Another public lecture in Singapore. Enjoy! Hope to see more people going!
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Start-Up@Singapore 2008 is delighted to present to you the Emerging Industry Series! Consisting of 3 exhilarating panel discussions on Alternative Energy, Interactive Digital Media and Web 2.0, enthrall yourselves with the many new takes and fresh perspectives on these up and coming industries. Insightful opinions on the industry outlook, investment opportunities and research potentials in these emerging industries will be shared and discussed by industry experts and academics.
Join us in the final installment of the Emerging Industry Series to discover the dynamic and borderless world of Web 2.0. Explore in great breadth and depth the emerging trends and business opportunities of web-based communities such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs and many more. Harness this opportunity to learn how you can possibly make a difference in the rapidly growing online world of Web 2.0!
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Date:
29 March 2008 (Saturday)
Time:
10.00am to 12.10pm
Registration starts at 9.30am
Venue:
Hon Sui Sen Auditorium
NUS Business School
1 Hon Sui Sen Drive
Singapore 117588
RVSP:
here
Attire:
Smart Casual
Speaker Panel:
- Stuart Tan, S.D.C.G., Licensed NLP Trainer Pan South-East Asia Toastmasters Evaluation Speech Champion and E-Business Coach
Mr. Stuart Tan, MBA (Western Michigan), BA (Hons), S.D.C.G., is the Executive Director of the Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group (AKLTG) Pte. Ltd. Stuart Tan is one of Asia's Top Speakers and trainers in Internet Marketing. He has developed comprehensive learning models for beginners to learn Internet Marketing easily and to start using Internet Marketing in businesses. Within just 9 months of using Internet Marketing, Stuart managed to achieve over $400,000 in revenue. He uses his extensive training and education background to coach and help people learn. Stuart also teaches consumer psychology online and how to leverage it when selling products or services on the Internet.
Website: Here
- Kevin Lim, PhD candidate in Communication, Author of theory.isthereason
Kevin Lim is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in Communication at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), where he also works as a graduate assistant. For both his work and blog, Kevin studies and shares his interest in the diverse cultural affordances of technology, focusing on the pedagogical and disruptive aspects of social media. Dabbling for both pragmatic and play, he seeks an ideal interplay between online and offline life, through social networking, blogging and lifecasting. He openly wishes to become a "social cyborg", where the meshing of human and networking technology would allow one's presence to be augmented by the minds of many.
Website: Here
- Vanessa Tan, Senior Executive, Health Promotion Board
Vanessa Tan graduated from the University of Bristol, UK with a degree in Law. She works as a new media consultant in the public sector. Catering to a wide range of target audiences, Vanessa's projects includes blogging, social networking, user-contributed content and podcasting. She has been featured in the Singapore media, particularly for launching the very first podcast by a Government agency and for founding a Government blogging movement. She has also presented at training courses on various aspects of social media.
Website: Here
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A platform for you to share your thoughts and ideas has been made available at here . In line with Web 2.0's philosophy of user-generated content and interactivity, we believe that your pre-event online participation will add value and excitement to the discussion.
If you do not have a Wikispace user account, you may wish to register and create a new account. Alternatively, you may log in using the Start-Up@Singapore preset account (Username: attendee, Password: startupsingapore).
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Saturday, March 22, 2008
Emerging Industry Series in Singapore (29th March 2008)
Entrepreneurship Talks
Another good Public Lecture for those staying in Singapore. Hope to see more people attending such events to learn!
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This is a talk organized for CS3216 Students in NUS, but it is open for public to attend.
Title:- Understanding the *REAL* World: Plenary Session with Local Entrepreneurs
Date:- 24th March 2008
Time:- 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Venue:- LT19, NUS
Credentials of the Speakers:-
Paul S C Yeo obtained his bachelor's degree (Hons) in Computer Engineering from the National University of Singapore. He is a Director and Founder of several companies in IT and Creative Industries – Ignis Pte Ltd, BizCube Solutions Pte Ltd, TAK System Integration, Realisma Pte Ltd. Also a Director of Edward Whistler International, a business consultancy firm for SMEs in the area of Knowledge Management and Business Strategy. Paul is an elected committee member for the Singapore High Technology Association (SHTA) and his burning vision is in helping to “bring ideas to life” from inception to successful commercialization.
Marc Goh Kheng Kian is a Director and Founder of Design Prodigy – a web business outfit spanning from Singapore, China and Vietnam, is responsible for generating measurable results for his clients from their websites. Marc has a special interest in open source movement and is currently a core member of Singapore PHP User Group. Before his foray into web business, Marc has served 8 years in the Singapore Armed Forces as a military officer (MAJ, NS), his tour of duty includes planning and driving numerous Army-wide Digitisation Program, R&D projects and Humanitarian Assistance Operation for tsunami disaster 2005. He obtained his bachelor's degree (Hons) in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Singapore.
