THE STAR Tuesday 21 January 2014 StarSpecial POSTGRADUATE Be the chosen one The right MBA will help to boost your career. Choice and diversity > 3 An MBA at your own PACE > 8 Engineering your future > 10 2 POSTGRADUATE StarSpecial, Tuesday 21 January 2014 The MBA’s enduring appeal HE MBA used to be the go-to tertiary Money talk qualification for those who wanted to Tdiversify their skills and move up the Obtaining an MBA requires some ladder in their careers. investment; it is one of the most expensive Nowadays, MBAs are ubiquitous, with postgraduate qualifications out there. almost every institution of higher education In a public institution in Malaysia, an offering them, and almost everyone you MBA programme can cost a minimum meet having one. of RM12,000 and a maximum of about And yet, graduates still feel that their RM30,000 (international student fees are education is incomplete without an MBA, much higher). In a private institution or and there are hundreds of career-people foreign branch campus, graduates should who want to improve their prospects by be prepared to fork out between RM10,000 getting an MBA. and RM30,000 more. Potential postgraduate candidates should What employers want consider the cost of obtaining an MBA and offset it with the potential opportunities for There is no doubt that the knowledge promotion and increased salary. and skills gained from an MBA attract the Those in larger companies may be interest of employers and open up career ensured a promotion after obtaining an opportunities. The Graduate Management MBA, but in reality, few companies pay for Admission Council (GMAC) Corporate their employees to upgrade themselves. Recruiters Survey 2013 found that the job Even if they do, this privilege is often market for holders of graduate business reserved for those in senior administrative school degrees improved last year. positions or for niches. The GMAC’s survey report states that So for most people, taking two years off more companies hired MBA graduates last from their jobs is not an option. There are year than in 2012, and there was also an options for those who must work and study. increase in the average number of new MBA Most local institutions of higher education hires per company. offer part-time or flexible studies and It also states that hiring trends last year students are allowed to extend their studies showed the greatest growth in demand past the usual four semesters. There are for MBAs compared with the year before also ODL (online distance learning) options, came from the energy and utilities, and the such as those offered by Open University health care and pharmaceuticals sectors – Malaysia, Asia e-University or Wawasan industries not traditionally sought by MBA Open University. graduates or vice versa. An MBA is for those who have considered In today’s world, an MBA can be the the next steps they want to take in their stepping stone a person needs to go from career path and are willing to spend the menial or technical tasks to strategic and time, effort and money to get it. managerial roles. A specialist MBA can facilitate the move to a niche in any given n Next month – What private institutions industry, and even to a different industry. offer RANGE OF PRICES OF MBA PROGRAMMES IN TOP MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITIES Price University Local Students International Students Universiti Teknologi Malaysia RM14,470 RM21,094 Universiti Malaya RM29,728 RM50,064 Universiti Sains Malaysia RM17,280 RM28,220 UKM Graduate Business School (Universiti RM26,800 RM39,800 Kebangsaan Malaysia) Universiti Putra Malaysia (Putra Business RM25,900 RM43,800 School) StarSpecial, Tuesday 21 January 2014 POSTGRADUATE 3 VC COLUMN Investment in an MBA can deliver real value in terms of salary and career enhancement. Choice and diversity FIRST started teaching an MBA programme some 25 Iyears ago and over that time, the popularity and diversity of By Professor MBA programmes has increased Christine dramatically. They continue to Ennew be one of the most expensive academic qualifications available but the right MBA I am much more optimistic can more than pay for itself in about the future of the MBA. terms of career progression and There is certainly much more salary improvement. Indeed, choice and diversity available to one consequence of this is that prospective students – delivery most of the well-known ranking may be offline or online or both, systems for MBAs pay particular delivered week on week or on a attention to the starting salaries block basis, the subject matter of graduates as an indicator may be general or specialised. of the quality of a particular And of course we now programme. have regular versus executive But the MBA has also had its versions of the MBA. Choice is fair share of critics; when the certainly more complex, but first MBAs started to appear at the amount of information scale (probably in the 1980s and available to aid decision-making 1990s), negative perceptions is so much greater. And despite focused on the broad-based the increase in the number of