Tag Archives: The NANYANG MBA

Walking You Through The MBA Application Process

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So you’ve made up your mind and the Nanyang MBA programme looks like a great fit for you. First make sure that you’ve cleared the initial checklist; do you have a bachelor’s degree and at least two years of work experience? Is your GMAT score above 600 or do you have its equivalent in the GRE test? If you checked everything off, you’re ready. Take it step by step to avoid unnecessary stress. Here’s how:

  • Get Online:

Do not go to any external agents or education firms for the application – it’s available online for your convenience. Once you register on the application portal and start filling out the application, you’ll find clear instructions leading you till the very end. The admission committee will be keen to know as much as possible about your interests, intellectual capability, achievements and leadership skills, so be prepared to answer questions that will pertain to these. Sit down with a clear head and with lots of time on hand.

  • Answer the Essay Questions:

The application will contain some essay questions for you. You should answer them all. Be honest and stick to the prescribed word limit. Don’t try to give an inflated impression of yourself because the people reading your application are great at spotting such candidates. And of course, pay attention to grammar and typos and stay away from clichés. Most importantly, click on the Save button as you go along.

  • Apply for Scholarships:

The scholarship application process is easy. There are no separate forms to apply. All you have to do is tick on the boxes next to the scholarships that will be mentioned in the online application. NBS offers several scholarships for meritorious candidates who display promise as future leaders.

  • Pay the Application Fee

Your application won’t be considered without the application fee. Once you click on the Submit button after you’ve completed every field, you’ll be given multiple payment methods to choose from. So you can pay by cheque or bank draft, or by Visa or Mastercard. Remember that the fee is non-refundable.

  • Put Together the Supporting Documents:

In our online application system, you have to upload important supporting documents such as your resume or CV, a recent passport size photograph, and your GMAT or GRE score report. The GRE DI code is 3802. For those of you whose language of instruction at the bachelor’s level wasn’t English, do arrange to take the English Language Testing System (ELTS) test or the Pearson Test of English Academic test (PTE). The NBS MBA programme requires a good command of English with proficiency in reading, writing and speaking.

  • Request Referee Reports:

Unlike the other supporting documents, your referee reports or recommendation letters cannot be uploaded. Instead, you need to download the form and send it to two referees and ask them to send the completed reports to us by email at mba.admissions@ntu.edu.sg. Remind them to include their designation and contact details and official email address. People get busy, so don’t hesitate to follow up with them and see if they’ve sent in the forms.

Applicants to the part-time programme have to download the Company Approval Form and get it filled out by their work supervisor.

  • Provide Certificates and Legal Documents

Get your degree scrolls, certificates and official transcripts of academic records ready from every institution that you have attended. If a document isn’t in English, you must arrange to have a translated version sent to us. If you have any professional membership certificates, send in those too. Applicants should also provide proof of identity and nationality and residency status. Without these, your application will not be complete.

  • Interview Time

The NBS MBA programme has three rounds of application deadlines. You’ll find them here: http://www.nanyangmba.ntu.edu.sg/admissions/admission-deadlines/

If you have been shortlisted for an interview, NBS will let you know within 4 to 6 weeks after the deadline of the round you applied to. If you are shortlisted, look out for an email since interviews are by invitation only. After the interview is over, the committee will decide if you’ve made it to their list.

Then it’s time to breathe. You’ve worked hard on your application. Successful applicants will get the good news by email. Avoid calling or sending follow-up emails to the admissions office to find out the status of your application. The online system lets you check on the status.

Good luck!

The 6th MBA Olympics – let the games begin!

On 17 January 2016, business students from all over Singapore gathered in the Sport and Recreation Center of the NTU campus to compete in the 6th MBA Olympics, hosted by The Nanyang MBA team.

The volunteer interscholastic sporting event brought together the MBA students from NBS, NUS, SMU, ESSEC and SP Jain to meet for a friendly competition of badminton, basketball, football, table-tennis, running relays and volleyball.

After Prof. Nilanjan Sen, the Associate Dean of the host school, Nanyang Business School, addressed the students with encouraging opening remarks, a horn was blown to officially kick-off the competition and send contestants off to the field. Despite intense heat and humidity, all contestants exhibited great competitive spirit and overwhelming stamina throughout the tournament.

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Prof. Nilanjan Sen addressing the students to kick-start the competition

The event schedule was tightly organised and players who participated in more than one of the Olympic disciplines hurried from one court to the other to support their teams. To refill the contestant´s energy reserves and boost the competitive spirit, the event sponsor Kashmi, provided 100PLUS energy drinks, Red Bull had donated their famous energy drinks to give students “wings”, Bayer offered Berocca multi-vitamin tablets to boost energy and mental sharpness, and the Soup Spoon gave out coupons for a hot meal at their food outlets.