Ash Singh is currently the Vice-President Interactive of Imagine OmniMedia, a Singapore based media ventures company focused on reality television in Asia. Ash is responsible for interactive elements for productions which include The Contender Asia. Singh is also committed to supporting the local business community and to nurturing young local business talent. He co-heads the chapter of the Young Venture Capital Society, is a lecturer, speaker and honorary judge for business venture competitions at the INSEAD Business School. He is an associate of the for the Singapore Manufacturers Federation, and serves as an ambassador for the Richard Ivey School of Business. As an avid basketball fan, he is also an advisor to the Singapore Slingers professional basketball team. He also serves as a consultant to Google in South East Asia.
Kuo-Yi is most recently the Vice President of International Sales and Business Development at Encentuate Inc. He is an early employee of Encentuate and has grown Encentuate’s business into a leading Enterprise Access Security solution in Asia-Pacific. Prior to Encentuate, Kuo-Yi has been a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group as well as the Director of Business Development at Reputation Technologies, Inc., both based in Boston. Kuo-Yi has deep experience in building companies from their early days, with leading roles in strategy formulation, marketing, sales, partnership and product development. Kuo-Yi holds the bachelor, masters and doctorate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all in Electrical Engineering. He is now in the process of starting up a new venture in the Web 2.0 space.
Sivam Krish is currently CEO of Genometri. He has been constantly frustrated by the incompatibilities between design practice in Design and Engineering. Having obtained a dual degree in Engineering and Architecture at MIT he pursued his interest in automating the complex decision-making in cutting gemstones. He did his PhD in automating gem cutting as presidential scholar at Cambridge University. As an assistant professor teaching product design at the National University of Singapore, he first developed techniques to help his students explore form variations the results led to an NUS spin-off company Genometri.
Chin Kwek Loong graduated from NTU with a honors degree in Electrical and Electronics in 1996. He is the founder of several .com companies including IguanaMobile and ownskin.com. His interest lies in gadgets and tweaking hardware and software, which led him to introduce a new website for users to tweak their mobile phones. IguanaMobile is a pioneer in mobile phone customization in the world which stared in 1999. Ownskin.com, a website that allows users to customize the look of mobile phone, is currently among the top 600 most popular sites in the world.
Ng Chin Leng is the entrepreneur who started SingaporeBrides.com 8 years ago, and along the way, started SingaporeMotherhood.com. SingaporeBrides.com is currently the de facto authority on all wedding-related matters for Singaporeans. Chin Leng graduated from NTU with a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
To sign up, go to Facebook Group for this event
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International Essay Competition for Young People
This is another Essay Competition that some of you could participate! Do try for it! Thanks Gabrielle for the info.
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The annual International Essay Competition for Young People is jointly organized by the Goi Peace Foundation and the UNESCO.
The United Nations has designated 2001-2010 as the "International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for The Children of The World" and 2005-2014 as the "united Nations Decade of education for Sustainable Development". Not only should young people benefit from these global initiatives, but empowered to play a leading role in them.
The theme for this year is "My project to create positive change in my environment. How can I foster sustainable development in my community?"
Young people age 14-25 from around the world are invited to submit their innovative ideas on this theme.
Entries may be sent by June 30 2008 to :
International Essay Contest c/o The Goi Peace Foundation, 1-4-5, Hirakawacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0093 Japan or essay@goipeace.or.jp
For more information, please visit Goi Peace's website
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Carlos Ghosn at Khazanah Global Lectures
Today, went to Khazanah Global Lectures Series for Carlos Ghosn's talk. Carlos is the President and CEO of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd and also President and CEO of Renault.
Carlos is famous for his turnaround of Nissan. When he took hold of Nissan, it had a debt of USD20 Billion and only 3 out of 48 models made money. Within a year, he turned around Nissan from a loss of USD6.1 Billion to USD2.7 Billion. That's an amazing feat.
Before Renault, Carlos was with Michelin for 18 years as well.
His personal background was that he was born in Porto Velho, Brazil in 1954. At age of 6, he moved to Beirut, Lebanon with his mother. He then went to Ecole Polytechnique in France to get his engineering degree and also from Ecole des Mines de Paris.
Dato' Azman Yahya, Founder and Group Chief Executive of Symphony House Berhad introduced Carlos Ghosn. Dato' Azlan Hashim, CEO from Proton did the welcoming address. This lecture is graced by Raja Nazrin and DPM Dato' Seri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak.
Some of the sharings in the talk.
