UTM partners with McDonald's Malaysia for MBA programme

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) today reached another milestone when it inked a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with McDonald's Malaysia on the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme offered by UTM’s Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS).

The MoA was signed by UTM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Wahid Omar and McDonald's Malaysia managing director and local operating partner Azmir Jaafar, in the presence of Prof Dr Mohd Cairul Iqbal Mohd Amin, the deputy director-general, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education. 

In his speech, Wahid said the partnership is UTM's first formal collaboration via credit transfer system with a key industry player, enabling selected modules of McDonald's Malaysia in-house training programmes to be recognised as transferable credit to UTM's MBA programme.

He said this collaboration features a new education model that redefines academia-industry partnership to suit the changing landscape in higher education, adding that the outcomes will be professional inputs to produce a holistic approach in talent development.

"At UTM, we emphasise strong industry linkages and actively push for collaborative programmes that are relevant, competitive and innovative.

"McDonald's Malaysia already has a detailed employee training and development approach where through this collaboration, UTM experts will provide advice to enhance McDonald's Malaysia in-house programmes based on our accredited MBA programme," he said.

Azmir said the collaboration will provide the opportunity for employees at McDonald's Malaysia to enrol in the MBA programme at the university upon completion of selected modules under its existing training programmes.

He said the collaboration reflected the quality of McDonald's Malaysia’s training programmes which focused on leadership competencies, customer satisfaction, business acumen and people skills.

McDonald's Malaysia managerial and leadership training curriculums, which were developed by McDonald's Hambuger University, take approximately three to four years to complete, which is about the same duration as a graduate degree.

Based on the outcome of modules mapping, McDonald's managers would be eligible for this credit transfer programme upon commencement in February 2020, he added.

-- BERNAMA