional Manager for South East Asia. Now, I am an avid entrepreneur.
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INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW Master of Business Administration
Chong Hoc Mun
What made you want to study an MBA? Occupation: Human Resource Manager
University:
Victoria University (MBA) at Sunway University
Brief Job Descriptions:
I am currently leading the human resource function in the Building Materials Division of Sunway Group. Sunway Group is one of the most formidable conglomerate in Malaysia, and I am attached to a division whereby we manufacture and provide solutions to external concrete pavement design and enhancement using interlocking concrete paver and concrete compressed slab (also known as Eurotiles). We also manufacture high quality vitrified clay pipes to local and overseas market. The HR department in both companies supports the business in talent acquisition, development, training, performance management and so on. I also support the leaders in the organization on strategic human resource matters like talent management and succession planning.
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Being a science graduate working in a business and organizational management role has its challenges and excitement. One of the challenges is to learn the business and organizational aspect of doing things in terms of resource planning and organizing, management philosophy and even accounting. I had been looking for ways to improve my delivery of work and to move my career higher in the organization, and I decided to inquire into studying MBA. After talking with different people and attending preview I finally enrolled myself in VUMBA, and I am glad to have learned knowledge and skills which I can apply at my workplace. I had also wanted to learn from different industries and experience to expand my horizon and perspective. What better way to do so if not to get myself into an environment with many people from different walks of life in their career.
What inspire you? I’m always inspired by visionary leaders in my organization whenever they talk about the future. Their hopes and dreams for lives and community, their innovative approach to
business and commitment to people development have encouraged me to improve myself to contribute my value in making the community better. I am energized by stimulating conversation and discussion too.
What is your Favourite Quotes?
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart� (from the Bible)
INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW Master of Business Administration
Shanthan A/L Sanmugam What made you want to study an MBA?
Occupation: Assistant Manager, Special Review and Investigation, Group Internal Audit Division, UMW Corporation Sdn. Bhd.
University: Victoria University MBA (VUMBA) at Sunway
Brief Job Descriptions: At present, I am leading special review and investigation teams at UMW Corporation. My job revolves around various industries and processes which requires varied knowledge and multiple skillsets. The best way to progress in my career line is through education i.e. I have acquired several qualifications in various fields such as accountancy, internal audit, information system auditing and risk management. My dad, Mr. Sanmugam Ehanbaram is also a key inspiration for me to constantly improve myself as at the age of 57, he is still pursuing his PhD.
Prior to joining the VUMBA, I benchmarked several MBA programs to find the most suitable MBA one. VUMBA stood out as the most value for money option. This well recognised program has a great syllabus which concentrates in improving both hard and soft skills at a very reasonable price. According to the CEO Magazine, VUMBA ranks at No.1 in Australia and No.6 worldwide. The students will be educated by visiting professors from Victoria University, Melbourne and local facilitators. Besides that, VUMBA is a great place to build network as there will be students from various industries and also from foreign countries. VUMBA classes are held over the weekends which enable working adults to be part of this great program. Another key highlight of VUMBA program is the sharing sessions by seasoned practitioners which
help us to relate the theories learnt in the class to practical experiences. On a separate note, VUMBA is priced at a very affordable range as compared to the other programs offered by top universities in Malaysia. Furthermore, as VUMBA is MQA certified, the Malaysian students also eligible to get a RM10,000 grant from government. Exemptions are also given to ACCA, CPA and CIMA members, which further reduces the cost of this program. In nutshell, I am proud to be part of this great program and would definitely recommend my friends to join as well.
Favourite quote
Learning is a lifelong journey and we should always embrace changes to be a better person.
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INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW Master of Business Administration
Shalini Patten
What made you pursue an MBA? Occupation: Research Analyst
University: Victoria University (MBA) at Sunway University
Brief Job Descriptions: Researching specifically assigned individuals using open source intelligence methods. I conduct secondary research, including hypothesis testing based on your own and research department techniques, factchecking and verification of data gathered, assembly of the information into a substantial profile including writing numerous narrative components. A substantial portion of the research is financial, including financial statement analysis and valuations, as well as relationship identification.
