Economic Transformation Programme

Thanks to Raja Noor Izzuddin for sharing on the Economic Transformation Programme's details. 

The information is at Pemandu's website.

http://www.pemandu.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=699&Itemid=133&lang=en

INSEAD MBA Coffee Chat in Kuala Lumpur, Saturday 20th November 2010.

Thanks to Raja Noor Izzuddin for sharing on this.

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If you are interested to learn more about the INSEAD MBA programme, admissions process, career services, and to meet and network with INSEAD MBA representative Alysha Kanasevich, please register below:-
http://mba.insead.edu/form/attend_event.cfm?clicked=mail&event_id=1201506&on_campus=N

The details of the INSEAD MBA Coffee Chat are as follows:-

Date:                Saturday, 20th November 2010
Time:                11.00am to 3.00pm
Venue:        Starbucks The Pavilion, Level 3, 168 Jalan Bukit Bintang

See you there!

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Chick-Fil-A Leadercast

Thanks to Janice Wong from Taylor's for sharing on this.

2010 Chick-Fil-A Leadercast is being transmitted on video on 12th November 2010.

Further details at http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=150057731702293 .

Rotary Walks to End Polio

Thanks to Sanjeev Kumar for sharing with me on this.

Rotaract Club District 3300 would be organizing Rotary Walks to End Polio from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore on 20th to 30th December 2010. Please spread the words around and support their good cause!

http://rotaract3300.org/?p=422

India's Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh at Khazanah Global Lecture Series 2010

Thanks to Raja Noor Izzuddin for sharing this text of India's Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh at Khazanah Global Lecture Series 2010.

The full text is at:-

http://indiablooms.com/NewsDetailsPage/newsDetails271010f.php

Copy of the text as follow:-

"I was deeply honoured when my dear friend Prime Minister Najib invited me to deliver the very prestigious Khazanah Global Lecture and to speak to this distinguished gathering on India's development experience. I have very fond memories of previous visits to your beautiful country. And I have been an admirer of the great Malaysian miracle and therefore I am delighted to be here once again. 

Malaysia, like India, had a prolonged experience of colonial rule. Today, your country is a vibrant, fast-growing economy and a hub of regional integration. The Straits of Malacca today is the world's busiest shipping corridor. I pay tribute to your leaders who have brought about this transformation since Malaysia's independence. 

After gaining independence in 1947, India's principal challenge was to fulfill the aspirations of such a large and diverse society and civilisation that is home to all the great religions of the world, and has been so for many centuries. 

Our founding fathers worked to build a strong state and the organs of our fledgling democracy. In the process, we built a diversified industrial base. We developed strong scientific capabilities, including high quality technical manpower. 

Over time our growth began to lag behind that of other newly industrializing countries of Asia. Our economy got stifled with bureaucratic control. We also fell behind countries like Malaysia in integrating into the global and regional value chains created by post-War industrialization. 

Our own policies began to change, gradually at first in the 1980s and much more decisively in the 1990s. We liberalized the domestic economy and opened up to foreign trade and investment. We recognized the need to encourage market forces. The private sector was increasingly freed to get on with its business. 

I nitially, these changes met with resistance. But over time they came to be widely accepted, especially after the economy began growing at over 7% per annum from 1994. There has been no fundamental change in the direction of these policies since then and they enjoy broad domestic support regardless of party affiliation. 

The economic reforms of the 1990s unleashed the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of Indian industry. Year after year we have seen first generation entrepreneurs taking risks, creating new business opportunities and getting plugged into this borderless world of the global economy. These new entrepreneurs are truly the children of economic liberalisation of the 1990s and have been an important factor behind India's fast growth in recent times. 

India's growth has combined greater openness with an ability to withstand external turbulence. We were not buffeted by the East Asian crisis in 1997 primarily because our capital account was not as open as in many other countries in East Asia and our banking system had very little exposure to short term debt, which was the main source of volatility in 1997. 

More recently, India's economic performance has shown further improvement. The gross national product of India grew at over 9.5% per annum for three consecutive years starting in 2005. After the global financial crisis exploded in 2008, our growth rate slowed down but India was even then among the three or four fastest growing nations in the world. We took a number of promotional measures to stimulate the economy and we expect 8.5% growth in the current year. 

I wish to reflect on some key features of the new phase in India's economic development. 

First, India seeks rapid economic growth that will create wealth for our people and also generate surpluses to fund our ambitious social development programmes, particularly in the areas of health, education and environment protection. 

Second, we seek growth that creates employment and development that is socially and regionally balanced and inclusive. 

Third, we seek to build a modern, knowledge and science-based economy to complement our agricultural and industrial base. 

Fourth, we want our development to be sustainable so that the wealth of our natural resources is conserved for future generations as a matter of trust. Fifth, we seek a cooperative relationship with our neighbours and other partners so that we can prosper and benefit from one another's development. 

Finally, India seeks to realize its development ambitions within the framework of a plural and secular democracy, where each citizen should have equal opportunity for economic, social and cultural advancement. 

India's biggest asset is its people. At a time when the industrialised world is aging rapidly, India has the advantage of a young population. The dependency burden in India is expected to keep falling for at least another 20 years. It is expected that, in 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan. 

But, a young population is an asset only if it is educated, skilled and finds productive employment. If this were to happen, our objective of realizing India`s potential to grow at 10% or more per annum for a substantial period of time can indeed become a reality. Rapid economic development requires high rates of savings and investment. For a long time it used to be the common wisdom that only an East Asian country could save and invest more than 30% of its national income. If that be true then, geography notwithstanding, India is today an East Asian country! India now saves and invests well over 30% of its GDP. In addition, our financial system – including the banking sector and the capital markets – is strong. This has helped support a boom in domestic investment. Domestic investment is complemented by strong Foreign Direct Investment flows which we greatly welcome. 

