KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 (Bernama)-- Master’s students at Universiti Tun Abdul
Razak (Unirazak), one of Malaysia''s leading private universities with
specialised MBA degrees and in particular Global Islamic Finance, now have the
opportunity to be part of the International Business School Alliance (IBSA).
The IBSA, established in 2003, is a dynamically growing network of
international business schools offering a dual master’s degree.
It is a partnership among seven universities worldwide with each university
providing its own specialisation.
“The pioneers were the US and Germany and we were admitted to the consortium
two years ago”, Unirazak’s Academic Associate & Program Director, Global MBA,
Graduate School of Business, Prof. Dr. Barjoyai Bardai told Bernama.
Unirazak which specialises in Global Islamic Finance, is in the consortium
among members which include Bremen University of Applied Sciences, Germany
(specialisation: International Logistics and Supply Chain Management) and
University of North Carolina, Wilmington, U.S.A. (International Finance and
Investments).
Other members of the consortium are Advancia-Negocia, France (International
Business Development), Universitat de Valencia, Spain (International Marketing),
University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom (Human Resource Management) and
International Business School, Russia (International Management in Transitional
Economies and Emerging Markets).
COMMON CORE COURSES
Under the IBSA network, all the universities collaborate to offer a
specialised programme by each university with common courses offered by all
universities in the first semester.
The second semester is the forte of each university to offer the specialised
courses and the final semester completes with the preparation and submission of
the project paper for conferment of dual degree by both universities.
Students who register with Unirazak in the first semester could plan to do
specialisation other than Global Islamic Finance in another partner university
in the second and third semester in any of the countries.
All three semesters can be completed in 12 months.
“For example, we have a student from Mexico. She completed her first
semester in Bremen, and then came here for the specialisation in Global Islamic
Finance. Currently she’s in Mexico to do her research,” Barjoyai said.
At the end of the study, students will receive double master’s degrees – one
from the university where they spend the first semester, and another from the
university where they do their specialisation.
This is possible through credit transfer between the university programmes,
explained Barjoyai.
WORLDWIDE TREND
The trend in global learning is for universities worldwide to collaborate in
offering joint programmes that allow for learning in competitive global business
learning environment and at the same time acquire cross cultural experience.
“In line with the current global education trends, we also look at the
possibility of expanding such initiatives to other graduate programmes with
other universities,” he said.
Malaysia is the only country selected to participate in the IBSA programmes
in Asia.
Other six universities are in Europe and the U.S.A. There are plans to
expand IBSA to South America, China and Japan.
DYNAMIC COURSE
The participating universities meet twice a year to discuss curriculum
development, administration and other strategic aspect.
All the core courses are jointly developed to portray the dynamic global
business environment.
The specialised courses would then be developed by each partner institution
based on their knowledge expertise.
“To me this programme is a gateway to the global universities. For example,
student who wants to go to the U.S.A, under normal circumstances, have to sit
for GMAT, GRE, and TOEFL and then if they score, they can apply.
“But with IBSA network and common student recruitment standards, a student
can be admitted to any of the partner universities including Unirazak and study
International Finance in the U.S.A. The common entry requirements facilitate
entry to the partner universities” Barjoyai said.
NICHE PROGRAMMES
Meanwhile, the MBA in Global Islamic Finance offered by Unirazak through
IBSA network is the first of its kind in terms of international learning
experience in partner university country and Unirazak in Malaysia.
“We choose Islamic Finance as option to other specialisations since Malaysia
has been pioneer leader in Islamic Finance hub, with local expertise and
institutions to support us,” Barjoyai pointed out.
As an industry oriented programme, MBA Global Islamic Finance with relevant
industry inputs will appeal to both professionals and industry experts due to
the unique design and development of the programme.
Students are expected to undertake industry related research project as
their mini dissertation.
“With this specialisation, Unirazak hopes to attract those who are keen to
be part of the Islamic finance community as professionals, practitioners and
academics with international graduate programme exposure,” he said.
For example existing Master students of the programme research on the ‘state
of the art’ in Islamic Finance.
BOUTIQUE UNIVERSITY
As a boutique university, Unirazak offers specialised master’s degree
programme as niche academic offerings in both its undergraduate and postgraduate
programmes.
It also position the programme as “high value-add quality programmes’ for
self learners who are enterprising and willing to innovate to lead.
High potential executives from the industry are the prospects for the
programme.
Similarly highly qualified academic and professional teaching team are
pooled to share academic and industry experience.
With a dual master’s degree, international cross cultural learning
experience, and specialised knowledge attained through MBA, Unirazak’s MBA
Global Islamic Finance quoted in Euro, is affordable to those who invest in high
quality value education.
Other MBA specialised degree programmes offered by Unirazak are MBA in
Retail and Hypermarket - a specialised programme designed to cater the need and
demand for executives and managers in retail and hypermarket, MBA in Services
Management, which focuses on various segments of service sector, and MBA in
Leadership which supports corporate talent management and succession planning.
-- BERNAMA
SOR PR
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