1. He has a strict work-life balance. When he is at home with family, he would shut off his mobile phone and would not turn on his laptop. He would not even read newspaper. (This is amazing, considering that he is a CEO of huge company!)
2. He lived through Brazil and Lebanon, which are very diversified country too, so he really appreciate the harmonious living of diverse races in Malaysia.
3. He talked about Malaysia has a pretty large car market, with 500,000 cars out of 65 Million cars sold a year. That's close of 0.8%. (A calculation by me is that Malaysia has about 0.45% of world population, 27 Million out of 6.+ Billion population).
4. He talked about Proton trying to go towards globalization and he understand that we need to have a National champion and he respect that. He mentioned of Tan Chong as its partner here and its constant effort to deliver satisfactorily and with high quality.
5. He really believes in power and strength of diversity.
6. He talks about challenge for talent are now fought at global level.
7. Strength of company is that the employees are motivated to contribute, and he mentioned that motivation is not something to be forced upon. It is something that is earned through respect. One of the ways are to listen to others, and also provide empowerment to others to contribute and make a difference.
8. He talked about tough decision, especially due to culture, eg: closing plant, reduce headcount, change habit or tradition etc. When he first went to Japan, many are skeptical of a foreigner who don't speak Japanese, could solve Nissan's problems.
9. Within first few weeks of his handling, Nissan's share dropped about 40%. He had to bite the bullet and focus on delivering. He talked on accepting diversity, accepting criticism and work on own conviction.
10. He talked about Small car manufacturers, like Proton and how it should marry its efficiency iwth technology and build deep knowledge.
11. Renault is the only car maker who has proven track record of alliance, with Nissan in Japan, Avtovaz in Russia (where Renault has 25% stake) and Dong Fang in Chang (where Renault has 50% stake).
12. He talked about synergy and respect identity of partner. Nissan, although with Renault as alliance, still maintains its HQ in Japan and led by mainly Japanese. It is like a wedding, where after the wedding, each of the guy and girl still maintains their own identity. He mentioned that the worst thing would be for the guy to buy over the girl and make her comply. If people feel that their identity are threathened, they will get defensive.
13. He talked on Environment, where in car industry, they have to be responsible. Cars produce 15% of total CO2. He talked about Nissan's Electric Car which would be launched in 2010 in US, and by 2012 around the world.
14. Current generation is the first generation that are involved with globalization, especially with internet.
15. He used an analogy of kid learning how to walk, to say that if we keep on hand holding, the kid would not know how to walk. This is to indirectly hint on the government protection of Proton.
16. He stressed on international outsourcing, especially when cost makes sense. And he talked about it would be a win-win situation, where the people do get technology transfer and learn, while the company gets to enjoy some extra profit.
17. It is natural to make mistakes. Just that there should be more good decisions than mistakes. One of the mistakes he made are indecisive.
18. 2 Pieces of Advice:-
a) Whatever you do, build some expertise.
b) Fight not to have preconceived perception.
I definitely think that this lecture is an eye-opener. I would like to congratulate and thank Khazanah Nasional Berhad for bringing in Kofi Annan, Muhammad Yunus, Joseph Stiglitz and also now Carlos Ghosn to share with fellow Malaysians.
Some of my feedback on this event:-
1. It should be less elitist. A lot more young professionals should be provided with opportunities to attend this event.
2. While I enjoy the dinner, I would think that a more cost effective way to do such lectures are to do away with the dinner.
3. I fully support Firdaus's idea of having a lecture every month, potentially sponsored by Khazanah Nasional Berhad.
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Friday, March 21, 2008
Congrats for University of Chicago admits
Congratulations to Su Ann (aka pinkpau) and Eu Win for getting admission into University of Chicago.
Congratulations and Good Luck to Yi Xiang and Li Xian too for making into the wait-list. Hope that both of you would try your best to convert it into an actual offer.
Hopefully there are more other Malaysians who manage to get admission to University of Chicago and other universities! Good Luck!
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Wharton China Business Forum
I blogged about Wharton China Business Forum here earlier.
There are several very solid speakers include:-
Vincent Duhamel (Managing Director, Asia Ex Japan, Goldman Sachs)
Manoj Singh (Global Managing Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu)
Sim S Lim (Country Head, Hong Kong, Citigroup)
Do hope more of you will try to attend and learn.
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Meet Up With Tzuo Hann
I blogged about Tzuo Hann's Long Way Home here and several other posts earlier.
Tzuo Hann will be meeting with a bunch of youth at Teluk Pulai Bak Kut Teh in Klang this Sunday, 23rd March 2008. We would meet at 11am at A&W Taman Jaya, before car pooling to go.
If you are interested to meet Tzuo Hann, to listen about his experience cycling across 20+ countries over 28,371km, then do come! If you are interested to help out in his charity plan, to come too!
