Monash University Malaysia Campus. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. k90691

Transcription

1 Exchange Report - Spring 2015 Monash University Malaysia Campus Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia k90691 Source: %20small.jpg Monash University Malaysia Campus Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway Subang Jaya, Selangor, MALAYSIA

2 Preparing for the exchange Monash University Malaysian Campus is located in a small township called Bandar Sunway, which is within the district of Petaling, Selangor. Bandar Sunway is located around 20 kilometres southwest of the Kuala Lumpur city centre and the township provides all the necessary utilities and services needed for living on exchange. Kuala Lumpur is the capital city of Malaysia and is located on mainland Malaysia, or the socalled Western Malaysian. Malaysia is located just north of the equator, and so, has an equatorial climate, making it hot and humid throughout the year, with daily temperatures ranging between 23 to 33. The Monash University Malaysian Campus is a part of the Australian-based Monash University, which has all together 7 different campuses, five in Victoria, Australia; one in Johannesburg, South Africa; and this one in Bandar Sunway, Malaysia. The campus was established in 1998 and was the first foreign University to open in Malaysia, and is currently home to around undergraduate and postgraduate students. I was the first student from Aalto University to have the possibility to attend the Monash Malaysia campus for exchange, and so, there were no previous guides explaining what to expect. The university required a fair amount of paperwork previous to my arrival into the country, which turned out to be the biggest inconvenience that I experienced through out the exchange process. For the Student Visa/Student Pass application, the university required an extensive medical screening that needs to be done here in Finland and a copy of which needs to be submitted along with the exchange acceptance form for the university. Also, it is very important to notice that another medical screening needs to be done within 7 days of arriving in Malaysia in order for the Student Visa application to move forward. For the Student Pass, the university needed a non-refundable payment of MYR 1,910 (approx.. 450,00) to be completed. This Student Pass fee covered the following: Processing fee imposed by the Malaysian authorities, Student Pass Endorsement Fee, Medical and Health Insurance, i-kad and Health Screening. Proof of this payment needed to be placed with the acceptance form. NOTE! Because all students studying in Malaysia need to have a Student Visa, they must apply for a Single Entry Visa (SEV) at the nearest Malaysian diplomatic mission before arriving in Malaysia. In order for a student to get an SEV they first need to get the Visa Approval Letter (VAL) from the Malaysian government, which will be sent to you via and postal mail. You will need the original version of the VAL in order to apply for the SEV, and this proved to be slightly troublesome for me as I went travelling for around 2 months before the semester started in Malaysia, and so you must indicate clearly where you want the school to send you the VAL and at which consulate you will apply for the SEV, if you plan to leave Finland well before the semester starts. I had to have the VAL be sent to a friend s hotel in Ubud, Bali,

3 and I needed to go to the High Commission of Malaysia in Singapore to apply for the SEV for my passport, because this particular consulate was the one that I had indicated in the application form. The recommended accommodation for the semester is the Sunway Monash Residences (SMR), which is located right beside the campus. The rules and regulations set by the SMR may seem to be very strict and inconvenient, and initially I was actually looking at private options to live in, but I ended up staying at the SMR. This was definitely the right choice, as all of the exchange students attending the university all live on the same floor. We had around 80 international students living on the same floor of the apartment building, so it never became boring. I highly recommend this choice of living. The course selection process was slightly confusing as Monash provided a list of all the courses that were available at the time of application, but were not necessarily available during the actual exchange semester. The application form required my to choose 8 courses that I was interested in taking, and then they informed me which of these courses were pre-approved. Out of the 8 I chose, 5 were pre-approved and these needed to be checked by Aalto University for approval. Out of these 5, I then chose 4, which I was to be enrolled in. Once I received the full course description and the timetables for the lectures, I had the possibility to change one of the courses to a more suiting one. This process worked out easily from both ends. The Monash University International Student Support Services unit provided free transport from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA or KLIA2, depending on which terminal you fly to) to the campus upon arriving to the country. For this transport, I needed to fill out an online form at least 5 days prior to my arrival in Malaysia to schedule the pick-up. Exchange Studies The Orientation program for the exchange students for Semester I 2015 was from , but I arrived there already the week before. This proved to be good, because as mentioned before, you need to take a post-arrival medical screening before the university can send your student pass application forward. For the Student Pass, you need to hand in your passport to the International Student Services (ISS) office and so you won t be able to travel abroad during this period. For me, it took about 2-3 weeks for me to get my passport back, but for some others who arrived in Malaysia later had a longer waiting period, because once the Orientation Week started there were hundreds, if not thousands, of international students, who study full degrees at the Malaysian campus, trying to renew their Student Visas.