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As the holder of a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance, I want to enhance my qualifications and to further my current career by moving in a management position. The leadership skills and management expertise that I acquire will enable me to make the best use of my abilities in my job. This will also allow me to acquire new skills. MBA degree suits various industries ranging from human resource to marketing, and accounting, amongst others. Being the holder of an MBA enables one to become flexible and to explore new avenues in the various fields and industries. I am looking forward to being part of that network of MBA professionals.
What inspires you? As an MBA student, I am constantly inspired by the lecturers and professors to learn, do well and to make a difference. In the constant changing business world that we live in, as an MBA student, I am being taught
how to implement change management, develop new and creative ideas and find solutions to challenging problems. An important motivation is the personal self-satisfaction and fulfilment that I will have once I complete the MBA.
What is your Favourite Quotes?
‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.’ Nelson Mandela
INTERVIEW
STUDENT INTERVIEW Master of Business Administration
Ang Kok Sze
What made you want to study an MBA?
Occupation: Accounting Manager at Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia
University: Victoria University MBA (VUMBA) at Sunway
Brief Job Descriptions: I am responsible for all areas relating to financial reporting, taxation, yearend audit preparation, implementing GST project and other matters relates to accounting. Currently, I am supervising four accounting staff and responsible to manage the team to ensure the task is properly allocated and completed in a timely manner. I response to inquiries from internal and external stakeholder such as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), operation team, bankers and other stakeholder with regard to financial result and other special reporting requests.
I never thought that I would pursue Masters in Business Administration (MBA). A best friend of mine, Shanthan Sanmugam from UMW persuaded me to start MBA with him which was offered by VUMBA. Upon commencing my MBA, I found out that VUMBA course is a valuable learning experience for my career. I really enjoy the fruitful interactions and knowledge sharing with the classmates and the professors during the class. VUMBA program help me to bridge the missing gaps and link the different business topics together which eventually leads to a very interesting experience. VUMBA is giving me a coherent picture pertaining to the business operation by embedding various subject matters such as finance, human resource and marketing.
fruitful exposure via the sharing sessions by seasoned practitioners. This session equip me with the real life examples and latest business skills which I could apply in my career. These sessions allows me to understand the complex business issues and to think strategically. I would like to thank my best friend, Shanthan Sanmugam and Sunway University for extending this golden opportunity to me for gaining numerous knowledge and skillsets from this excellent course.
Favourite quote
Nothing is impossible, work harder and create miracles.
Besides that, as VUMBA student at Sunway, I am also given
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STUDY AUSTRALIA'S TOP RANKED MBA AT SUNWAY Victoria University's MBA degree is ranked 1st in Australia and 6th Globally* * MBA rankings are based on International Graduate Forum (as reported in CEO Magazine) Australian MBA Rankings Winter 2013 and Global Top 20 Rankings 2014.
• Flexible modular 18-month programme • Visiting lecturers from Victoria University • Weekend classes • Modern Graduate Centre with excellent teaching and learning facilities • Hands-on SAP workshops • Subject exemptions for CPA, ACCA, and other professional qualifications holders • Malaysian students may apply for MoE MyMaster grant of RM 10,000
Date : 4th April, Saturday Time : 11.00am - 12.30pm Venue : Function Room 5, Graduate Centre, Sunway Campus RSVP : sunway.edu.my/college/vumba/preview
JPT/BPP(K)(R345/7/0410/A3294)12/18
DK265-01(W)
kavithaa@sunway.edu.my
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BUSINESS SEGMENT
CREATIVE | ENTREPRENEURIAL | OUTSTANDING
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BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS SEGMENT
MEET THE PIE-ONEERS
I
t takes follow-through, persistence and a huge amount of entrepreneurial drive to transform a great concept into a viable business. One good example is the buzzed-about artisanal pie shop A Pie Thing, the brainchild of Alex Yeo, Irene Ho and Chrisanne Oh, twentysomethings who left secure jobs to dive into the unknown territory of food and beverage. MBE Edge Postgraduate speaks to two of its founders about their business concept, challenges and hard-earned, far-from-overnight success.