A sneak preview:- Tzuo Hann would be present at 1Utama between 4th April to 6th April. If you are willing to help out to solicit for donation for him, do let me know!
Please help to blog to publicize about Tzuo Hann's fund raising. The website is at here
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Tzuo Hann Made it Back!
I have blogged about Tzuo Hann's Long Way Home Fund Raiser at here , here and here
Congratulations, Tzuo Hann!!!!!!!
You have definitely done all of us proud!!! Tzuo Hann Boleh!!! You have done it!!!
It is definitely not an easy task! Cycling back from US to Malaysia, is something that no one from Malaysia, or for that matter, anyone in the world, has done. And Tzuo Hann has made it happen in a truly Malaysia Boleh spirit!
With a kind heart to give back to the people of Malaysia, after he got a full scholarship to study abroad, he embarked on this journey of 293 days to cycle back a total of 28,371km to Malaysia. That's a huge achievements!!!
He even initiated Bike4Malaysia, to motivate a bunch of young Malaysians, from as young as 13 years old, to as old as 63 years old, to cycle from Padang Besar all the way to his home town in Taiping. That is fantastic!!!
Syabas, Tzuo Hann!!!
Now that he has done his part. I would like to strongly urge everyone who read this post, to take a proactive step to donate to charity that Tzuo Hann has selected. He made this trip throughout on his own pocket money. All the donation is going to charity, benefitting:-
a) St. Georges Institution
b) National Cancer Society Malaysia
c) MAA-MEDIcare Kidney Charity Fund
To donate, go to here
Full details of donation are:-
Method 1: Bank Transfer
Bank: Public Bank
Account Number: 3142757623
Account Name: OGA-LONGWAYHOME CHARITYRIDE
Make a cheque payable to
OGA-LONGWAYHOME CHARITYRIDE
and send it to
c/o No.36, 1st Floor, Jalan Pasar
34000 Taiping, Perak, Malaysia
Please refer the donation form for details. Click here to download the donation form.
For donations from abroad, credit into
Public Bank Berhad account 3142757623
with address No. 29-35 Jalan Kota, 34000 Taiping, Perak, Malaysia.
Swift Code No: PBBEMYKLXXX
To read his full journal, go to here
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Thursday, March 20, 2008
LimKokWing Brings Pride to Malaysia
LimKokWing is definitely a pride for Malaysia, especially in terms of higher education!
This article by The Independent further showcased the situation!
The full article is reproduced below
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From Malaysia to Mayfair: The foreign university that is sending out shivers in the higher education world
The overseas student market is worth millions of pounds to Britain, but the competition is increasing from private universities and companies. Are we in danger of falling behind?
Ritzy address: students outside the private Limkokwing University campus in Piccadilly
Lucy Hodges
Thursday, 20 March 2008
A stone's throw from the Ritz Hotel in the heart of London's Mayfair district lies an extraordinary new educational institution – a private Malaysian university which has opened a campus in Britain. This is the first foreign university from outside the United States to establish itself in the United Kingdom with the aim of competing with British institutions for the lucrative overseas student market – and it is sending out shivers in the higher education world.
Limkokwing University of Creative Technology set up shop in Piccadilly, next to the Cavalry and Guards Club, a year ago with hundreds of Malaysian and other students at any one time studying courses in design, business, IT, multimedia, and communications, media and broadcasting. Its presence has caused British universities to sit up and take notice of the threat that could be posed by an entrepreneurial and flexible outsider prepared to invest large sums in a business in Britain. The University of Chicago already has a presence in the UK and is seen as a threat. Could Limkokwing be one too?
Some universities are viewing its arrival as an opportunity for them to get a share of the action. Both Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Bedfordshire have gone or are going into partnership with Limkokwing. The result is that students will end up with two degrees – an Asian degree from Limkokwing and a British degree from one of the two UK universities.
"We are offering something that English univers-ities don't offer," says Professor Dave Taylor, director of the London campus. "We don't necessarily take the most academic students. We're looking at those who would benefit from higher education. We take students with Ds rather than A grades, and we're offering to give them a close relationship with industry. We're training people to hit the ground running when they graduate."
The University of Bedfordshire talks in the same breathless language about its enthusiasm for the partnership with Limkokwing. "We're very excited about this," says Professor James Crabbe, executive dean of creative arts, technologies and science at Bedfordshire. "It's a wonderful relationship we have got. We are two outstanding institutions that are coming together transnationally to provide value added for students."
The deal involves students coming from Kuala Lumpur where they have completed the first two years of a degree in media, art, or design and spending their final year in Britain, partly at the Piccadilly campus and partly at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton. Crabbe insists that Bedfordshire is not doing it for the money but to promote education and knowledge around the world. "It's about raising the profile of the excellence of British higher education," he says.