After a hectic morning with group competitions in all disciplines, players gathered at the running track to enjoy a lunch break. Students had the opportunity to network, make new friends, and regain energy for the next round of competitions. Often, the race between schools was tight and supporters had to give their every bit of energy to cheer on their teams at the top of their voices. Being the event´s organiser, NBS had the advantage of having their school mascot around. Rondel Apelo, a Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA student, could not care less about the extreme outside temperatures and put on the heavy plush costume of NTU´s official mascot, Lyon, to cheer on his classmates, and of course, be the accessory in many memorable photo shoots.

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Mascot “Lyon” with NBS students

The final winners in the respective disciplines were awarded with bronze, silver and gold medals to honour the tremendous efforts and great sportsmanship of all players. Professor Pete Giulioni, Head of the NBS Career Development Office, proudly handed over the many medals to the exhausted contestants and congratulated every student on their outstanding performance as well as good sportsmanship. “This was a terrific day”, Pete stated with a beaming smile. “I am truly impressed by hospitality exhibited by all our students.”

Prof Pete was assisted by a crowd of agile volunteer helpers who had formed the event organization committee from the NBS cohort. The MBA Olympics event committee had done a great job in preparing for the tournament, setting up the venue and taking great care of all players throughout the game day. Everyone had given their best efforts to make the event a success and the Nanyang Sports Club Co-Chairs, Sancho Cuasay III and Anoop Bolisetty, were truly delighted. “We are proud that all guests had a lot of fun and enjoyed the day”, said Sancho after a long day of coordinating the various matches of the day. “Thankfully, nobody got hurt and we only heard good feedback from all participating schools”, Anoop added.

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Action on the football field

The purpose of the full day sports event was not only to measure up to each other in various sports disciplines, but also to raise awareness for a noble cause among future business leaders. The event sponsors, Lee Foundation, Mitsubishi Electric and Renesas, offered generous donations to support the sporty students in their fundraising endeavours. All surplus funds raised from the event were donated to Special Olympics Singapore, the beneficiary of this year´s MBA Olympics. The NBS Corporate Social Responsibility Club Co-Chairs, Aki Narita and Gauri Agarwal, proudly presented a cheque in the amount of SGD 5,000 at the end of the awarding ceremony.

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Singapore Special Olympics receiving a SGD 5,000 cheque

Upon honouring all players and teams for their efforts to support the 6th MBA Olympics, and presenting the trophy for the title “Overall Champion” to the winning school SP Jain, the event was closed with a friendly football match between the Singapore Special Olympics and a mixed team of all school´s football players, just before sunset. A truly successful event!

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The trophy for the “Overall Champion”

  ….and medals for all teams !

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Big in Japan: doing business in the Land of the Rising Sun

By Laura Melina Loeven, Nanyang Business School

At the prospect of spending one week on a business study mission in Tokyo, I felt slightly nervous about offending senior Japanese managers. Being European, the manifold unwritten rules of Japanese business culture were still a mystery to me.

Thankfully, prior to my departure for my first MBA study trip I got to attend a crash course on Japanese business culture and the ‘dos and don´ts’ of socialising, hosted by my fellow Japanese class mates.

For one evening, I was fully drawn into the Japanese lifestyle while enjoying sushi and sake, admiring a traditional Japanese dance, learning bowing ceremonies, practising the correct exchange of business cards and eventually pondering the acquisition of Jim Beam whisky by a Japanese beverage company.

After I learned never to decline an invitation to socialise, I glanced at the tremendous amounts of sake that businessmen consume and quickly became concerned about the bowing ceremonies that I had been introduced to previously. The trip to Japan promised to be exciting.

Thinking about the city life in Tokyo, I dreamed of sky-high office towers, large and flashy advertisement screens and hordes of Hello Kittys. Crowds of business people in black suits, glued to their smartphones, appeared in front of my inner eye.

Yet, finally arriving in Tokyo, the city presented a very different image of itself. While some parts of metropolitan Tokyo felt like travelling back to the 60s, others were truly modern and impressed with trendy, simplistic and cutting-edge architecture. The streets of the hip districts of Shibuya and Shinjuku were indeed glitzy, but did not provoke the sensory overload that I anticipated.

Before heading to Tokyo, my classmates had warned me that most Japanese tend to seek harmony at all cost. Meetings run without friction and most people shy away from challenging authority by whatever means. I expected somewhat dull sessions on non-debatable company facts and figures and was prepared to sit through long, presentations from high-ranked executives.