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BUSINESS SEGMENT
Q01
You haven’t been open long. And yet, the buzz that A Pie Thing has managed to generate is amazing. How did that happen? It’s been only slightly more than half a year since we first opened for business. I think our buzz is largely due to Malaysians being fascinated by new things. If it’s somewhat new, somewhat interesting, they’ll definitely get excited.
Q02
How would you describe your concept?
Simply put, we are a quick-service pie specialty shop. When you see the name A Pie Thing, what pops into your head immediately is a hearty selection of savory pies with toppings and gravy that get served to you quick and piping hot. After that, you may also recall that we also serve up some pretty sinful dessert pies as well.
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BUSINESS SEGMENT
Q03
Was the whole topping concept something you came up with or is it something that’s originated from elsewhere?
Savory pie drowning in gravy served with a side of mashed potatoes and mushed peas is as British as they come. It’s in Australia that this innovative Aussie guy decided to top the sides onto the pie itself and it’s that concept that we’re essentially following and brought into this country.
Q04
So why pie? I mean, new may be exciting and all but there’s never any guarantee as to whether people will take to it. Yeah, I guess risk is just not something one can avoid when attempting something new. Truth be told, before the idea for pie pinged our radar, we were actually considering bagels
Q05
Do you know a lot about pie?
Not when we first started out, nope. Honestly, even now, calling ourselves pie experts would be a stretch but you know what? We love food. We know a lot about food in general. We know what tastes good and what doesn’t. Irene here knows how to cook and our other partner already knows how to bake dessert pies. I had pie when I was in Australia. 58
THE CEO SEGMENT
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BUSINESS SEGMENT
Q06
And with this somewhat skeletal knowledge of pie, you decided to forge ahead and made it your one product.
Yeah, so we thought, why not pie? It’s not difficult to make, it tastes awesome, there’s nowhere here that allows you access to a good variety of honest-to-goodness savory pies, and so it seemed like a very good option. The market is practically overflowing with burger joints now and if we were to try to get a slice of that pie, we’d likely go home with maybe only some crust crumbs, if even that. So why bother with competition at all when there are so many other unexplored options we can choose from? And I have to say, right now we’re doing pretty all right.
I guess risk is just not something one can avoid when attempting something new.
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BUSINESS SEGMENT
Q07
What triggered the switch into business?
The same as anyone who’s ever switched from one field or industry to another, I suppose. Especially when you’ve switched to the food industry, it’s usually the desire for something adventurous and new, the love for food. I’ve always harbored the ambition of venturing into my own business anyway and once we felt the time was right, and while we’re still relatively young, we took the plunge. It’s not like we were bored with our lives or anything flippant like that. It’s just that, at this point in our lives, we are still not burdened by heavy commitments and responsibilities. You know what it’s like. The older you get, the more tied down you become. And the more tied down you are, the less you’re able to take risks. By this point, you’d have more than just yourself to answer to. You’d have a family to support. You’d have bigger loans to pay off. Doing this now when we’re still not yet saddled with the kind of responsibilities we would be later on in life, should we, knock on wood, fail, we’d have an easier time recuperating ourselves.
Q08
Did you get any of that?
Q09
How did you fund your business?
Yeah, definitely. And then you start to doubt and to fear because you’re not just sinking in money, you’re sinking in a whole part of your life. We had to quit our jobs. Older people around us who meant well would ask if it’s really wise, if it isn’t better to wait a few years. But then we think of these young people who have made it and we thought, why not us, too?