The London campus of Limkokwing believes that it can compete with British universities when it is not collaborating with them. It is charging its students the same kind of figure as they would pay to a UK university, around £7,000 to £10,000 a year for a classroom-based subject, according to Taylor.
Students are accommodated in rooms in Brentwood built by Thames Valley University – and pay extra for that. But the university is not offering British degrees (except in the partnerships described above, and in those cases the degrees belong to the UK universities concerned), so it does not have to undergo the UK's rigorous quality assurance regime.
Developments such as Limkokwing's expansion around the world reflect the fact that the higher education scene is changing rapidly as universities – and private education companies – take advantage of the new marketplace.
Higher education is now a huge business, worth around £200bn a year globally. Many countries in the world are experiencing a rapid growth in demand for university education – and the state simply can't fund and provide for all these students. This is where the private providers come in.
In India, for example, 30 per cent of higher education is provided by not-for-profit private foundations, according to Neil Kemp, adviser to the UK-India Education and Research Initiative and former head of Education UK, the British Council's marketing arm.
These institutions charge fees and pay their staff well, just like private Ivy League universities in America and lay on degree courses that the state simply could not provide for the vast numbers of people now clamouring for a higher education, Kemp told a conference organised by the UK Higher Education International Unit last week.
Then there are the for-profit companies, such as Phoenix, which provides mainly vocational higher education for adult learners, and Laureate and Kaplan, which own universities around the world or have partnerships with universities internationally. They are all American and have really taken off in the past few years.
Kaplan, which is owned by the Washington Post group, itself owns the Dublin Business School in Ireland and the Holborn College of Law in London, but also has partnerships with Sheffield, Glasgow and Nottingham Trent universities to give English language and other teaching to overseas students who are not well enough prepared for an English degree course. They get them up to the required standards and the students can then transfer to one of the British universities.
Laureate owns 12 universities outside the USA, including Universidad Europea de Madrid, Ecole Superieure du Commerce Exterieur in France and Cyprus College in Nicosia. And it is famous in Britain for its partnership with Liverpool University which includes an online MBA.
"This is an interesting partnership where both organisations benefit," says Kemp. But the real feather in Liverpool's cap is the university it has created in China in partnership with Laureate and a Chinese institution. The Xian Jiaotong Liverpool University is running degrees closely related to the needs of a massive industrial park in Suchow, near where it is located.
The aim is not to make money for Liverpool University, insists Professor Kelvin Everest, Liverpool's director of academic affairs for China, but to burnish the university's brand and put it on the global map.
"Obviously you don't want to do things that lose money," he says. "But you need to make sure you are operating in a contemporary way and do the things you are there to do, like educating people and carrying out research.
"For us it's been very bracing. It's raised our profile and made us much more visible than we were."
Nottingham University led the way in China with its own campus, Ningbo, and others have followed, using different models. Almost every university in Britain now has a presence in China. But, when it comes to private companies, the British have nothing that can rival Laureate and Kaplan in their activities around the world. Although INTO UK University Partnerships has moved into a number of campuses to bring overseas students up to the standard needed to enter degree courses, it is small compared to the American companies.
This, says Kemp, is something we should be concerned about. "Given that the UK has a leading role globally, where are the big UK companies?" he asks. "We're going to get overtaken by US big business."
Most of the private colleges in Britain are similar to the London College of Commerce, which he advises, and are run by single-owner proprietors who do not have the huge resources of a Kaplan or a Laureate, he says. That makes it difficult to take advantage of a potentially large market such as India where there are going to be big players with whom it would be worth joining up with now.
Not everyone shares Kemp's pessimism. John Fielden, director of CHEMS Consulting, argues that British universities are doing rather well overseas by establishing joint degrees with overseas partners and by setting up a supply chain of students who come to the UK for their final year of study. And Shaun Curtis, head of the UK Higher Education International Unit, who commissioned a report published last week on how the international work of British universities is organised within institutions, says there is a distinct lack of complacency in Britain.
"We sometimes beat ourselves up too much about how our universities are faring in the global marketplace," he says. "The UK seems to be ahead of the game and is thinking quite deeply about this issue."
It looks as though the Government is not self-satisfied. It has commissioned Professor Drummond Bone, the vice- chancellor of Liverpool University, to look at how well UK higher education is doing internationally. One of the most useful things he could do would be to commission a report into what private universities and companies are doing around the world and how Britain is responding to the competition.
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MIT Admission For Class of 2012
This is a little late in posting.
Congratulation to a sole Malaysian who got into MIT this year! It is 1 out of almost 80 applicants.