What I found was the exact opposite. The executives that entertained the challenging questions of this bunch of ambitious MBAs did not fear any confrontation but exhibited great vigor, flexibility and a solid sense of humour in presenting their work. Instead of counting the minutes during dusty standard presentations, I was deeply impressed with the creativity, resoluteness and sincerity of the hosts’ responses to even the trickiest interrogations.

I learnt about the various strategic plans, experienced different company cultures and discussed Japan´s growth plans from every angle during our trip. Never a dull moment on this business study mission!

Five days of back-to-back meetings with 12 Japan-based companies and their highly inspirational leaders allowed me to gain valuable insights into Japanese management styles and to develop a firm understanding for growth strategies and corporate development tactics.

Currently, many Japanese companies find themselves at an inflection point. As a result of “Abenomics”, structural and fiscal reforms introduced by prime minster Abe, the nominal GDP has grown by 2.2 per cent over the past year, the highest growth in 17 years. How well an organisation responds to the challenges that arise in periods of change will determine the share of the overall national growth that the company can enjoy in the future.

The most common issue pinpointed by all presenters, an aging society as well as an overall decreasing population, will significantly impact Japan´s competitiveness in global markets in the long run. Further, many Japanese do not have a professional command of English so that their employers are often confronted with major obstacles when doing business with overseas partners.

The programmes introduced to improve the command of English are a necessary investment to make Japanese firms more attractive for foreign investment as it will eventually facilitate collaboration across borders.

I was delighted to learn that Japanese companies attach ever more importance on people development and increasingly focus on hiring international talent. Many of the companies who hosted Q&A sessions with my MBA class emphasised that they experienced radical progress by selectively incentivising employees and revising their HR policies. Offering flexible work style solutions to attract more women to the corporate world, providing training and international exchange programmes as well as shaping an overall growth mindset, has proven effective to nurture business success.

All the leaders who welcomed me and my classmates to their office agreed in saying that heavy investments in research and development programmes are crucial to compete on an international scale. While attentively monitoring innovation cycles, the firms aim to stay on top of market trends and best tailor products to customer needs.

With limited talent pools and only little entrepreneurial spirit in their own country, Japanese businesses focus on expanding through investments beyond the saturated Japanese market by asset purchases, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions.

Nikkei Inc., publisher of the largest Japanese financial newspaper, has recently announced the acquisition of the Financial Times to strengthen its global and digital growth profile. Suntory, a Japanese beverage distribution company group, has taken over the American whiskey brand Jim Beam to enhance its footprint beyond Japanese markets.

Even though Japan was not on my list of most intriguing business environments, the insights gained from the visits to companies have definitely put Japanese businesses on my radar as future employers.

 

published on: Financial Times – FT. com

http://blogs.ft.com/mba-blog/2015/11/18/big-in-japan-doing-business-in-the-land-of-the-rising-sun/

The journey to victory at Dell Case Competition 2015

Contributed by MBA students: Kevin, Moohwan and SungWon

As MBA candidates and future leaders of a dynamically changing business environment, how do we define our success and measure our learning progress? Our answer to the question was to participate in business case competitions, as we believe that the ability to apply practical industrial knowledge and to demonstrate our inner potential is a vital criterion for success.

In view of this, the inter-university Case Competition organised by Dell was a great opportunity for us to apply what we have learnt in class and to leverage on our skillsets such as collaborative team work, efficient time management, application of effective framework and compelling presentation. We knew that the competition would be challenging and require significant commitment and sacrifice but we decided to take up the challenge and embark on this journey to achieve our very first milestone.

The case competition consisted of two rounds. The first round was evaluated based on a five-minute video recording on the topic of Dell’s supply chain management, and the second round was carried out at Dell’s office amongst the selected teams, based on the result of the first round. In total, 17 teams participated from three universities, namely NTU, NUS and SP Jain. Four teams were promoted to the final round; two teams came from NUS and one each from NTU and SP Jain, respectively.

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The team, DellTaForce was voluntarily and carefully formed on our own by taking several criteria into consideration in order to optimise the team potential and synergy. One important, though often neglected criteria, is how the different individuals, with their expertise and professional backgrounds can complement and work with one another in a team. With that in mind, we finally formed a team consisting of three members with over five years’ of career experience in different business areas, namely, management consulting, strategy planning, and engineering. The mix of diverse background helped significantly throughout the Dell case competition as the different perspectives of each member allowed us to bring a wide range of ideas that an individual by him or herself might not be able to generate.

