The increasing growth of external trade and foreign direct
investments in Malaysia has resulted in an expansion of its logistics
industry, which is expected to grow by 10.3 percent to RM129.93 billion
this year in comparison to an estimated RM117.8 billion one year ago.
With such dramatic changes taking place, the need to attain greater
competitiveness in an increasingly globalised world has become a matter
of national importance and demand to adopt a total supply chain
management approach has never been greater.
As part of its
efforts to cater to industry needs, UCSI University incorporates solid,
hands-on grounding in its Logistics Management programmes under the
Faculty of Business and Information Science, by encouraging students to
participate in competitions and industry trips, among other activities.
This is very much in line with the University's
Praxis
model – an academic approach that advocates the application of theory
to practice – as students are constantly entrenched in industrial
practices.
The University's
Praxis centres – profitable
in-house business entities – assist students in finding suitable
logistics corporations for their co-operative placements.
"Students are not only attached to local Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises (SMEs), but also to multinational corporations (MNCs) such
as DHL, FedEX and Tiong Nam, to name a few," said Dr. Dazmin Daud, a
lecturer from the Faculty.
This way, students are able to learn
(logistics) from a global perspective, internalise and apply what they
have learned to local supply chain processes, he elucidated.
Through the University's Logistics Student Association (LSA), logistics
students – and even some hailing from other fields – are brought
together to build on theoretical and practical applications of strategic
distribution management, material management and operations research,
among others.
Siti Norida Wahab, Head of the Logistics
department under the Faculty, commented: "We (the University) actively
organise educational trips and industrial visits, approximately 2-3
industrial trips per semester."
Thus, students are able to
experience warehouse operations and processes, she said, simply by
observing how they function in real life.
She added that these
trips provide very good exposure on industrial practices and the real
working environment in both local and multinational corporations.
Dr. Dazmin said: "We train students to become future leaders. Through
LSA, they learn to organise meetings and trips – similar to events
management, which is also an essential component in logistics."
Commenting further, he said: "(LSA) members do not necessarily learn
about logistics but instead, they are furnished with skills that are
pertinent to their professional development such as leadership qualities
and supervisory skills - it is not just knowledge in the field of
logistics that is important."
To date, the association has
successfully organised student visits to many well-established
organisations such as PKT Logistics, North Port, Tongee Sdn Bhd, Kao (M)
Sdn Bhd and MASkargo.
Competitions have also long been
acknowledged by the University as an excellent avenue to nurture
emotional and psychological growth for its young learners.
Take for example the recently held "
Kamu Dipecat!"
online reality competition organised by the PKT Logistics Group,
similar to The Apprentice show, which provides students with an
opportunity to try their hands at running a company.
A group of
five students from the Faculty joined the competition, competing against
other participants from more than five universities.
The
ongoing inter-varsity competition necessitates its participants to
create proposals to turnaround a new subsidiary company with RM50,000 as
investment, which should be utilised in the best possible way.
Participants will communicate with PKT board directors cum judges
through Skype's teleconference service and the teams with the best
proposals will be able to save their seats in the virtual boardroom.
Winners will be rewarded with cash prizes, and some will also be offered jobs at PKT Logistics with double promotions.
Apart from competitions, the Faculty keeps its programmes relevant to
the latest developments in local and global industries by extending
invitations to prominent practitioners in the logistics sector to
conduct lectures, tea talks and workshops for the students.
According to Dr. Dazmin, Faculty lecturers are also active industry
practitioners and are members of the Chartered Institute of Logistics
and Transport (CILT), the international professional body for all
sectors of the transport industry.
CILT members are those who
have completed the CILT International Certificate or accredited
equivalent, and have a minimum of 3 years experience in a relevant
junior management position.
Internationally, the institute has
approximately 33,000 members with about half the number residing mostly
in Commonwealth countries.
In short, in order to teach logistics
subjects, he said, lecturers need to be attached to this professional
body – although many other universities are lacking in this respect.
Students are also encouraged to conduct original research as part of
their education at the University, and one key example is Hoo Lien Yee, a
student from the Faculty.
She combined efforts with Dr. Dazmin
to write a journal on "Measuring Customer Satisfaction in the Parcel
Service Delivery: A Pilot Study in Malaysia".
It was
successfully published in November last year in the Business and
Economic Research (BER), an internationally refereed journal which has
been published online by
Macrothink Institute in the United States.
In today's competitive commercial environment, it is without a doubt
that the ideal learning environment should be nurtured through a
practical, comprehensive curriculum that will cultivate critical and
creative thinking in students.
By endorsing the new
Praxis
approach, the University is the best platform for students to immerse
themselves in actual industrial practice even before graduation.
Other than its existing Logistics Management programmes – available at
various levels, from diploma to master's degree – the University is also
set to launch the new BA (Hons) Supply Chain Operations Management
programme in 2013, the first of its kind in Malaysia.
To find out more about UCSI University's Logistics Management courses, please contact EduSpiral Consultant Services at info@eduspiral.com.my. UCSI University will be having its Open Day from 21
th to 22
th July 2012 (between 9.00am – 6.00pm), please feel free to contact EduSpiral for more details.