and general nature of the programmes, there continues programme, a claimed lack to be evidence that investment of depth and rigour and the in an MBA can deliver real value emphasis on practice ahead of in terms of salary and career theory. For many, the concern enhancement. about the MBA was that is just The scale of the impact was not academic enough. depends on both the quality of Such criticisms now feel dated the MBA programme and on the and short-sighted and the real extent to which the individual strength of the MBA – using really takes advantages of the theory and critical analysis to opportunities offered. inform and enhance practice – Ensuring that you have is widely recognised and valued. good managerial experience But MBAs continue to attract to build on before starting an their critics. Some now argue MBA programme is essential; that the sheer number of the essence of an MBA is using programmes on offer is eroding theory to understand and the value of an MBA. inform practice by learning Others suggest that from your own experiences and the changing nature of those of others. management roles and If you don’t already have responsibilities means that managerial experience your generalist qualifications are learning will be less effective of less and less relevance. And and that in turn will reduce the some critics simply remind us of return on your investment. the huge variability in duration, format and delivery which l Professor Christine Ennew make it difficult to have any is the Provost and CEO of The confidence in the relative merits University of Nottingham of different types of MBAs. Malaysia Campus. 4 POSTGRADUATE StarSpecial, Tuesday 21 January 2014 Taylor‘s Graduate school aims to develop productive professionals in specialised fields. Keeping programmes relevant to the industry S a leading private institution for networking and exchange of between one and four years to of higher education, Taylor’s ideas among peers from different complete. AUniversity is confident that its countries, cultures and professions,” The school’s most popular postgraduate offerings, through the says Professor Datuk Dr Hassan programmes to date include the Taylor’s Graduate School (TGS), are Said, vice-chancellor and President Master in International Hospitality aligned to the needs of the industry. of Taylor’s University. Management, Bristol MBA (Master With the introduction of three more “According to the government’s in Business Administration, postgraduate programmes, Taylor’s Economic Transformation University of West England), Master has extended its offerings to cover Programme, Malaysia will in Finance, PhD in Business, PhD in more disciplines. require access to world-class Hospitality and Tourism and PhD TGS’ latest programmes research that is inter-disciplinary, in Science. The Bristol MBA is one include the Master of Teaching commercialisation-focused and of an elite number of programmes and Learning, Masters in industry-linked to move the in the UK to be accredited by the Communication and PhD in National Key Economic Areas up the Association of MBAs. Education. The programmes value chain. Moving forward, TGS is currently open more options for working “Realising this, TGS specialises working on expanding its reach professionals who intend to in research skills development to more working professionals progress in their respective careers. and sets itself apart through by developing a blended learning its team of top academicians, approach where students will Various programmes recognised quality standards and not be required to be physically industry recognition. We aim to present at classes. Other plans TGS currently has 11 master’s develop productive professionals in the pipeline include training programmes, five PhD programmes in specialised fields who can play programmes for academicians from and three postgraduate certificates a vital role in driving the nation universities in China to ensure that in seven major disciplines – law, towards high-income nation status,” they have a smooth assimilation engineering, biosciences, business, he continues. process. hospitality tourism and culinary The school also recently arts, communication and education. Coursework and research launched a series of research “The nation’s aspiration of training modules targeting becoming a knowledge-based TGS programmes are divided into emerging scholars interested in a economy and achieving high- two main categories – coursework career in research. income status begins with and research. Postgraduate students education. Realising this, TGS have the option of studying part- n For more information on the aims to enhance the work and time, which takes between a year- programmes offered at the Taylor’s professional life of its students and-a-half and six years to complete Graduate School, call 03-5629 5000 while creating an ideal platform or a full-time course, which takes or log on to www.taylors.edu.my StarSpecial, Tuesday 21 January 2014 POSTGRADUATE 5 Datin Dr Wendy Liow, Dean of ELM Datuk Dr Paul Chan, Co-founder, vice- Graduate School.