During the analysis of the case studies, we set the most important and fundamental rule upfront, which was to respect and encourage each other for all meetings. The small initiative paid off as the team members were able to share their ideas confidently, leading to fruitful brainstorming. No matter what idea was brought up, we considered all of them worthy of discussion and talked about it until we reached a consensus.

The challenging parts that we have encountered were mainly ideation relating to supply chain management business domain, as none of us had previous professional experience in that field. To address the issue, we proactively approached professors to guide us on process validation and viable examples for ideation. We had to instill a confident mindset in ourselves that we are the expert in the supply chain management as far as the case is concerned.

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Another challenge that we had to work on was the professional presentation for the final round. As the team consisting of non-native English speakers, our pressing issue was to enhance our effective speech in a professional and convincing manner. To quickly equip ourselves with the necessary presentation skills within a short timeframe, we focused on practicing, preparing Q&As, and non-verbal communication cues such as posture, eye contact, attire and more. The intensive practice sessions continued all the way till the final presentation date. Although it was not perfect at the end, we certainly made visible improvement to deliver our idea to the panel judges. Last but not least, most importantly, we gained confidence in public speaking.

Our determination, specific goal setting, collaborative teamwork, consistent discipline, sincere commitment and specific plan to achieve our common goal played significant parts in helping us win this case competition.

The key takeaway from the experience was that when all the attributes of success are applied collectively, the likelihood of winning will definitely increase as it creates synergistic effect as long as everyone plays their part responsibly.

We would like to attribute our glorious success to Professor Vijay Sethi and Professor Peter Giulioni who were willing to spend their personal time to help us, especially when our progress was stagnated and when we were occasionally demotivated. It was a great achievement as a start and we strongly believe that Nanyang MBA’s journey for business case competition will continue thriving.

End-of-Midterms Celebration

By Bodi Yuhico, Philippines

Most of us from the Nanyang MBA Class of 2012-2013 completed our final midterm test one Sunday morning. When the clock struck 12 noon, it was a symbolic moment for the entire cohort for three reasons:

1)     The end of the midterm exams

2)     The end of the first half of Trimester 1

3)     The beginning of the ExCo’s first social activity for the batch!

Filled with much gusto and excitement, our ragged group of some 50 MBA participants moved from LT27A to our own place, The NANYANG MBA lounge. There were a lot of foods: from sushi to sandwiches to pastries. As we entered the lounge, we noticed not only food, but also the projector was set up with the newly bought karaoke (that famous Japanese contribution for “sing-along” ) machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To kick things off on the right mood, Andy Kim, President of the Nanyang MBA Student Executive Council, thanked everyone for coming, and then proceeded to serenade the batch with his rendition of ‘Uptown Girl’. Not bad for a singing prexy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also wished and sang happy birthday songs to the September celebrants: Indonesian Satria Krisnandi, Peter Ho, Indian Sunny Arora, and Canadian Jake Hason. Sadly, the lovely French Florence Roncalez wasn’t able to join!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so, with all that done, it was time to mingle! With Filipino John Rae facilitating the karaoke machine with aspiring singers, the rest of the group of full-timers and part-timers spent time  socializing.

It was indeed the end of the first half of the trimester, and for many participants,  it felt it went by so fast. It ended on a day usually reserved for rest(Sunday), a day typically considered in some cultures as the end of the week, and in some cultures as the start of the week. And that, in essence, was what the End of Midterms Celebration symbolized: the end of the midterms and the first half of the semester, and yet the start of many other new firsts.

Congratulations to a job well done to everyone in the cohort making the ExCo’s first social activity a success! And looking forward to more!

Taking on Singapore’s famous chilli & black pepper crabs – an experience to remember!

 

by Teo Eng Soon, Singaporean, Intake Class of 2012

One weekend evening in August, students from the Nanyang MBA made their way to Red House Seafood Restaurant at East Coast Park, one of Singapore’s popular places for a great feast. For some, it was the first time trying Singaporean style seafood. For the rest, it was a time for the class to catch up with one another in spite of our busy schedule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s me in the photo, ready to start with a pair of chopsticks.

The set dinner consisted of several dishes such as drunken prawn (yes!), sweet and sour fish fillet and more. But the highlight of the night was the chilli and black pepper crabs- Singapore is famous for these 2 ways of preparing crabs (the crabs are from Sri Lanka). Some of our classmates find it spicy , but very tasty- some really have to adjust their taste buds, but no one gave up on this ‘exotic’ dish! You cannot say you have been in Singapore and have not tasted this wonderfully delicious dish.

The tricky part of eating crabs was to open the shell. Getting our hands ‘dirty’ with the gravy sauce, was inevitable. The reward was the tender and full flavour of crab meat that lies within the solid, hard shell.

