Monthly Archives: April 2010

Blog, Clubs

Our Movie Club

Author: Sunil Tulsiani, India

An MBA, they say is an opportunity to further your career, have the flexibility to take courses you want and not about the ones you have to, it is about networking, and all those good things you need to take you to the next level in the corporate world. At NTU you get all that and more, you have the flexibility to pursue any and all your
interests. Hence, it is no wonder that we have multiple student run clubs for sports (Futsal, Badminton, tennis, etc), CSR, Industry specific clubs etc …

I started the Movie Club the same way with a group of movie enthusiasts who got together to organise movie nights on campus. The objective of the club was to leverage on the different nationalities we have here at The NANYANG MBA and watch movies from all over the world, helping at times to understand where our fellow class mates came from. Many a movie nights led to discussions post the movie about certain culturally specific nuances and in some cases the stereotypical biases about different nations.

We also indulged ourselves at times with documentaries that helped raise awareness about the current global scenarios. All in all, the Movie Club is a fun way to spend an evening and take a break from our rigorous schedules, and at the same time learn a little. The MBA office has been gracious enough to provide us with rooms with large
projectors to enhance our movie watching experience and at times has been generous enough to get us Pizza’s!

The Movie Club is just one example of the freedom we have at here to pursue our interests and how supportive the MBA office is in helping us organise events. An MBA has to be an all rounded experience and here at Nanyang, I’m glad I get just that opportunity.

Mrs. White: ‘Husbands should be like Kleenex: soft, strong, and disposable.’
Clue

Blog, Programme

Why the NTU-ESSEC Double Masters Programme?

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Author: Arjaree Lordamrongkiat, Thailand

I chose the NTU-ESSEC Double Masters programme because it equipped me with knowledge of both the Asian and European business environments.

I spent my first year offering courses from The Nanyang MBA at Nanyang Business School. The programme’s emphasis on student diversity resulted in participants from more than 20 nationalities in my batch, which enabled me to see things differently and with global perspectives. The extensive network and close relationship of alumni and
faculty further provided me with opportunities to network with and establish lasting friendships which I will always treasure.

Another great aspect about The Nanyang MBA is its flexibility. As a full-time participant, I was able to offer courses conducted in the evenings together with part-time participants, who were from various industries. I also had the opportunity to participate in the John Molson competition in Canada with three of my classmates.

My second year was at ESSEC Business School in Paris where I had the opportunity to understand how European businesses were built, grown and flourished. I offered courses in luxury marketing amongst others. Lectures were conducted by professionals from leading global companies. The practical knowledge and insights learnt were invaluable and useful for my future career. I was also fortunate enough to be offered an internship at the head office of one of the leading French hospitality companies just three months into the programme.

Joining The Nanyang MBA has been one of the best decisions I have made in my professional career. The knowledge and experience gained is invaluable and will certainly give a big boost to my career at the global level.

Blog, Campus Living

Organised Running – a popular past-time in Singapore

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Author: Associate Professor Chung Lai Hong (Associate Dean of The NANYANG MBA)

Hardly a weekend passes by in Singapore without an organized Run of some sort or another, for one cause or another – there’s the Yellow Ribbon Prison Run, The Adidas Sundown Marathon, The Anlene Orchard Mile, Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, The Bull Charge, Urban run, Cold Storage Kids run…the list goes on.

And then there’s NTU’s Run Round Singapore (27 March 2010), to celebrate our 55th anniversary and raise funds for educational advancement. Some of us from the MBA community took the opportunity to get together for some fresh air and exercise on a Saturday morning (although way too early in my books). Well, before you get too impressed, we did not actually run round Singapore (though 9 runners did – all 218 km over 2 days!). Participants could decide which sector of the route around Singapore they wish to participate in. We chose the first segment starting at NTU. So I dragged myself out of bed on Saturday morning at 615 am, as the opening activities for the Run started at 730 am. When I got to NTU, there was already a large crowd gathered outside the Chinese Heritage Centre (which has historical significance– but that’s another story).

The President of NTU, Professor Su Guaning, was there to open the event. The 9 core runners who were going to run all the way round Singapore were introduced. Then there was a mass warm-up exercise led by NTU alumna Sophia Pang, who was the only woman in the The Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition 2009. We exhausted ourselves sufficiently with the kicking and punching. Promptly at 8.30am, the horn sounded and off we went running from Station 1 to Station 2, a manageable 3 km away. I must admit that though I ran all the way, I struggled when going up the slopes ( NTU has many slopes).

We ended up at Station 2, which incidentally is where our Graduate Hall is. Yes, as the name would suggest, this is for graduate students, and is where many of our international MBA participants live. This is separate from the dormitories housing thousands of our undergraduates.

Graduate Hall Apartments

Overall, it was a good experience and also heartening to see involvement of different segments of the MBA community – staff, faculty, alumni, students – getting together to celebrate for NTU.

But, the highlight for me was the breakfast we enjoyed afterwards at a “kopitiam” (local coffee shop literally translated). We ordered “kopi c”, “kopi o” (various concoctions of our local coffee – similar to having cappuccino, latte, etc) and dug into wanton noodles. I think we replaced more calories than we burned up in the run, but hey who’s counting? More than the food (really!), it was the chance to just catch up in a relaxed atmosphere with colleagues and alumni after participating in a meaningful event. All in all a great way to spend a Saturday morning!

Modernised Kopitiams like this one has numerous food and drink stalls and large seating areas

A Kopitiam drink stall seller making kopi (coffee)

p.s. I’m gearing up for the Adidas Sundown Run in May – no prize for guessing the differentiating feature of this run. Join me?

p.p.s. I constructed this entry in my head while running one night along one of the park connectors in Singapore, while listening to cantopop songs on my mp3 player, and gazing at the bright full moon in the horizon, which probably explains why I almost stepped on a frog/toad (too dark to see) 3 times that night…and which also set me thinking : “Why did the toad cross the path?”…