Over the past few years we have initiated a number of far-reaching programmes that have the potential to change the face of rural India and to make our growth truly more inclusive. These cover rural health, employment guarantee, urban reforms and build up of rural infrastructure and focus on people's participation and empowerment and the quality of public services. 

Inadequate infrastructure is a major constraint on our performance and we are determined to overcome it. In the eleventh Five Year Plan that ends in next year, we had targeted investment in infrastructure at 500 billion US dollars. We hope to step this up to one trillion US dollars in the 12th Five Year Plan. Malaysia has well known strengths in building infrastructure and we welcome greater Malaysian participation in this important sector of our economy. 

There are big plans afoot in India to set up special investment funds that can be used to finance long-gestation infrastructure projects. We hope to attract Indian and international funding into these projects. 

More than half of our population depends on agriculture for the bulk of their income. We are increasing our investment in agriculture. We hope to use our scientific capabilities to create a new growth momentum in agriculture through a second green revolution. This is vital for our food security and to ensure an inclusive growth process. 

The future of the global economy in the 21st century lies in the knowledge economy. We are working to strengthen our competitive advantage in this area. We have increased the expenditure on Science & Technology as a proportion of our GDP. We are investing heavily in both basic and higher education. For the last fifty years, India had seven Indian Institutes of Technology and one Indian Institute of Science. In the last five years we have established eight new IITs and five more Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research. Both higher education and the Information Technology sectors are promising areas for India-Malaysia cooperation. 

We would like our development processes to be sustainable. We do not wish to go down the path followed by the highly industrialised countries. We seek a model of sustainable development suited to our own needs, circumstances and genius. This is not an easy task for an emerging economy. We want to strike a careful balance between our needs of today and those of our future generations. 

We have formulated an ambitious National Action Plan on Climate Change that is intimately linked to our energy security. We have launched a National Solar Mission that aims to build a capacity of 20,000 MW of solar power by the year 2022. There are national missions on water, green India, energy efficiency and on sustaining the Himalayan ecosystem. 

I believe that it is vital for any country to keep its development options open. That is why we worked so hard on a civil nuclear initiative that has opened the doors for India to develop the option of clean nuclear energy as an important plank of our energy security. 

Indian thinkers and leaders—names like Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharalal Nehru easily spring to mind—have always been inspired by a global humanist vision. 

As India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru reminded us, the advancement of the nation—important though it is—must be viewed as a step to a better world for all of humanity. 

We seek to continue this great tradition by being good global citizens. We seek cooperative frameworks that will enable us to be active members of groupings and communities in our neighborhood and region. We will work closely with countries in the regions around us - South Asia, South-East Asia, West Asia, Central Asia and the Indian Ocean littoral. 

Our desire for openness has encouraged us to work with ASEAN towards an India-ASEAN comprehensive cooperation agreement. We have also finalised an India-Malaysia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, which will be signed shortly. Going beyond regional openness, we will work with Malaysia and other likeminded nations to strengthen the global multilateral trading system. 

The basic objective of our development processes is to realize the values and ideals on which our Republic was founded. Our development efforts reflect and reinforce our ideals of equality, the right to a life of dignity and well being and brotherhood among all nations of the world. 

When I was a student, few ever dreamt that India or China or other Asian nations would catch up with the industrialized world. Today, few doubt that a fundamental change in the global economy is underway. Dynamic emerging countries are growing rapidly despite a period of slow growth in the industrialized world. There is also a discernible shift in economic power towards Asia. India and Malaysia are both playing an important role in this process but more can be done. 

I see many possibilities of synergy between India and Malaysia in the years ahead. We can learn lessons from each other's development experience. I am confident that we can greatly accelerate the pace of our bilateral economic engagement to our mutual benefit. 

We face similar threats to our prosperity. We have a shared stake in eliminating the threats of extremism and terrorism; in maritime security in our region and the security of the sea-lanes of communication. We can make common cause to promote regional peace, security and stability. 

I have spoken today about many things that bring us together and that can continue to keep us together. Indeed, there is no issue that divides us at present. 

We seek with Malaysia a relationship of trust, goodwill and mutual interest. 

I am convinced that if this and future generations of Indians and Malaysians remain true to the ideals of those who secured our national independence and forged our new nationhood, we will continue to prosper as good neighbours. Together we can and we will contribute to the prosperity of Asia and the world. 

I wish the people of Malaysia peace, prosperity and happiness."

Young Corporate Malaysians 28th CEO Series of Talk

Young Corporate Malaysians 28th CEO Series of Talk

Speaker:- Ahmad Izham Omar

Date:- 10th November 2010

Time:- 7:30pm-9:30pm

Venue:- Nikko Hotel

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137263316326580

Teach for Malaysia Classroom Series - Mariyam

Teach for Malaysia Classroom Series #1 Live blogging at Mercu UEM.

http://www.twitter.com/imokman , http://www.twitter.com/zainhd , http://www.twitter.com/spinzer and http://www.twitter.com/garrychow are tweeting. Should have more people who are also tweeting. Check out http://www.twitter.com/teachformsia as well.

The talk's Facebook event page is at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140472619333587&index=1

Dzameer and Keeran, as founder of Teach for Malaysia shared about the amazing initiatives.

Only 6% of orang asli children enrolled in schools complete their secondary education.

