The FINANCIAL — High achieving young Malaysians are being sought by Cambridge University's Judge Business School to enroll in its renowned one-year MBA (Master of Business Administration) programme.
And Malaysian businesses are supporting this development of 'home-grown' talent, by providing funding for annual scholarships to the most outstanding Malaysian applicants.
"Historically 4-5% of the Cambridge MBA class has come from the South East Asian region, with Singapore being the most predominantly represented country," Judge Business School reports.
"Our class size is growing and as we pride ourselves on our international student cohort, we are now looking to double the number of students from South East Asia over the next five years, especially given the economic growth of the region. We are therefore naturally delighted to be able to highlight the funding opportunities in place for Malaysians who are interested in pursuing an MBA here in Cambridge, which is ranked amongst the best in the world," said, Conrad Chua, Head of MBA Recruitment and Admissions, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
Maxis offers its internal staff the 'Maxis Scholarship for Excellence Award', as part of its extensive corporate social responsibility campaign. Each year following a stringent selection process, an applicant is entitled to undertake a full-time one-year management-based postgraduate programme at a top university in the US or the UK, such as an MBA at Cambridge's Judge Business School. Malaysians who have benefitted from the Maxis scholarship, found it was a major contributing factor to their promotion to more senior positions.
One such recipient was Su Puay Leng, an in-house Counsel at Maxis. She explained that the opportunity to study for a Cambridge MBA allowed her to expand upon her existing law background. "The flexible structure of the Cambridge MBA meant I received core training in general business management, but I was also able to select electives in areas that were of particular interest to me and my career development."
In addition, Khazanah Nasional, funds five scholarships annually for Malaysians who want to study at Cambridge University, including those who wish to pursue a Cambridge MBA.
Former Khazanah scholar, Sekar Shanmugam, Director, Sales & Marketing, Malaysian Agrifood Corporation Berhad, commented: "As a more mature student, at 41 and having had several leadership positions, the Cambridge MBA gave me the opportunity to 'go back to school' and build upon the lessons I had already learnt. It also gave me the chance to 'unlearn' some of the rigid business ideas within me. The one year curriculum was rigorous, relevant and revealing, and by the end of it I felt reinvigorated. I used to work for a global technology company where corporate decisions were made by people sitting far away in other countries. I now work for an agribusiness start-up and am part of the leadership team that makes corporate decisions that charts the future of the company. It is very exciting."
On 20 August 2009, Dr Chander Velu, Chair of the MBA Admissions Committee, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and himself a Malaysian, will be hosting an informal information session on the Cambridge MBA, where he will provide information on the admissions process and the scholarships available at the Maxis Academy in Kuala Lumpur from 17:00-18:30.
Discussion about this post