4 The Semester lasted for 12 teaching weeks, with a one-week mid-semester break after week 5. After week 12 there was a one-week SWOT (Study Without Teaching) vacation before the exams started. The exams lasted from I was quite unfortunate with the exam timetables, because I still had exams on the last two possible dates, and 25.6., but these dates were purely dependent on what courses I had. I am in the Information and Service Management (ISM) program here in Aalto University, and I was enrolled into the Masters of International Business (MIB) faculty in Monash Malaysia. As I was on my Master s exchange, I had to choose mainly postgraduate courses within the MIB program, for which in Semester I 2015, there were around 10 courses I could choose from. I actually ended up switching one of my postgraduate courses for an undergraduate course, because the topic the content, Leadership in Asia, has not been taught at Aalto University. All of the courses taught are in English. The passing grade at Monash is 50% and most of the course works during the semester were so-called hurdle requirements, meaning that these works needed a passing grade. My selection of courses was: MGX5461 Contemporary Issues in Globalisation Postgraduate 6 ECTS - Professor Eduard Bomhoff Time: Wednesday 19:00 21:30. The course work consisted of two essays were worth 20% (2000 words) and 30% (3000 words), and then there was an exam at the end of the semester worth 50%. The learning outcomes of the course were to identify major political, economic and regulatory forces that underpin the globalization process; critically analyse how international political and economic developments are shaping the structure of global institutions; evaluate how the globalization of rules can become a source of competitive advantage for firms, governments and non-profit organisations; and identify solutions that would enhance the sovereignty of ordinary citizens over the globalization process. The lectures were slightly boring at times, as they mostly consisted of the lecturer talking through his slides. However, the lecturer has a lot of experience and first hand examples of the topics discussed, and so, some very interesting discussions were formed. Overall, it was a fairly good course with a very manageable workload. Negatives: the lecture times and the tedious teaching style of the lecture. Overall grade: 6/10

5 MKM5955 Marketing and the International Consumer Postgraduate 6 ECTS Dr. Nicholas Grigoriou Time: Tuesday 14:00 17:00 The course work consisted of three case studies with the first one being worth 10% (1500 words) and the two last ones 20% (2000 words) each. The case studies were done in with a pair of your own choosing. The exam at the end of the semester was worth 50% of the grade. The learning goals associated with this unit were: to facilitate understanding of the conceptual framework of marketing in value creation and its many applications in decision making under various environmental constraints and with an Asia Pacific focus; evaluate market based information, using it to plan and develop marketing strategies; understand the behaviour of consumers and their role in value creation; understand how value is created using elements of the marketing mix strategies; understand the role of brands in value creation; and to apply strategic planning tools in developing a marketing mind-set. The lectures were generally very entertaining and useful, and the lecturer was outstanding. The two first hours of the lecture was purely the lecturer teaching to topic, and during the last hour we always did an exercise in which we needed to apply the theory in practice. Negatives: The lecturer didn t hold a single break within the first 2 hours. Overall grade: 9/10 MKX5931 International Dimensions of Electronic Business Postgraduate 6 ECTS Professor Paul Yeow Time: Tuesday 10:00 13:00 This course was definitely the most time consuming. For each tutorial, one group of two students had to prepare a presentation on a specific article/topic and two other groups had to prepare questions for the presentation. Thus, for one group of two, there was one presentation, two sets of questions and written assignments for each of the three roles. Also, there was a large group assignment (group of 4 students) in which we had to develop an E-business plan (about words). The learning goals of the unit were to: identify and describe the relevant electronic business technologies for international business including electronic business mechanisms, infrastructure, tools, payment systems and security and fraud protection systems; identify, analyse and critically assess the suitability of various e- business models for international business including e-retailing, e-banking, e- marketing and advertisements, e-procurement, e-learning, collaborative commerce, mobile commerce, social commerce, etc.; describe and apply electronic business strategy development process and identify the strategic and developmental issues in international business environment; formulate an electronic business strategy for

