Determined to succeed
> A lifelong love of learning fuels an MBA
VICTORIA Chuah is a marketing officer with a German company in Malaysia and she has a wide-ranging business background and experience. She has worked for a government agency and furniture association in roles including business matching, business delegation, marketing, market research, operations as well as exhibition organising.
Determined to continue expanding her skills and expertise, Victoria has embarked on the Edinburgh Business School MBA (Master of Business Administration) programme at Heriot-Watt University’s Putrajaya campus.
“I’ve undertaken the MBA to improve myself and advance my career. I want to keep learning and this is the best way to do it; it’s a life-long process.” she says.
“I chose the Edinburgh Business School MBA because of the flexible class schedule, especially at weekends, the quality and good reputation of the university, the lecturers who travel from Edinburgh to deliver the classes and the great support services and facilities at Putrajaya.”
Senior Teaching Fellow Robert Hartnett is among the faculty who lectures at Putrajaya, delivering the negotiation and strategy courses.
“The classes are a cultural melting pot comprising, usually, Malays, Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indian, expat Westerners and other ethnic groups, each exhibiting certain cultural characteristics. Yet the mix always works well. At postgraduate level, the students are all confident, successful, business people and they enjoy the competition, which remains good natured, and the chance to work with others.
“Our courses are international in nature but I encourage students to share their work experiences and compare and contrast them with the course materials. At the end of each course I capture a photo to display back in Edinburgh and the adjective that always appear is ‘happy’!”
Victoria adds: “The programme fits perfectly with my career aims and there is a great relationship with all my classmates. We’ve even developed a WhatsApp chat group to support each other and use it between classes to address questions or difficulties when studying.
“The programme is equipping me with the skills and knowledge to become a good leader and manager which will be critical as one day I hope to have my own business in the environmental education sector,” she says.
The world-renowned MBA programme has been delivered by top UK and Asian staff at the Heriot-Watt University Malaysia campus since January 2013. To date, 47 students have completed the programme with 98 currently studying the parttime programme which is delivered via weekend seminars so students can continue to earn while they learn.
The Edinburgh Business School MBA programme is approved by the MoHE, fully accredited by the MQA in Malaysia, and delivered by Heriot-Watt University, accredited by Royal Charter in the UK.
Registration is open for the September 2017 intake and the school is holding a series of MBA preview events. The first is on Thursday, July 20 at 6.30pm at the Hilton Sentral KL. For more information, contact: MalaysiaMBA@ebs.hw.ac.uk – Alex Chai