With our own funds. That and we borrowed some from our family, since the investor approach didn’t pan out and getting a loan from a bank proved to be way too much hassle. We worked for a while because we needed to have enough funds to start this business. It took us years to save up. I wanted to gather some work experience before I get into business so I had a day job for about four years.
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BUSINESS SEGMENT
Q10
What were the major operational costs of the business?
The major cost was for purchasing equipment, such as the coffee machine, display counters and commercial ovens. Next came the renovation cost and rental deposit, which took up a chunk of our start-up capital. Monthly operational costs include rent, staff wages, utilities and raw ingredients.
Q11
You mentioned earlier that the whole process of setting it up took a year and a half. What are some of the toughest challenges that you have had to overcome? The production, definitely!
When we started out, there were just the three of us. We were all still new to the business and we were all basically just a bunch of youngsters trying to swim so we don’t sink. I won’t lie to you. In the beginning, we were in over our heads. We didn’t know that the demand would come so quickly and so heavily so we had a hard time trying to cope with meeting it. We had friends and family helping us out during rush hours but we only had two people in the kitchen. Irene here handles the savory pie filling and there’s a pastry chef that we hired as well.
But then we think of these young people who have made it and we thought, why not us, too? 62
BUSINESS SEGMENT
Q12 Especially when you’ve switched to the food industry, it’s usually the desire for something adventurous and new, the love for food.
How was business in the beginning?
Well the first week was slow, obviously, but it was all right. It was still no cakewalk though because we were still finding our sea legs and planning out processes and such, like how long to bake our pies for and when to start baking them. We had to learn all that as we went along so there were a lot error risks. It’s different when you’re doing it at home because you’re only making a very small quantity. Here, we’re making large scale batches so it was a completely different monster. Which culminated to situations where we ended up keeping our customers waiting for over an hour in our first week of business. I suppose there’s no helping it though, when we’re all new hands at this. What matters is we’ve learned from our mistakes, and are still learning as we speak.
Q13
What kind of things do you need to plan for in a business such as this one?
Demand, for one. We prepare about 250 pies on weekdays and 350 on weekends because that’s the maximum we expect to sell at this point.
Q14
How do you decide on the pricing?
We try to keep individual items below RM20, somewhere between the high-end fare and budget street food. There are general rules in the F & B business where you factor in the cost and mark it up a certain percentage in order to make a profit. If you ran a search on the internet, you should be able to find the information easily.
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BUSINESS SEGMENT
Q15
Is there anything you’d like to impart to young would-be entrepreneurs so they’d be able to draw a little from your experience?
Take the time to plan thoroughly to make sure that the results are as close as possible to what you have envisioned. Also, don’t overcomplicate the concept because that will only end up detrimental to your brand and your business. Keep it simple so people can grasp your brand easily and identify you quickly. In the process, you might stray from your initial idea. Make sure you reel yourself in and keep to the one you first envisioned because chances are, that is your jackpot. And before you open your doors to your very first customer, tie everything about your business back to your concept and make sure there are no loose ends. Passion is important when you’re doing your own business. When you strike out on your own, I don’t believe you can be half-hearted about it. There are some business owners who choose to keep their day jobs and only run their business part-time. That’s probably extremely difficult to accomplish because running a business demands so much of your time and attention that you pretty much have to dedicate yourself to it.
Q16
What does your family think of your success?
They’re very happy for us. And proud. My parents are business people themselves so they didn’t outright disapprove when we said we wanted to start our own business. They were just worried for us because they know how tough and risky it can be. I’m pretty lucky because I have them to turn to for advice whenever I need any.
Q17
Finally, how close was A Pie Thing to your original concept? Was it exactly what you imagined it to be? It’s very close, as a matter of fact. We’re really quite happy with what we have now.
A Pie Thing 128G, Jalan SS21/35, Damansara Utama Petaling Jaya. 64
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