Admission rate for MIT this year has gone down to an all-time low of 11.6%. Total number of wait-listing also increased to 700 students.
For full article on MIT admission, covered by The Tech
Full article reproduced here below
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1,554 Accepted Into Class of 2012; Admit Rate is Lowest Ever
By Arkajit Dey
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
March 18, 2008
MIT released admissions decisions for the class of 2012 on Saturday; 1,554 students, or a record-low 11.6 percent of 13,396 applicants, were admitted. This year’s round of admissions saw an increase in applications from women, under-represented minorities, and international students, said Stuart Schmill ’86, Interim Director of Admissions. There was an overall 8 percent increase in the number of applications from 12,443 last year.
The low admit rate follows an early action stage that saw a two percent increase in early admittances. The net result was that MIT admitted a “higher proportion of early applicants to regular applicants than in previous years,” said Schmill. This was due to “changes in other schools’s early application programs,” added Schmill, noting “we still are looking to enroll no more than a third of the class from the students we admitted early.”
Vast “changes in the admissions landscape” such as Harvard and Princeton’s elimination of their early admissions programs and “broad changes in financial aid programs across the country may have an effect on yield,” said Schmill. Thus the yield, the number of admitted students who enroll, “will be unpredictable.” To account for this increased uncertainty, around 700 students, an increase of about a hundred from last year, were waitlisted. In past years, MIT’s yield has been fairly high, comparable with the yields of Yale, Stanford and Princeton, said Schmill.
A majority of admitted students, 1,245, are expected to apply for financial aid, said Daniel Barkowitz, Director of Financial Aid, on his MIT Admissions blog. With the recent change in MIT’s financial aid policy that eliminates tuition costs for students of families earning less than $75,000, “financial aid may well play a role this year [in admitted students’s decisions],” said Schmill. “We should be more attractive than ever,” added Schmill.
The applicant pool was more competitive this year; there was a 22 percent increase in “academic star applicants” and a 62 percent increase in “non-academic star applicants” according to an e-mail sent to Educational Counselors which was posted yesterday to a College Confidential forum. Schmill said that the “star” applicants mentioned in the e-mail “were identified with some level of achievement either academically or otherwise,” such as science fair winners, athletes, musicians, and artists.
There was a 30 percent increase of admitted “academic stars” and a 35 percent increase in admitted “non-academic stars,” according to the e-mail. But “the ratio of the two groups were about the same as in previous years,” said Schmill. Schmill credited those increases to “better identification and more recruitment” and said there could be a possible “magnet effect” whereby high-caliber students would be attracted by the opportunity to attend the same school as their peers. He also noted that “everyone we admitted was a superstar in some way” and those identified as “stars” in the e-mail simply “had an outlet to demonstrate their achievement.” Nonetheless, “more students stand out” these days, said Schmill, since “there are more opportunities” like science fairs.
Although the number of female applicants increased by 12 percent, the percentage of admitted students who were female remained at last year’s level of 48 percent (747 students). As in previous years, there was a higher female than male admission rate, which Schmill attributes to female applicants being “more self-selecting.” The higher rate “doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easier to get in if you’re a woman,” said Schmill. There were also increases of 13 percent and 12 percent respectively of under-represented minorities and international applicants.
Reflecting on this year’s admissions process, Schmill highlighted the “momentum” delivered by the Web site and student blogs which have had a substantial effect. The “broadness of the experience” of students at MIT is a “well-kept secret,” said Schmill, adding that he wants students to be able to see “what MIT is really like.” Schmill said “one of the questions that we ask ourselves in our committee is: ‘What will the student bring to the community?’”
Schmill said he can’t recall the selection process ever being as hard as it was this year. “Some of the students that we weren’t able to admit were off the charts,” said Schmill. This is a “really, really talented class,” he added.
The target size for the class of 2012 is 1,040, slightly below the 1,069 enrolled in the class of 2011, said Schmill. Until “W1 comes online” and dormitory space expands, “[we can’t] actually increase the class size,” he said. But Schmill looked forward to being able to admit more students, saying “if the world needs more scientists and engineers, then we should train more.”
