Few weekends ago, I attended Taylor’s Business School’s Open Day at their spanking new lakeside campus at Subang Jaya. I must say that the place is impressive. It’s large and spacious. Landscape is beautiful.

The campus is adjacent to a small shopping mall with plenty of restaurants. The campus has its own cafeteria and there are many stalls scattered around the building. Kids nowadays have so much in store for them.

But I wasn’t there to see what they have for kids. I was there to see what they have to offer people like me – the working class.

Taylor’s Business School is offering postgraduate programmes which include the following courses:-

1. Master in Management
2. Master in Finance
3. Master of Business Administration (Bristol MBA)
4. PhD in Business

To me, the Bristol MBA is the main attraction. I’ve always heard of people pursing MBAs but never knew about the benefits of an MBA.

The Bristol MBA is a collaboration with the University of the West of England (commonly known as the Bristol MBA). The minimum duration to complete this program is 2 years and the maximum is 5 years.

The Bristol MBA is one of the elite few programmes in the UK to be accredited by the Association of MBAs. It is fully taught by academics from the University of West England and is supported by Taylor’s faculty. The programme is aimed at individuals aspiring to hold senior management positions.

While attending the Open Day, I had the opportunity to interview the Dean Postgraduate Business School, Dr Thomas Thornborrow.

Dr Thomas Thornborrow

Dr. Thomas was a soldier serving in the British Armed Forces. For years, he was trained as a soldier but eventually retired from being one. That is when life became difficult for him. He never had a proper education during his army days and was bouncing from job to job. After years of bouncing around, he eventually got himself a degree and an MBA. That is when the path of success was paved for him.

After years of teaching, he moved to Malaysia to run a foreign university’s postgraduate programme, which became a success within a short period of time. He subsequently joined Taylor’s Business School to run their postgraduate program. This is one story in which an MBA could set someone’s life onto the path of success.

I was very interested to know how an MBA could be useful for work. Dr Thomas explained to me that an MBA programme teaches one how to be an all round professional.

He said that jobs nowadays are now very sectorial. If you are in human resource, you are only exposed to the human resource job scope. I agree with him. This is quite true when you are in a large organisation.

By going through an MBA course, one will be exposed to other fields and skills. By the end of the MBA programme, you will know how, for instance, to read financial reports, develop a deeper understanding of behavior of individuals, teams and various organizational levels and appreciate the skills needed for effective management of human resource. It’s the same for strategy and operations management and developing an understanding of issues such as globalisation, the international economy, corporate governance and policy frameworks. You also get to understand how the impact of new technology and the social and demographic influences on the world of work and business. These are basically, the whole external and internal workings on how to run an organization.

Postgraduate studies lecture hall

This MBA will open doors to other sectors and you could easily move up the corporate ladder. For example, if you’ve been a chemist for 5 years and now want to move to management, an MBA will help.

If you are an entrepreneur or wish to be one, you can learn many new skills; in particular, marketing skills.

Dr. Thomas advised me that the best time for one to pursue an MBA is when one has 5 years working experience (although not compulsory) i.e. when someone is around 29 years old. However, there is exception in this rule, i.e. when one has business experience.
I posed the Malaysian problem to Dr Thomas. In Malaysia, when one starts work, he or she would need to buy a car. By the time he is in his late 20s, he would be saving for a house or already has a mortgage to pay or a family to feed. How does one step out from the workforce to be a full time student?

His answer was “priorities”. One has to sacrifice time for this. But since the recommended time to do a MBA is late 20s, one would have some savings to sustain some period without a salary. Also, the long period to complete the Bristol Masters program would help one to take a break from studies to get back to work.

An MBA course has great networking opportunities. Having a good bunch of classmates is very important. If you have read about the 28 year old Malaysian millionaire, Low Jho Lo, you’ll know that he credited his success to the people he met when he was in business school.

Postgraduate studies lounge. Looks like a good place to network!

Further, 45% of Taylor’s postgraduate programmes students are foreign students. One can be exposed to many different cultures. In addition, the lecturers will ensure that the students are exposed to all these different cultures. It’s like a forced networking session. Dr Thomas told me that one of his classmates is now a senior official in the Ministry of Agriculture in Pakistan.

Being in the legal profession, I am certainly very interested with this MBA course. With an MBA, I would have no problem understanding complex organisational issues. I would love to take off time to obtain an MBA and apply what I learn in the legal profession.

The total cost of the MBA is in the region of RM60,742.00 payable in 4 installments.

For more information on Taylor’s Postgraduate Studies, please visit their website at http://www.taylors.edu.my/en/university/schools/business

Taylor’s Business School I Taylor’s University
No.1, Jalan Taylor’s, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
DL: +603 5629 5716 I Fax: +603 5629 5749
URL: www.taylors.edu.my