25% of school children in Standard 4 is not able to count up to required levels. 80% of Malaysian workforce do not have a diploma or degree.

This initiative would place the participants into some under-privileged schools, and after two years, they can choose whether to stay in teaching or move to corporate world

Teach for All has now expanded to 17 countries. Malaysia is the 17th country, and all these are achieved within the past 3 years.

Mariyam Farooq initially was with Teach for America and helped to start up Teach for India. She is now dedicating her time to help start up Teach for Malaysia. According to Keeran, Mariyam worked longer than 15 hours a day.

Mariyam shared about back in 1984, her father felt that education was not good enough in Pakistan, so the entire family moved to US in 1988. And always, the topic that came out was education. Her parents left everything they had for a better education and better life for their children, from people they know, things they are familiar.

Mariyam shared about the perfectionist of her father. If she didn't do well, her dad would highlight on her bad grade, and would write the word "responsibility".

Mariyam really wanted to go to Berkeley, whereas her father wanted her to go to USC. She lost her battle and eventually, she went to USC. She had an amazing professor in her final year. Looking back, she cherished that experience. She felt very good about being at USC.

During her final year, she went to local elementary school and helped to teach lessons and mentored students there. USC is located at a place, where neighbourhood were from impoverished background.

One day, she asked her 8th grade student, Jose, where he wanted to go to college. And her 8th grade student told her that he won't go to college. She reflected on her own high school class, and all of them had known where they wanted to go for college.

It is not acceptable that some children do not have a choice of education. Mariyam told herself that she cannot go to graduate school. She had to go out to do something for community.

She applied for some graduate schools and she got some offers. She got offer for Teach for America as well. She felt that she had the responsibility to do the same as the sacrifice that her parents do. She talked about the importance of education to her parents and she shared that passion to them. She wanted to pass that spirit on to other students.

Her parents reluctantly agreed, and he followed her to school often and checked on the safety of the places there. Mariyam taught 5th grade to the students, when she didn't attend 5th grade back then. She requested for a year to skip and she was granted back then, after she lost a year when she moved from Pakistan to US.

She shared about how being a teacher is being everything to the students. A teacher provides everything to the studetns and it is an amazing experience. She shared on her classes, and most of the students were not from English speaking background. Lots of gap in terms of gap of the students. So, it is really a challenging experience. And it is tough to adapt to it and implement it.

So, a lot of multi-tasking and small one-on-one instruction. It was an amazing year of her life. There were a lot of very caring students and tried to bridge the gap between students of different races. Tried to support the students and have Saturday lunch for them.

She helped the students to get their rights, helped them to register and if they were deprived of these rights, they would be deprived of many things along the way. The effects would cascaded along the way.

The idea is that this experience is something that people would begin to understand. It would have an effect after one person leaves the teaching.

In the middle of 2nd year, Mariyam applied to extend for one more year to teach for Teach for America. And after that, she knew that this is something that she really wanted to extend. So, she wanted to definitely do something on it.

While she was doing her thesis for graduate school, she started searching around opportunities in South Asia. She felt that with her extended family around that region, her father might give her the opportunities to do so.

She came across "Teach for America - India", and she applied for the position as Managing Director of the India project. After 4 months and 7 interviews, she got the job!

She broke the news excitedly to her parents. At that time, her parents have seen her transformed. She was afraid that her father would say no. But the first question they asked her is "when can we visit you?"

Mariyam shared about how she had transformed over the years, especially during the three years in Teach for America.

Mariyam moved to India, and she lived in suit cases mainly for two months. She went around to speak to lawyers there to get it registered as non-profit.

For the first year, there were 86 teachers started at Mumbai and Pune, and in June 2010, there are 155 teachers. So, within one year plus, about 8,000 students have been affected. The fellows over there were really amazing. They started library in the hallway, and they did everything to ensure the kids have a fighting chance in the world. They were very committed to change things. There are a lot of amazing people around the world, and we just need to facilitate the process.

All these initiatives give the youth an outlet. Mariyam shared about her being so honored to be in Malaysia at the birth of a movement that is going to transform the education movement in a country - Malaysia. A lot of different people are going to be transformed in this process.

The movement of Teach for All include in US, UK, Spain, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Australia, China, India and now Malaysia. And the relationship is not just about receiving the benefits, but also giving.

So, eventually this Teach for Malaysia movement would have ripple effect of the global movement. It would be able to lend the experience to jump start other movements around the world.

So, we can imagine in 10-15 years that all these young teachers who have gone to teach in these schools and they could be in position of leadership one day. So, all these would have ripple effects and can bring the transformation in that area.

There would be a lot of such people with a lot of similar strong passion and together can transform the education in the world.

In UK, 16% of pupils who are eligible for free school meals attend college.

In Brazil, the poorest children on average 7 fewer years of schooling than their richer counterparts.

In Pakistan, only 28% of girls and 37% of boys are enrolled in secondary school.

In US, 50% of the 15 Million children living in poverty don't graduate from high school. Those who do graduate, operate at the level of high-income eighth graders.

The number of out-of-school children in India surpassed the total population in 136 countries in the world. it is so unacceptable. It is the longer term mission.

The aim is to eventually transform the outcome for the nation and the world.

The 5 unifying principles for Teach for All include:-

a) Recruit and select as many promising future leaders, to effect systemic change in the long term.

b) Training and developing participants to build the skills, mindsets and knowledge to maximize impact on students' achievements.

c) Placing participants as teachers in areas of educational need, with clear accountability for their classroom.

d) Accelerating the leadership of alumni by fostering network between them.

e) Driving measurable impact.