Michael McGraw-Herdeg contributed to the reporting of this article.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Wharton China Business Forum
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Latest Malaysia Cabinet Line Up
The full 27-member Cabinet line-up
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department
Tan Sri Bernard Dompok
Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz
Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim
Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz
Deputy Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department
Datuk Johari Baharom
Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim
Datuk K. Devamany
Datuk Hassan Malik
Finance
Minister: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Second Finance Minister: Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop
Deputies: Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah & Datuk Kong Cho Ha
Defense
Minister: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
Deputy: Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop
Internal Security and Home Affairs
Minister: Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar
Deputies: Datuk Chor Chee Heong & Senator Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh
Housing and Local Government
Minister: Datuk Ong Ka Chuan
Deputies: Datuk Robert Lau & Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin
Works Minister
Minister: Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamad
Deputy: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng
Energy, Water and Communications
Minister: Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor
Deputy: Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum
Agriculture and Agro-based Industry
Minister: Datuk Mustapa Mohamed
Deputy: Datin Paduka Rohani Abdul Karim
International Trade and Industry
Minister: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
Deputies: Loh Wei Keong & Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan
Foreign Affairs
Minister: Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim
Deputy: Tunku Azlan Abu Bakar
Education
Minister: Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein
Deputies: Datuk Wee Ka Siong & Datuk Razali Ismail
Higher Education
Minister: Datuk Khaled Nordin
Deputies: Khoo Kok Choong, Datuk Idris Harun
Transport
Minister: Datuk Ong Tee Keat
Deputy: Anifah Aman
Human Resources
Minister: Datuk S. Subramaniam
Deputy: Datuk Noraini Ahmad
Women, Family and Community Development
Minister: Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen
Deputy: Noriah Kasnon
National Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage
Minister: Minister- Datuk Shafie Apdal
Deputy: Datuk Teng Boon Soon
Science, Technology and Innovation
Minister: Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili
Deputy: Fadilah Yusof
Entrepreneurial and Cooperative Development
Minister: Datuk Noh Omar
Deputy: Datuk Saiffuddin Abdullah
Natural Resources and Environment
Minister: Datuk Douglas Unggah Embas
Deputy: Datuk Abu Ghapur Salleh
Rural and Regional Development
Minister: Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib
Deputy: Tan Sri Joseph Kurup
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs
Minister: Datuk Shahrir Samad
Deputy: Jelaing Mersat
Plantation Industries and Commodities
Minister: Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui
Deputy: Senator A. Kohilan
Youth and Sports
Minister: Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaacob
Deputy: Wee Jack Seng
Health
Minister: Datuk Liow Tiong Lai
Deputy: Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad
Information
Minister: Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek
Deputy: Datuk Tan Lian Hoe
Tourism
Minister: Datuk Azalina Othman
Deputy: Datuk Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abu Taib
Friday, March 14, 2008
Jit Sin High School 2007 SPM Results
Found out about SPM Results of my alma mater - Jit Sin High School.
2007 SPM again is a good year for Jit Sin. To be frank, I am proud to be a Jit Sin alumni.
Out of 618 students, who sat for SPM, the results are as follow:-
13As - 3
12As - 21
11As - 80
10As - 73
9As - 56
8As - 59
7As - 44
6As - 35
5As - 33
So, there are 177 students with 10As and above!
Congrats to all the students and teachers!
I think the teachers there definitely deserve a pat at their back!
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Wiki Malaysia Project
Yang Jerng has initiated a Wiki Malaysia project, to centralize information on Malaysia at a place.
His words are:-
You can help improve the quality of information in Malaysia, just by joining this group, and getting more people interested in learning how to use wiki technologies. Malaysians have too many blogs and peripheral websites. Malaysians need to centralise information. Malaysians need to learn how to use wikis. Let's go.
And how to do it from Yi Jian:-
1. Register yourself as an author on the wiki. http://wikimalaysia.pbwiki.com/
2. Adopt a page.
3. Write about stuff in Malaysia, like your taman perumahan, your constituency, your favourite mamak, help for foreign visitors, etc.
4. Invite more friends. (not just on facebook! anybody whom you think will be interested!)
5. Invite your friends to work on an article.
6. Help your friends work on an article.
7. Use this group or wikimalaysia to discuss future articles.
Some of the users registered on pbwiki.com have trouble accessing our wiki. If you face a similar problem, we're going to sort things out in a bit and we'll send a broadcast to your inbox.
To assess it, go to Wiki Malaysia
There is a facebook group for this as well. It is here
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Southeast Asian Service Leadership Network (SEALNet)
Thanks to Gianne for highlighting to me of Southeast Asian Service Leadership Network (SEALNet) . Gianne participated in SEALNet project in Vietnam last year, after knowing about the project through ReCom.org
There will be a project for the first time in Malaysia, and it would be held from 26th of May 2008 to 9th of June 2008 in Sabah.
Would like to call upon anyone who is willing to sponsor the event, to come forward. I would be able to link you to the respective person involved.
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Tzuo Hann Cycling Back to Malaysia
I have blogged about Tzuo Hann's Long Way Home from US to Malaysia several times.
Right now, Tzuo Hann has reached back to the land of Malaysia and he is scheduled to reach back to Taiping on 15th March 2008, after a long 293 days cycling around the world. There would be 55 cyclists cycling together with him on his journey back to Taiping. It would be an exciting affair! Syabas, Tzuo Hann.
