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In a rapidly evolving world, keeping up with industry trends and practices can be a very daunting task for students who are eager to step into the fray. The Edinburgh Business School (EBS) of Heriot-Watt University Malaysia (HWUM) aims to alleviate some of those worries with this special event specially catered for Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. The MBA Faculty CEO Lecture Series marked its maiden event on Saturday, 14 October at the HWUM campus with their first speaker Dr. Joshua Netto, the President of Project Management Institute (PMI) Malaysia and Director at Turner & Townsend.
He will be the first of many influential and respected figures in the coming weeks that will grace the HWUM campus to share their expertise and insights on the industry. Together they aim to give their input on how to give a positive impact and shape the future of the nation through capital projects and strategic investments.
The event commenced with an introductory speech and Q&A session with HWUM’s very own Associate Professor Dr. Jay Wasim, where he talked about the outstanding pedigree of the HWUM MBA programme. He also touched on the potential pathways and opportunities that can be unlocked with an MBA.
Shortly after, the guest of honour Dr. Joshua Netto arrived to give insights on ‘Project Management – How Capital Projects is a Catalyst to Building a Better Nation.’ With 23 years of experience under his belt, Dr. Netto had a wealth of knowledge and information to share with the students.
One of the key points that Dr. Netto shared was regarding how project management is essentially already an inherent part of everyone’s daily lives. The understanding and application of the theory is what allows MBA students to excel regardless of the situation at hand. It only comes down to the matter of understanding the scope and scale of the project itself.
Dr. Jay Wasim remarked how these series can further enrich the MBA students, “Although we bring in a lot of contextualized information for our students that is research and industry led, having someone coming in and giving up-to-date information and interacting with the students first-hand provides a completely unique perspective on things and can be very beneficial to the students.”
“I think it is about bringing whatever they are learning to life. It is not just about reading the case studies on paper, it is also about asking them questions, challenging them and picking their brains,” Dr. Netto highlighted some habits of what makes a driven MBA student.
He also added some words regarding what he hopes to achieve after his appointment as a faculty CEO for the MBA programme of EBS, “The impact I want to make to the students is to really assure them that it is not complicated. These theories and concepts actually do fit in the real world. If I can bring that to life for them using some of my expertise and provide examples with some storytelling, hopefully it will leave a lasting impression on the students and reflect not only on their academic grades but how they apply it during their working life when they’ve finished their MBA programme.”
A current MBA student had some words of advice for potential students who might be interested in taking the leap, “Find out where you are today. Understand what you want to get out of this MBA so that when you go through it with your future classmates and facilitators, you will truly appreciate the MBA for the rest of your life.”
The talk is then followed by an engaging Q&A session, before concluding with a group photo to mark a successful end of an event and the start of an exciting series.