Best of both worlds
> Monash's Master of Business Information Systems programme integrates niche business and IT areas
THE demands of carving out a career in the 21st century is one that promises to be tough. This is especially true in the business world, where the use of information technology (IT) is no longer separate, but interdependent.
Cognisant of this, Monash University Malaysia’s Master of Business Information Systems (MBIS) programme is one that has been designed to integrate niche business and IT areas for students with or without an IT background.
“The world is very competitive, hence we need multi-disciplinary experts who have knowledge in different domains, including the business and IT sector,” said Dr Jasbir Kaur Dhaliwal, lecturer and MBIS coordinator, School of Information Technology, Monash University Malaysia.
She added that multidisciplinary experts can conquer blind spots that cannot be resolved by single-domain experts.
Jasbir explained that the course prepares students to use IT to tackle business problems and to work in areas such as business information research, project management and consultancy.
Candidates without an IT background can enrol in fundamental units such as Introduction to Business Information Systems and Foundations of Programming before moving on to advanced materials.
“The programme has two tracks – students have the option of branching into the research stream or the industry experience stream, depending on the candidate’s area of interest,” said Jasbir, adding that students can enrol in a full-time (two years) or part-time (four years) basis. Students with an IT background can complete the programme in one and a half years.
Previous students have embarked on the programme for different reasons, including to enhance their knowledge for career progression while those who are keen on research continue to pursue their PhD after completing their MBIS.
Speaking about career options for graduates, Jasbir explained that the programme is a stepping stone for students to work in various industries, either locally or abroad as the skills and knowledge acquired are in high demand.
Some of the fields they can enter include Cloud Data Centres, Human Resource Analysis, food, clothing and companies handling trend analysis, depending on the graduates’ area of interest.
A study done by Kelly Services showed that the salary range for high demand jobs such as lead software developer and software development manager with five to 12 years of experience can range from RM9,000 to RM15,000 and RM12,000 to RM18,000 per month respectively.
Project directors or SAP team leads with over eight years of experience can pocket minimum salaries of around RM15,000 or RM18,000 respectively. Monash consistently ranks among the top 1% of the world and was 48th in the world for Engineering and Technology in Times Higher Education, 2014-2015 rankings. Besides being one of Australia's most prestigious universities, students would be able to go anywhere in the world with an Monash MBIS degree.
For details on the MBIS programme, visit http://www. infotech.monash. edu.my/