Teach for All is engaging with about 30 countries through social entrepreneurs over there. So, it would be amazing to see the number of countries to have Teach for All would expand greatly.

For Teach for America, it has been around for 20 years. For the 2009-2010, there were 46,000 applicants for 4,500 places. More than 17,000 alumni are there in America.

Hopefully, one day, all children will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.

Mariyam shared about how she is inspired by many people who are willing to make a leap of change to make the difference for others.

She shared about how it is amazing of how people would make the leap of faith to step in and do what people can do to make that change, not just for an individual, but for the future generations. Some of the changes may not see direct results immediately, but would eventually see the difference one day.

We would hopefully be able to live in the world that no longer broken. Eventually, every child would have the same opportunity.

Keeran shared about his passion and intention to focus on education. He shared about how he previously didn't expect many people were disadvantaged, but in reality there are a lot.

He shared on how Teach for America initial survey of new joiners were that about 15% of the participants would eventually stay on in education line, but in reality, 60% of those participants are still working on things related to education.

Mariyam shared on some of the Teach for All's networks are focused on certain subjects, example Maths and Sciences. Despite teaching on one subject, would still have impact on students on other aspects. This would help the students to master the subject.

Mariyam shared on language being an issue for many people, like in India, for each floor of the school, different floor could be in different language. So, for India, they focus on English language teaching, to help bridging the gap.

Mariyam shared on how they bring Spanish language teaching aid, to help the students in both Spanish and English, over in US.

Dzameer shared on 3 points - language, time spent with children and also alumni network. For first year, would focus on Malay and English Language. Dzameer shared about the effect is to spark the desire to learn about the children, and not just to teach the subject.

Dzameer shared on the 40% of those who do not stay in education line after Teach for America, but these people still continue to channel idea and support, and eventually become the ambassador of the program.

Zain shared that the issue should be looked at a larger scale, where we should not only look at the policy or retention. And we should look at how we view our teachers and today, some of them do not get our respect.

Kian Ming asked on 3 questions. Mariyam responded on the question of other teachers viewing these Teach for Malaysia participants. She shared about selecting those who would be going in there to approach it as a learning and not mention that it is from Teach for Malaysia. So, not going to go in pompous and arrogant, but instead, should go in with utmost respect and humility and treat another person as someone whom one can learn from. Go in with the right kind of attitude and mindset to learn, before they talk about change. The training program would support that kind of mindset.

If look at the survey in US, 96% of principals want more participants of Teach for America, indicating that they are happy with what Teach for America has contributed.

The aim is so that the impact is not just at the classroom level, but also at individual level.

Michelle Rhee, who was the chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools system of Washington D.C. in US, just announced her resignation as chancellor recently. In 1997, she founded The New Teacher Project (TNTP), which in ten years has recruited 10,000 teachers in twenty states. She was one of the first cohort of Teach for America.

Mariyam shared about the fellows who would support the participants of Teach for America and they get the support throughout the two years and provided them training, seminar etc, to leverage on the network of each other, as a mechanism of support. They helped together in retention and support.

Dzameer shared that the program would put in these teachers at the fresh entry pay scale, but they are looking into working with the corporation partners to see how they could work out a better way to get in young professionals. He shared about in UK, where a grandmother joined the program, so they don't discriminate the age.

Keeran hoped that the alumni of Teach for Malaysia would go out into the system and eventually impact the system from within the system. Number one problem today is that a lot of non-teachers making decision for teaching, so it is better for these people who have teaching experience to make the decision.

Keeran shared about unfortunately the perception of art stream is not high, when in reality, art stream could be a great thing for students.

Keeran also shared about people should not discriminate on people and not have stereotype.

Dzameer shared that they need the support from people to make Teach for Malaysia a success. Dzameer also hoped for a strong support from Ministry of Education to let these youths to innovate and make the difference. Dzameer also hoped for corporate sectors to make a difference. A lot of things the corporate could make a difference.

Teach First in England had a lot of support from corporates over there, where those who got into companies like PwC and Deloitte, they could defer their employment to do Teach First, and then only join their work. So, it is amazing the amount of support that corporates are doing.

There are corporates who are exploring sending their staff for 2-year program to do Teach for Malaysia, instead of going to do MBA.

50 of the top Malaysians would be placed in disadvantaged schools, starting in January 2012.

US Universities Admission Workshop

To those aspiring to get into top universities in the world, you could check out this talk at Malaysia University of Science & Technology this Saturday, 30th October, 10am to 12:30pm.

Details at http://www.must.edu.my/freetalk.php .

There would be 8 speakers/panelists, of which 7 of them obtained PhD from Harvard, 2 from Cambridge, Stanford, Cornell, USC and Pittsburgh, and one undergrad graduate from Cornell.

Khazanah Global Lecture

Got this Khazanah Global Lecture's information this morning. Thanks to Raja Noor Izzuddin for highlighting it to me earlier too.

A talk by India's Prime Minister, H.E. Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Do sign up at http://www.kgl.com.my/v1/register.php

It's tomorrow morning, 27th October, 11:30am.

US Admissions Interview Skills Workshop

Thanks to Gwen, Lecturer from UNITEN for organizing this talk. She is kind enough to open to students from all preparatory programs. Limited seats available, so first come first served. 

