Revitalising the arts and social sciences
IN a world currently undergoing rapid social, political, and technological change, insights into human behaviour – although sometimes complex and unpredictable – become more important.
The Monash University Malaysia’s the School of Arts and
Social Sciences (SASS) has a longstanding commitment to studying such social transformations.
Scholars at SASS constantly generate fresh insights into behaviours of people, groups, and institutions.
These understandings are core to what makes the school tick and as it celebrates its 10th anniversary, these ideas are the essence of what SASS imparts to students.
As the new head of school, Prof Helen Nesadurai focuses on developing this, as well as other existing strengths of the faculty.
“I am not looking to radically transform the school’s direction as we have a strong foundation,” she said.
“We carried out a few initiatives last year to take things forward in terms of both teaching and research. I see my role as helping to facilitate this, and also to provide direction for more changes that we will need to make to revitalise the curriculum.”
One such ongoing initiative involves rejuvenation of the Bachelor of Communications and Media Studies programme.
The course, one of the school’s most popular, will be fine-tuned to incorporate a digital focus that equips graduates better for communication careers that are increasingly public, networked, and digitised.
To build on its humanities offerings, SASS will be also introduce a new Screen Studies major and a Creative Writing minor.
The school will continue to take steps toward bridging the gap between academia and industry.
Students will soon have access to a dedicated graduate placement scheme with one of Kuala Lumpur’s leading think tanks, where they will conduct original research and have their work published.
Those enrolled in SASS’s new Workplace Integrated Units, which have close ties to industry work, will also have the opportunity to try to solve real-world problems.
The three workplace integrated units are designed to get students working on actual industry projects, preparing them for the working world while still in university.
An example is the Task Force classes, where companies pose problems or projects to students for them to work on collaboratively.
This ensures graduates will have valuable industry experience on their CVs as they begin their career paths.
“What these workplace integrated units do is ensure work-ready skills and employability, while also building confidence and the ability to work in groups while still in this setting,” explains Prof Nesadurai, who has 15 years of experience working with a think tank and in consulting.
The importance of producing work-ready graduates cannot be overstated, especially given the misconception that pursuing a social science degree disadvantages one in the job market. Altering this mindset is one challenge that the faculty will continue to grapple with over the coming years.
“When people look at the arts and social sciences and cannot immediately map out a related vocation or profession, the assumption immediately goes to ‘no job, no career’, instead of ‘many jobs, varied careers’. I think that frame definitely has to shift,” said Prof Nesadurai.
“Our alumni all over the world have gone into diverse fields – working with corporations, governments, international organisations, and some have even started their own businesses.”
She added: “Our graduates have the ability to occupy multiple perspectives, and are well equipped to handle many different dimensions of a problem at their place of work. When you look at the diverse fields they now work in, it speaks to the strength of the arts and social sciences.”
■ For details on the programmes at Monash University Malaysia, visit http://www.monash.edu.my