CEDAR Retreat Session

Today the first retreat began between 5 universities and CEDAR (Centre for Entrepreneur Development and Research) for case studies development and collaborative industry research. To me, this is a very refreshing and exciting initiative that reflects the importance of bridging the industry and academics towards the development of our country. Apart from writing journal articles or chapters in books, this effort is another way to show impact on the society.

Collaborations with the Industry

Recently our Faculty has managed to engage in collaborative partnerships with two prominent industry players in Malaysia - the SME Bank and Petronas Leadership Center. The collaborations focused mostly on research outputs such as journal publications and case studies. For once, it began to feel like a business faculty. I hope more collaborations will materialize in the years to come. Now is the time for the academics and the practitioners to join hands for a better future. Synergy. So simple a word, and yet we ignore acknowledging the true impact of its power.

Seminar Pembangunan Kepimpinan Pembelajaran dan Pengajaran Pengajian Tinggi

MOHE had conducted a seminar on the leadership development in learning and teaching in higher institutions at AKEPT last week. The areas discussed were quite interesting. Among the presentations include Understanding Learning, Learner Diversity and Interactive Lecture. One remark that caught our attention was a study that highlighted the social sciences students to be deep learners as opposed to sciences students who were deemed to be more of surface learners. At night, discussions continued on the Student Centered Learning approaches including Problem-based Learning and Case Teaching. So far most studies only considered perspectives from the academics and students. In my opinion, the industry people should be engaged for feedbacks as well. Otherwise the danger is that we are going to create products that nobody will want to buy. Still.. this is a good start.

Workshop for Student Centered Learning (SCL) Techniques: Case Study

Universiti Putra Malaysia has created more opportunities to further enhance the faculty members' skills on student centered learning approaches for the year 2013. The workshop is meant for two days. One of the session includes case study technique. At the end of the day, the members are hoped to not only know how to use case studies, but also know the way to write case studies. The sessions on case study are conducted by Tn Hj Yaakob Ibrahim and me. Other techniques include problem based learning and modular approach.

The Razak Roundtable: Creating Brand Power for Countries and Companies

The Razak School of Government (RSOG) has managed to spark interesting and at one time emotional discussions around the subject of creating Malaysia as a brand. It was mentioned that this country said to already have a brand like 'Malaysia Truly Asia,' has done a pretty good job especially in the Tourism industry. But there is also the need to distinguish the brand created in Tourism and the brand of the country overall. A country brand is a message that the country believes in and is willing to deliver. Otherwise it can be merely a marketing gimmick that is difficult to sustain overtime. Further discussions also touched on issues of transformational leaders and brand communications. Among the speakers were Dr Andrew White, Associate Dean of Said Business School; Mr Kamran Khan, Program Director of the World Bank Group; Mr David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance Plc; and Mr Kam Raslan, Author, Columnist, and DJ of BFM Radio. The closing keynote speaker was our Deputy Prime Minister,Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.