US Admissions Interview Skills Workshop

Date – 30^th October 2010

Time – 3.00pm – 5.30pm

Venue – Dewan Kuliah 1, College of Information Technology, UNITEN Putrajaya

To register, pls contact:

1.       Gwen, gwynedd@uniten.edu.my, 012-4293212

2.       Karen, karen@uniten.edu.my, 03-89212020 (ext. 5000)

 

***Registration due date is this Wednesday, 27^th October 2010

 

***Admission is free.

16 Useful Links

Thanks to many of you who have been sharing useful links to me. Sorry that I take some time to post, as I might not have internet time at night every night, as well as I try to keep to at most 3-4 postings per day. 

Instead of letting the backlog piles up, am going to do this post as a compilation of a number of links shared. Thanks to all those loyal blog contributors who have been sharing links with me! Do check out these links!

Education:-

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/education/21admissions.html - Early action would aim in admission (Link recommended by an anonymous loyal blog contributor, as well as Shu Wen)

2. http://vacationresearchprogramme.wordpress.com/ - Vacation Research Programme for post-SPM students.

3. http://malaysia-scholarship.net/others/scholarship-tips/5-best-international-scholarship-financial-aid-websites/  - The page shows 5 international scholarships selected by malaysia-scholarship.net

4. https://giving.mit.edu/givenow/ocw/MakeGift.dyn - Want to help to provide knowledge to empower minds of the world citizen, do donate to MIT Open Course Ware.

5. http://blogs.voanews.com/student-union/ - Sharing of life studying in US by a bunch of students (Link recommended by Shu Wen)

6. http://allprinceton.com/content/call-education-reform - Article by Tara Thean, who is Project Manager for Students for Education Reform at Princeton University

7. http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/a-fathers-acceptance/ - An article to let you reflect on yourself or your children whom you always have high expectations (Link recommended by Andrew Loh)

Events/Programmes:-

1. http://masc10.blogspot.com - Malaysian Accounting Students Conference

2. http://www.entrepreneurs.my/malaysia-young-female-entrepreneur-forum-myfren2010/ - Malaysia Young Female Entrepreneur Forum 

3. http://urekaweekend.com/ - Ureka Weekend (Link recommended by Ellynita) 

4. http://www.irex.org/application/community-solutions-information-applicants - Community Solutions Programme (Link recommended by John Lee)

5. http://twitter.com/#!/oonyeoh - Oon Yeoh is running a workshop on Social Media on 25th October. If you are interested, do contact him.

Other Links:-

1. http://www.healthcrowd.com/dailymission - Completing one mission a day and see how long you can keep up on your mission! (A start-up by Bing, a fellow Cornellian from Malaysia)

2. http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/ - 99 Business books that are recommended by personalmba.com 

3. http://www.cryptonites.blogspot.com/ - This is for the fans of cryptic crossword puzzles! (Link recommended by Jayaram)

4. http://www.gfmag.com/tools/best-banks/10619-worlds-50-biggest-banks.html - World 50 Biggest Banks. (Our biggest banks in Malaysia is doing about USD100 Billion in asset, so another 400% increase before we hit this list!)

TEDxYouthKL

Thanks to Muhammad Hafiz for sharing this TEDxYouthKL event.

Do check it out! It is on 20th November and it would be inspiring! Places are limited, so do sign up fast, if you are interested.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=157965930903325

HBS Admissions Director interview & MBA Admissions Coach

Thanks to my loyal blog contributor for sharing this HBS Admissions Director Interview & MBA Admissions Coach. This could be useful to those of you who are MBA aspirants!

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http://poetsandquants.com/2010/09/04/the-worlds-most-powerful-mba-admissions-director/

In the hierarchy of MBA admissions people, Deirdre "Dee" Leopold sits at the very top. As Harvard Business School's managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid, she sees more applications in a single year than any other MBA admission official in the world. The 910 members of the Class of 2012, chosen from 9,524 applicants, will get their official dean's welcome on Sept. 7th and soon after settle into their first classes in Harvard's two-year MBA program. With the exception of 2004, when 10,382 people applied to the Harvard Business School, it was the highest number of applications Leopold's office ever had to process.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/22/pf/college/mba_admissions.fortune/index.htm

The reason why Kreisberg, the self-proclaimed HBS Guru, has all these files is that he grilled more than 100 applicants to Harvard last year in mock interviews, helping candidates prepare for the real thing with the school's admissions staff. About 70% of those 100+ candidates are in this fall's entering class. Kreisberg claims he interviewed more applicants to Harvard than anyone in the admissions office of the school last year. A spokesman for Harvard disputes the claim. Asked for more comment on Kreisberg, the spokesman says, "I think we'll pass on that one."

Teach for Malaysia Classroom Series

Thanks to Nawar for sharing this info. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140472619333587 .

Please help to spread the words around!

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Teach For Malaysia would like to invite you to the inaugural Teach For Malaysia Classroom Series. TFM Classroom Series is a platform that explores leading opinions in the education landscape. The first talk, entitled "The Education Gap Around The World: The Teach For All Experience," will be given by Mariyam Farooq, a former Teach For America corp member and the current Teach For All Managing Director of New Partners at Teach For All.

Details of the event are as follows:

Title: "The Education Gap Around The World: The Teach For All Experience"

Date: Thursday, 28th of October 2010

Time: 7.00 PM - 9.30 PM 

Venue: Auditorium,
Khazanah Nasional Berhad,
Level 29, Mercu UEM,
Jalan Stesen Sentral 5.
Kuala Lumpur Sentral
50470 Malaysia
Map: http://bit.ly/beODVi 
Parking: Flat rate of RM4.00 after 6.00 PM at P14, Quill 7 KL Sentral or Sooka Sentral 
Five minute walk from KL Sentral Station (take the KLIA Express Departure exit)

Agenda: 
7.00 PM - 7.45 PM Registration and Networking (Surau available for Muslim guests)
7.45 PM - 8.00 PM Welcoming & Opening Remarks
8.00 PM - 8.30 PM Presentation by Mariyam Farooq
8.30 PM - 9.30 PM Q & A Session 

Due to limited seats and security requirements of the venue, kindly confirm your attendance for this event by providing your full name, IC number, organisation/university, and contact number by 5 p.m. on Tuesday the 26th of October 2010 to events@teachformalaysia.org. 

