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 Reverend Brother Dr Vinai Viriyavidhayavongs (left), Dean of the Graduate School of Business and Dr Tang Zhi Min, the Assistant Dean are taking their international MBA programme into the rigorous AACBS accreditation process. |
 The main library at Assumption University's Hua Mark campus is rapidly becoming the graduate school library as the undergraduate programme completes its move to Bangna. |
Technically speaking, ABAC (Assumption Business Administration College) ceased to exist more than a decade ago when the institution was granted the status of a full university by the Ministry of University of Affairs. The correct name is now "Assumption University" although ABAC still clearly predominates in the popular mind and it is still accepted as the university’s nickname.
Assumption University offers a wide range of courses, but business administration remains a particular strength at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Recently the Learning Post spent much of a day visiting the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programme.
Built-in experience
The MBA programme is housed in Assumption University’s crowded Hua Mark campus. Breathing is easier there nowadays, however, as the undergraduate programme is well on its way to completing its move the spacious new Bangna campus.
Established 18 years ago, the MBA programme follows an international curriculum and is taught in English. It is one of the larger MBA programmes in Thailand with almost 900 students currently enrolled. A large proportion of the students are graduates of Assumption University’s own BBA programme, but the department also draws students from many of Thailand’s public universities, including Chualalongkorn, Thammasat, Kasertsart and King Mongut Institute of Technology.
Unlike some of the other prestigious international MBA programmes in Thailand, Assumption University does not require entering students to have business experience. About a third of its students come into the programme directly from their undergraduate studies.
"And why not?", asks Dr Vinai Viriyavidhayavongs, Assumption University’s Assistant Rector and Dean of the Graduate School of Business. "The MBA is just a higher level of education, making you more equipped for the professional world. For me, whether you have experience or not is not very much related.
"When I graduated with a bachelors degree, who was to say that I should not study for a higher degree? It should be me who decides."
Dr Vinai is in no way disparaging the usefulness of work experience, however. In fact, for those students entering without work experience, there is a one-semester mandatory internship with a local business. "Internship is built into the programme," Dr Vinai explains. "It is an extracurricular service given freely to the students."
Among the almost 50 local companies participating in the programme are Advanced Info Service, Central Trading Co, GE Capital, Grammy, Nestle, Shell, Thai Military Bank and Thai Airways International.
International standards
 A student's eyeview of a MBA classroom where case studies are one of the major methods of study. |
According to Dr Vinai, there is nothing particularly unusual about his MBA curriculum. That is by design, he says. "We are trying to set our curriculum according to the international standard. What others are studying, we also are studying. We are using international textbooks," he explains.
The MBA programme typically takes two years to complete. There are three types of courses: foundation courses, required core courses and elective courses. In addition, students have the option of writing a thesis. Those who choose this option (known as Plan A) also take one elective course. Those who don’t take four elective courses plus a seminar course (Plan B).
The foundation courses are non-credit courses. Only one – case study dynamics – is mandatory for all students. Students may be exempted from other foundation courses (English, mathematics, statistics and computer applications, introduction to accounting and foundations in business) depending on their previous background and their entrance examination scores.
Students are required to pass 48 credits to obtain their MBA. Thirty-three of those credits come from eleven required courses which covers all of the major functional areas of business management – accounting, finance, marketing, operations, information systems, etc. In addition, the course cover such diverse areas as managerial economics, quantitative analysis, and business policy, international business management.
The remaining 15 credits come from the Plan A or B options. The internship programme is included in both option but it does not carry academic credit.
According to Dr Vinai, the Assumption University MBA programme has just begun the process of seeking accreditation from the US-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACBS). This is the "best and toughest accreditation in the world", he says, and it will require a lot of internal changes to meet the AACBS standard. The whole process is expected to take five years.
A big advantage of following an internationally accepted curriculum is that it allows the Assumption programme to form partnerships with universities abroad. This gives students at universities within the partnerships the opportunity to spend a semester on a foreign campus while paying the local rates. At present, the MBA programme has partner universities in the United States, Great Britain, France, China and Hong Kong.
An "intermediate" degree
While the Assumption MBA programme is international in flavour, it is still delivered within an Asian context. In Asia, says Assistant Dean Dr Tang Zhi Min, the attitude towards the MBA is somewhat different to that found in western countries.
"When we have discussions with our American partners," says Dr Tang, "they believe the MBA should be a terminal degree. For business people, they say, an MBA is enough.
"But in the Asian market, it seems to me it’s quite different. People have this perception that they need to learn more. They consider the MBA to something intermediate. They think they have to have another degree, the PhD.
"In Chinese," Dr Tang explains, the word ‘doctor’ means somebody who knows a lot. It is a tradition to achieve the highest academic achievement, not necessarily as a teacher or researcher, but as a person.
As a result, says Dr Tang, "we are going to have a DBA – Doctor of Business Administration – following the Harvard example."
When will this likely occur? "I put the time frame at three years," says Dr Vinai.
The case study method
You can’t think of the world-renown MBA programme at Harvard University without thinking about case studies. That is the primary teaching method used at the school in which students deal with real-life business problems in the role of decision-makers. During their time in the MBA programme, Harvard students typically study and prepare over 500 cases.
The case study method plays a similarly prominent role in the Assumption University MBA curriculum. Dr Vinai himself is an acknowledged expert in the field and he makes it a point to teach the case study dynamics course. Case studies, he say, are a vital component of most other courses as well.
"I studied at AIM – Asian Institute of Management – and that was a case-oriented programme," Dr Vinai explains. "I found out that teaching with case studies is very effective for our teachers, especially at the graduate level.
"The case study is means of teaching where you develop all the managerial skills. You develop your thinking skills, critical thinking skills, analytical skills, your skills at synthesis and especially your communication skills. In the process you also develop your persuasion skills and negotiations skills – all the skills needed to be a good manager.
"A good case study will require students to research the whole company. It should provide good information which is adequate to allow students to finally come to a conclusion and make a decision about where the company should go."
According to Dr Tang, students are provided with all the essential company information: "what the company does, its organisational structure, financial data, marketing information — everything about the company."
The next step is analysis, says Dr Tang. "First you have to identify what problem the company is facing. For some companies you can see they have a declining market share, for example.
"Secondly, students have to consider what the alternative solutions to the problems are. Finally, they present their solution to their fellow students."
"We have to remember," cautions Dr Vinai, "that a case study solution does not have the objective of being right or wrong. The purpose is for you to do your analysis and to determine how you are going to generate your solutions."
At present, most case studies used in the Assumption MBA programme still come from abroad, but faculty members are also producing some cases based on local companies. "For example, says Dr Tang, "our staff has written one case about how Toyota in Thailand manage their company and also how Lotus and Big C entered the Thai market."
International cases tend to be very up to date. In the United States, for example, there have already been dozens of cases produced which deal with accounting scandals that have taken recently place in companies such as Enron. It probably won’t be very long before such cases are taken up by Dr Vinai and his colleagues right here in Thailand.
terryfrd@ksc15.th.com |