I would hope that everyone would not be stingy to chip in to Tzuo Hann's Long Way Home Fund Raising Program for Charity. You can get full details at LongWayHomeFundRaiser.com .
Do spread the words around to your friends. It is a good deed, for a very young Malaysian to do such a good deed.
Tzuo Hann, your spirit would be a great inspiration for fellow Malaysians!
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1st Malaysia Facebook Developer Garage
This would be an interesting event. I realize it a little last minute.
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We are hosting the 1st Malaysia Facebook Developer Garage
Learn about
How to build your own Facebook App.
Create a sustainable Biz with Facebook App
eMarketing using Facebook.
Date: 14th March 2008
8pm to 10pm
Starbucks, Bangsar Village II
Our speakers
Kamal Fariz (RSB)- Intro to facebook dev
Leonard Lin of Tyler Project (via Skype)- Sustainable Facebook Application
Chris Tan( Chur Associate) - Marketing on facebook
MDeC
Others
Free entry for the first 50 ppl which register vico@itrain.com.my
Fee: RM 15 per pax including a complimentary Tall size drink from Starbuck Bangsar Village 2 and a contribution to HOPE Worldwide
Plus special freebies by Facebook.com
Visit
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21338983056
Organized by Ideapreneur.net, MiRC, itrain and supported by Facebook, Inc
Cheers
Daniel
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Talk: Knowing Our 2nd Brain (Spinal Cord)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Comments on General Election
To all my readers, I would like to assure that I'm not just keeping quiet because I want to avoid answering your feedback and comments. Thanks for the comments. I have been working very long hours, and hence, I haven't been able to squeeze in time to respond to the comments. I would do so definitely.
I would like to state that my support for MCA and BN, not because of I got a scholarship to study in US. Definitely not. I would say that my main arguments of support include:-
The consistent service provided by MCA representatives throughout the years. I'm sure that for those of you, especially those who read Chinese Newspapers know that whenever you face any problem, you can always contact your MCA reps (I'm not saying that reps from other parties are not doing so. There are some who do so too), and they will help. It is service throughout the many years, and not just appear during election only. I'm sure you can see the long list of actual statistic done by them, rather than mere calling for changes, with no concrete prove.
Another main aspect is the sincerity to serve. I would say that we can all see Dato' Seri Ong Ka Ting is very sincere in serving the public. He is not a leader, who is just "gila kuasa". When he first became MCA President, he set himself a 9-year term, and this is not just for him, but for long term of MCA. He willingly offered not to be a minister, to clean up MCA, despite him being an elected MP this time around, to bring back the lustre of MCA.
To the reply on whether I want to be a politician, no I'm not a politician, and I will not be a politician in any foreseeable future. I won't discount the possibility when I grow much older, but at presently, I know that I am not qualified to be one. There is still a lot for me to learn, to try and solve the grassroot problem, to learn about all the issues around, before I can be a suitable MP or State Assemblymen. Of course, the journey towards it would be a long and steep one. So, as of now, no, I am not going into politics.
All my opinion is purely mine, and not representing any political party or any leader.
I won't say that JPA Scholarships is the only thing that MCA has helped. Many other aspects that MCA has done quietly, behind the scene. For example, increasing the number of Chinese in IPTAs, providing quality education through UTAR and KTAR, providing education loan through Kojadi, building 15 new Chinese schools and relocate 75 Chinese schools (which essentially are new schools), supporting NGOs etc.
I know that many are now excited about the change, and seem to be taken into believe that the current alliance of DAP-PKR-PAS can bring change. I would say lets wait for the next few years, and time will tell, whether they are able to bring positive change.
As of now, DAP-PKR-PAS are still bickering over the Menteri Besar position in Perak. It is a pact of convenience, and not a strong alliance that would serve the people in the long run. While I won't say that BN alliance is perfect, it is more solid that the loose alliance that DAP-PKR-PAS is having.
DAP has always say that MCA kowtow to UMNO. I would like to ask all readers to say whehter DAP is now kowtowing to PAS. In Perak, DAP has 18 representatives, vs 6 by PKR and 5 by PAS. And with that solid number of reps, DAP can't even to stake huge control.
I will not comment further, but will let time to tell us.
Penang state government by DAP-PKR seems to start quite well. I have to give credit to them. The CM and DCM1 and DCM2 consists of all 3 races seem to be a good start. But lets watch and see.
Again, I thank all my readers who post comments in my blog. My blog is mainly to cater to sharing on educational and beneficial events happening in Malaysia, and I would say that this General Election has swayed it a little, but I hope to focus on helping to spread on those events more.
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