Thank you.

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About Mariyam Farooq

Mariyam Farooq is currently the Managing Director of New Partners on Teach For All's country relations team. In this role, she has provided both remote and on-the-ground support to the programs in Lebanon, China, Peru, Brazil, Malaysia and Pakistan. Prior to assuming the new partner role in November of 2009, Mariyam first worked to help support the launch of the Teach For India program for two years, serving as the organization's on-the-ground country relations manager. 

Mariyam was a 2003 Teach For America corps member in Los Angeles, California where she was a fifth grade teacher at Trinity Street Elementary School for three years. She was an elected member and teacher representative of the Trinity Street Elementary School Site Council for two years. During her time at Trinity, Mariyam worked together with her colleagues to help start the Trinity Street School Parent, Teacher and Student Association and supported in the organization of voter mobilization campaigns to get community members registered to vote for national, state-wide and district elections. She also taught English and Mathematics to at-risk high school students as a part of Los Angeles Unified School District's Beyond the Bell Program. 

Mariyam graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. She holds a Master's in International Educational Development with a concentration in International Humanitarian Issues from Columbia University.

About Teach For All 

Teach For All is a global network of independent social enterprises that are working to expand educational opportunity in their nation by enlisting their most promising future leaders in the effort. They aspire to the vision that one day, all children will have the opportunity to attain excellent education.

About Teach For Malaysia

Teach For Malaysia's vision is for all children in Malaysia to have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. We are enlisting Malaysia's most outstanding youth in our mission to end education inequity. Teach For Malaysia participants would serve for a minimum of 2 years in challenging schools and commit to transform the educational outcomes of less-privileged schoolchildren through significantly improving their achievements and aspirations. In time, our alumni would form an influential network of leaders, committed in their pursuit of expanding educational opportunities from within and outside of the education sector. Currently in the early stages of development, Teach For Malaysia aims to place its first cohort of 50 participants in challenging classrooms at the start of the school term in January 2012.

大山脚日新校友会72周年会庆

Thanks to Ms. Tan ChoonHooi for sharing this.

大山脚日新校友会72周年会庆
Date : 30.10.2010 时间: 7.30pm地点：日新怀德堂
Remark : 母校校友会邀请咱们各界校友们踊跃出席这盛大的宴会！有意出席者可向洪丽香/王孙文报名。外坡同学也欢迎你们参于。 让我们趁这宴会集一集 ，谈一谈， 千万别错过 :))
Booking can be made via：
Ms Ang Lay Heang
Weely Enterprise （BM）
H/P : 012-4333 788

27th Young Corporate Malaysians CEO Series of Talk, 27th October 2010

The 27th Young Corporate Malaysians CEO Series of Talk on 27th October 2010. Details at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169239116426089

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For YCM's CEO Series 27, we have the privilege of hosting Liza Mohd Noor, CEO of RAM Ratings.

An essential part of the country's financial landscape, RAM Rating Services Berhad ("RAM Ratings") plays a leading role in providing crucial and independent credit opinions that are needed by investors and other market participants, with a view to being more confident about their investment and financial decisions. 

For more details read below!

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Date: Wednesday, 27th October 2010
Time: 7.30pm - 9.30pm
...Dress Code: Just turn up in your working clothes ;)
Venue: Dahlia Conference Room, Nikko Hotel
Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur

Light food and beverages will be provided, FOC!

Do join our: Mailing list: http://tinyurl.com/dnl3rc 
Group page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13036461979
Young Corporate Malaysians Summit page:
http://www.facebook.com/YCMSummit?ref=ts

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Liza is the Chief Executive Officer of RAM Rating Services Berhad. She joined the organisation as one of its pioneer analysts in 1991. Liza has extensive experience in the ratings of corporate bonds and sukuk as well as bank ratings, and had served in several senior management positions before becoming RAM Ratings' Chief Executive Officer.

During the 1997/98 regional economic crisis, Liza had been seconded to the Corporate Debt-Restructuring Committee (or CDRC) - a unit of Bank Negara Malaysia – where she had been principally involved in sector-wide restructuring schemes and the reorganisation of government- and state-owned enterprises. Earlier in her career, Liza had had stints with a merchant bank, where she had been mainly engaged in corporate-advisory work pertaining to Government privatisation schemes, and an accounting firm, where she had been chiefly involved in corporate receivership and liquidation work.

Liza holds a Bachelor of Economics, majoring in Accounting, from the University of Adelaide, Australia. She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Islamic Banking and Finance from International Islamic University Malaysia.

International Youth Leadership Program - Complementary Limited space

Thanks Jing Pei for sharing a note from Anas Zubedy!


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1. Youth leadership program limited space - complementary.

2. A chance for your staff or children to have an international experience.

 

18 October 2010

 

Dear Friends!

 

The International Movement For A Just World (JUST) is organizing an Inter-Civilizational Youth Engagement Program 2010 (JUST IYEP4). From 26 - 30 November 2010 at Melaka Malaysia.  This year theme is YOUTH: TOWARDS A GLOBAL CULTURE?