6 an international business to improve effectiveness and increase efficiency; and identify and describe the relevant electronic business regulatory, ethical and social environments in international business. The exam at the end of the semester was worth 40% of the total grade. The lecturer seemed quite competent but sometimes his teaching style and expression was hard to follow and understand. He wanted a lot of involvement from the students during the lectures, which often caused long, confusing and unnecessary stops in the teaching as he was looking for ideas and answers from the students. Negatives: Organisation of the lectures and confusing teaching style. Some work seemed quite redundant. Overall grade: 7/10 MGW2991 Leadership in Asia Undergraduate 6 ECTS - Ms. Adlina Ahmad Time: Wednesday 10:00 12:00 and 15:00 16:00 The only undergraduate course for me. Coursework consisted of an individual presentation (10%) and individual essay (15%) on an Asian leader of your choosing, a group report (20%), and tutorial activities for each week (15%). The exam at the end of the semester was worth 40%. The learning goals were to: define what leadership is, how it applies to all levels of management in organisations and the role of leaders to internal and external stakeholders; identify and evaluate various conceptual frameworks, theories and models of leadership, focusing on the Asian context and perspectives, and explore other forms and propositions of leadership that recognise culture and society as an integral component governing different forms of leadership; recognise and appreciate the individual and personal side of a leader and the bases, methods, purposes and impact of power and influence in leadership within the context of Asia; develop awareness on how to build credibility as a leader and leadership skills in communicating, influencing, and in leading change in the Asian context; and appreciate 'real-life' experiences and leadership in action by industry leaders and practitioners in Asia. The lectures were easy to follow and the lecturer had a good theoretical understanding on the topic and was able to provide good practical examples for theories. The tutorials consisted of listening to presentations and completing short exercises on the theory discussed in the lectures. Negatives: Sometimes it was unclear what was required in each exercise and course work. Overall grade: 8/10

7 Free time and other information Malaysia is one of the more expensive countries in the Southeast Asian region, but the country also provides endless possibilities for leisure activities. The SMR accommodation needs to be paid in advance for the entire semester if you wish to stay there. The full payment for the semester was RYM 7550,00 (approx. 1800,00) which included 5 months rent (February to June) and one months deposit that will be paid back depending on the condition you leave your room in. We went out to eat almost every night, as it was not possible to cook in the SMR units. A regular meal at one of the food markets is around 2 so it is cheaper to go out any way. The food at the grocery stores is almost at Finnish prices. Going out in Kuala Lumpur is slightly cheaper than in Finland, but not by a lot. Public transportation and taxi s are very cheap. All of the university fees need to be paid previous to your arrival and are included in the Student Pass fees mentioned before. If you decide to stay at the SMR and so pay the accommodation in advance, the KELA student aid and loans should be enough for you to enjoy a good semester. As all of the exchange students live on the same floor at the SMR, it is very easy to meet other international students. Each unit has 8 different rooms, and so, making friends within the unit becomes instantaneous. The SMR hosts almost 2000 students, so meeting locals and other students is very easy also. The school also has many sports clubs and other activities where it is easy to meet fellow students. My room at SMR, taken from the door

8 Malaysians absolutely love shopping malls. Only a minute walk from the campus, there is one of the biggest shopping malls in the world, the Sunway Pyramid. This complex has everything you need and then some. There is even a waterpark. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Malaysia was its extremely convenient location for travelling to other countries. The KLIA2 airport is the hub for AirAsia, with very cheap flights all over Southeast Asia. Travelling within Malaysia is also very cheap, even though the bus timetables tend to be quite flexible and operate in Malaysian time meaning that they will not always be on time. There are some very good island destinations in Malaysia such as the Tioman and the Perhentian Islands, on the east coast, and Langkawi, on the west coast of mainland Malaysia. After the Orientation Week, it is a custom that many exchange students fly to Langkawi (around 25 euros for a return ticket) for a long weekend before school starts. This is also an ideal destination for the early weekends, since your passport will be with the Malaysian authorities. Typical Langkawi sunset

9 Final Comments I had a very successful and fun exchange semester at Monash University Malaysian Campus and I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in learning about the Malaysian culture and the Southeast Asian region as a whole. Since all of the exchange students lived on the same floor at SMR, there was always somebody to go out for dinner with and always someone up for planning the next weekend trip somewhere. I didn t get too acquainted with Kuala Lumpur as a city as most of my weekends were spent else where in Malaysia or in a nearby country, but all of the impressions I got from the metropolitan city were positive. There are many cultural and historical locations to see during the day and it has quite a vibrant nightlife suitable for large international groups looking to party. Over half of the exchange students (around 40 students) coming to Monash Malaysia are either from one of the Australian campuses or the South African campus, which is something that needs to be taken into consideration as they are quite interesting bunch. I was the first student from Aalto University, and actually the first student from Finland all together, to attend this campus and so I had the opportunity to make a good first impression. I hope that students decide to choose this campus as their exchange destination as it provided with a very good base for Malaysian cultural learning and it allows students to explore the neighboring countries also.