The Program will bring together some 50 youths between the ages of 21 and 25 of different nationalities and religions to reflect upon inter-civilizational relations in today's world, based on the growing challenges to culture and cultures in today's societies. The uniqueness of the program will be underlined by the shared spiritual and moral discourse each civilization can bring to the debate. This year, the emphasis will again be upon the young participants themselves and their ideas and visions for the future.

With this objective in mind, we are now starting our process of recruitment of participants. It would be much appreciated if you could nominate 1 or 2 candidates from among your young employees, interns or members to participate in our Program.

Application Instructions

Who can apply?

• Young scholars, NGO workers, Peace and Human Rights activists, youth leaders, researchers, who are active in civilizational dialogue, peace studies or interfaith programs.  Age 21-25.
• Preference will be shown to applicants who can demonstrate how this Program will directly benefit them, their organization or academic institution in developing dialogue programs at local, regional and/or international level.
• Proficiency in English is required. If you are accepted you will be required to participate fully in the, discussions and role plays in English.  
• Please do not apply if you do not have strong English skills.

How to apply

• Send completed application form, resume/CV, essay titled, 'My cultural heritage and me'  with a letter of recommendation and passport photo to:

JUST IYEP4 Secretariat

International Movement for a Just World

JKR 1258, Jalan Telok off Jalan Gasing, 46200 Petaling Jaya

Selangor D.E., MALAYSIA

Tel:  6 03 7781 2494Fax: 6 03 7781 3245

E-mail: justadmin@just-international.org

• This form may be submitted by post, or e-mail
• Applications will be acknowledged on receipt.  Applicants will be notified of the outcome of selection soon after the closing date.
• Participants are responsible for arranging and funding their round-trip travel from home country to Malaysia. No request for financial support can be considered. Participants are expected to seek financial support from their own organization and /or other foundations. 

 

 Registration Fee

There is no Registration Fee; the organizers will cover food, accommodation, transportation during the program and all program materials.

For this purpose we are enclosing the nomination form. We would be grateful if the forms duly filled could be returned to the address below by 26 October 2010.  

 For more insight into what JUST and the JUST IYEP program are all about please visit  www.just-international.org  and go to YOUTUBE using keyword 'IYEP2, IYEP4' to see  highlights of previous JUST IYEPs.

 

Undergraduate: EducationUSA Scholarship at The University of Evansville

Thanks to Shu Wen for sharing this.

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The University of Evansville (Indiana) is again offering its competitive scholarship for students coming through EducationUSA Advising Centers (In Malaysia please contact: MACEE). Advisors may nominate students (one per center) for the $15,000 per academic year scholarship. To receive the scholarship, students must be academically eligible for admission to the University and have the EducationUSA advisor's nomination. Students may begin either in August or January. Conditional acceptances are available for students who do not yet have the necessary English proficiency; they may begin in our Intensive English Center and transition into undergraduate studies when ready. This scholarship is renewable each year for 4 years.

Among Midwest colleges and universities, The University of Evansville ranks #3 as a Great School at a Great Price and #10 overall from the U.S. News & World Report's latest "Best Colleges" issue. This year, University of Evansville was also cited among universities with an outstanding program to study abroad. The School of Business boasts AACSB International accreditation and the College of Engineering and Computer Science, ABET accreditation.

Rebecca Poelhuis
Coordinator of International Admission
University of Evansville
Email: rp50@evansville.edu

www.facebook.com/ue.intadmission

 

Google Code-In

Thanks to my anonymous loyal blog contributor for sharing this.

http://code.google.com/opensource/gci/2010-11/index.html

Participating Open Source Projects

Watch this space for updates on the organizations that will be participating in the contest this year. We announce the organizations on November 5, 2010.

Welcome

Google Code-in, Google's contest to introduce pre-university students to the many kinds of contributions that make open source software development possible, is starting on November 22, 2010. We are inviting students worldwide to produce a variety of open source code, documentation, training materials and user experience research for the organizations participating this year. These tasks include:

1. Code: Tasks related to writing or refactoring code
2. Documentation: Tasks related to creating/editing documents
3. Outreach: Tasks related to community management and outreach/marketing
4. Quality Assurance: Tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality
5. Research: Tasks related to studying a problem and recommending solutions
6. Training: Tasks related to helping others learn more
7. Translation: Tasks related to localization
8. User Interface: Tasks related to user experience research or user interface design and interaction

2010 International Energy Conference

Thanks to Kea Cheng for sharing this info. 

2010 International Energy Conference in KL.

http://www.iec-2010.org/2010/International_Energy_Conference_2010.php

Peer to Peer University

Thanks to Chia Huei Kaivalya Tan for sharing on Peer 2 Peer University. This is a great way for us to continuously learn and share our knowledge!

http://p2pu.org/

http://www.initiative180.com/

Thanks to Steph Lee who shared this link in my Startup Weekend post.

She is a Malaysian student in Boulder, Colorado, and she has been very active, and I would say determined and focus to breakthrough herself. She is committing to do one thing that challenges her each day, and she aims to do 180 of those.

Any of you up to follow her footstep?

Check out at http://www.initiative180.com/

Cornell Club of Malaysia AGM (30th October 2010)

Cornell Club of Malaysia would be having its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 30th October 2010 (Saturday) 11am - 1pm at Malaysian University of Science & Technology (MUST), Block C, Kelana Square, Kelana Jaya.

Agenda:-

1. Presentation of President/Secretary Report

2. Presentation of Financial Report

3. Election

Nomination for the election would be done at the AGM itself.

Please provide advanced notice for any issue to be put into the agenda of AGM.

International Scholarships to Study in US

Thanks to Jing Pei for sharing on this resource which would benefit those of you who are looking for scholarships to study in US.

http://www.fundingusstudy.org/

Advice for Freshmen

Thanks to Anand for sharing this article for advice for freshmen.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/opinion/26gradstudents.html?_r=2

Startup Weekend

Thanks to Caryn for sharing.

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We are very excited to announce our upcoming event –Startup Weekend, which is a globally successful program helping create startups in a fun, interactive and results-driven way. Startup Weekend has educated 15,000 entrepreneurs at over 100 events in 25 countries.

In October, together with US Embassy in the Malaysia, for the first time ever, we will bring Startup Weekend along with its director, Marc Nager to Malaysia. From Oct 18 – 28^th, Marc Nager will conduct and lead a series of workshops in Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Kelantan and Johor. Enclosed is the program flyer for your reference. Below is an e-mail we have sent out. The program agenda is available here:http://malaysia.startupweekend.org/event-info/klagenda/.

Project Revive to Raise funds for Precious Home orphanage and BARIO Project

Thanks to Shannon for sharing this news with me.

Great efforts by Taylor's University Students Council. Lets do our bits for the community.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160422800654434&ref=mf

Project Revive details:

Theme : Lend us a hand, Give them a hope 
Date :4 Nov 2010 (Thursday)
Time :7.30 till 11pm
Venue :Multipurpose Hall, Taylor's University, Lakeside Campus.

What is Project Revive?
It is a Charity Concert + Dinner to Raise funds for Precious Home orphanage and BARIO Project and To provide a platform for youth to perform their hidden talents.

What is BARIO Project?
The Kelabit, at approximately 5,000 people, is one of the smallest ethnic groups in Bario, Sarawak. Bario is located in the centre of the Kelabit Highlands in the north east of Sarawak, Malaysia. Like many other indigenous communities in Sarawak, the Kelabit live in longhouses in the highlands. However, due to economic and social factors, many have migrated to live in urban areas over the last 20 years. Approximately, 1,200 Kelabit are still living in the highlands. Bario lack constant supply of basic utilities. Besides the Celcom network coverage, there is no telecommunication service provided at Bario. Water supply is through gravity-fed system and thus they rely on rainwater and river water for their supply. Limited electricity supply is provided through diesel generators and solar-panels. Kids at Bario also lack basic facilities that are required for boarding and schooling.

Project Revive is organised by Taylor's University Student Council

Applying to US colleges

Thanks to my loyal anonymous blog contributor for sharing this link to article on applying to US college, a talk by MACEE.

http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2010/10/10/education/7136299&sec=education

Meeting US Astronaut

Thanks to Harvin Sidhu Brar for sharing this.

"For those of you who are interested to meet U.S. Astronout from NASA you may join this competition - Post on U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur fb (http://www.facebook.com/us

embassymalaysia) wall a brief (60 words) paragraph about "The Benefits of Space Science" Send the same posting with your telephone number and e-mail address to PublicAffairsKL@state.gov. Submit your entry by October 4"

50 Things about College/University Life

Thanks to Joyce for sharing this. This would be a good reminder for those of you who are starting out as freshmen, or even those who are currently upperclassmen. Actually for alumni like us, it is a good way to reflect back our life.

http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/life/workplay_balance_at_mit/50_things.shtml

Global Entrepreneurship Week - Talk

Got this from Caryn

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Warisan Global, in partnership with the US Embassy in Malaysia, is organizing a special Global Entrepreneurship Week Malaysia event, "New Beginnings - Connecting Through Entrepreneurship" designed to inspire, educate and connect the global entrepreneurial community.
 
This program will have speakers from the government, private, and education sectors, present their perspectives on the importance of supporting entrepreneurship development and how it will strengthen economic recovery, create opportunities and forge new beginnings.

Emphasizing the importance of being part of a global entrepreneurial community, our featured guest speaker will be Mr. Jose W. Fernandez, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs visiting from Washington D.C., USA who will present his views on entrepreneurship and innovation, and how Malaysian entrepreneurs can connect globally.

The event details are as follows:
Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Time: 3:15 - 4:30pm (Registration Opens at 2:45pm)
Venue: University Tun Abdul Razak Auditorium, Capital Square, Block C & D, No. 8, Jalan Munshi Abdullah
Admission: Free
Dress Code: Office Attire / Smart Casual
Venue Map: Please click here to view the map. 
  
Click here to book your seat! Or you can RSVP to us by 5:00 pm on Friday, October 1st, 2010 at:
Tini: tini@gewmalaysia.com / 016 211 2681
Mimi: mimi@warisanglobal.com / 012 465 8097

UPenn Talk on 6th Oct 2010

Thanks to Khye Theng and Hobart for the reminder.

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The University of Pennsylvania Office of Undergraduate Admissions and The Secondary School Committee of Malaysia cordially invite you and your parents to join us for an

Introduction to Pennsylvania

Elisabeth O'Connell, Associate Dean for International Admissions and University alumni will be present. A film of campus life will also be viewed.

Wednesday, the Sixth of October, 2010

from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Hotel Equatorial Kuala Lumpur

Ballroom, Mezzanine Floor

Jalan Sultan Ismail

50250 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Students and parents interested in attending are required to RSVP by email at rsvppenn@gmail.com by 2 October 2010, stating name, school and number of persons attending.

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Encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I will be more than happy to post it to share.Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)For more educational/youth initiatives, check out Educating Malaysian Youth Facebook Page .