An important precaution to note is when you break open the shells, is to be wary of the other people sitting on other tables around us. The gravy (chilli sauce) can splash far enough to “hit” the clothes of the rest, making them “casualties” in the process. But that’s the fun part of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chilli crabs with fried buns. Love it.                                                 Thumbs up!

The dinner ended with a much healthier choice- a platter of tropical fruits. Special thanks to our classmate Singaporean Josephine, for hosting the dinner and the rest who have helped in one way or another to welcome our international friends!

Burp- Nothing like a good meal in the eastern side of Singapore!

Getting on board The NANYANG MBA – our first week

“On-Boarding!”

By Shilpa Ramesh Vaswani, Indian, Nanyang MBA participant, Intake 2012

Geared up for the first day as an MBA student in one of the most prestigious universities of Asia, I headed to the commencement of the orientation program or on-boarding as it is now called! I began to introduce myself as a citizen of India, who actually grew up in Cameroon, Africa and obtained my bachelor’s degree from Miami, Florida, with a multi-faceted experience in banking, retail and non-profit. I realized that I was simply a drop in the ocean of diversity that engulfed my batch of 2012-2013. My colleagues represented 22 countries in five different continents, with extensively rich profiles ranging from those of software engineers, pharmacists, a dentist (yes! But an entrepreneur too!), military and government officials, lawyer, infrastructural engineers, accountants, entrepreneurs, stock traders, mechanical and design engineers, financial analysts, marketing executives, consultants –  you name it! My excitement levels just increased ten-fold. The informal networking was such a great start to our new world, a world that would comprise of meaningful and productive cross-disciplinary learning from amongst the classmates, which in essence, is crucial for successful business leaders.

By the end of the first day, most of us had familiarized ourselves to the extensively large (I was told it was 200 hectares!) and maze-like campus and thankfully the informal networking paved way for friends and acquaintances alike. The next few days of orientation entailed a series of activities and workshops. Day 2 was an offsite trip to Labrador Park’s City Beach Resort at Port Road,  where a group of professionals arranged indoor and outdoor team-building games and activities- that comprise the adventure part of the program. There were memory games, team races that entailed detecting hidden clues, adventurous blindfold games and a creative master chef challenge (remember those popular TV reality shows!) which infused globally infused gourmet creativity.

 

That’s me on the right most photo! With the rest of my MBA cohort

The following week started off with briefings into the academic program and the exciting opportunities we are offered including student exchange programs, business study missions, extracurricular student clubs and even internship and job search assistance. There was even a briefing by the existing student committee members who spoke of how their involvement in student clubs has enriched their experience and opened the gateway to a multitude of networking opportunities.  Comprehensive workshops were conducted on several key areas including communication and presentation; learning style and personality analysis; organizational simulation of a manufacturing unit; case analysis and discussions; networking and adapting to business practices in different countries; and finally speed reading, which made an amazing difference from 300 to almost a 1000 words per minute. The last day of the orientation included cross-cultural presentations by our class of, depicting an insight into the cultural and business practices in our countriesof origin. There were cultural dances, skits, entertaining videos, informational facts, melodious songs and even regional food and liquor tasting that complemented the exercise. The last bit of the orientation was the icing on the cake with an off-site visit to the Singapore City Gallery, which shows how urban planning shaped Singapore, followed by a trip to the Gardens by the Bay,the newest tourist attraction comprised of manmade super structures of beautiful gardens,  and Marine Gardens Drive. Singapore City Gallery was indeed mesmerizing. It consisted of a phenomenal scale model of the entire city including every nook and corner depicting the expertise involved in the infrastructural and contingency planning in Singapore. The Gardens by the Bay consisted of indigenous foliage and a flamboyant variety of flowers in addition to the artificial solar power trees.

 

Some of the excursions we went to as part of our exploration of the city post -orientation program included visits to the Hawker Street – a mélange of cosmo-Asian influenced Singaporean cuisine; ice skating at Jurong Cube, a hip mall for the youth; Café Azzura at Sentosa Island; an Irish Café at Bras Basah; a sea-food dinner at the East Coast Park organized by the Singaporean students and the Business School; and Clarke Quay, the famous landmark known for food and entertainment- an array of different types of restaurants and social sites lining up the Singapore river, a colorful and zealous atmosphere with globally infused stalls.

Photos with my new peers at the Irish Pub at Bras Basah

My first week at the Nanyang Business School is only an introductory insight to the wonderful world of knowledge, networking and fun which will  probably rank among the best experience of my life so far. Singapore feels like the perfect blend of the east and the west. The sunshine induces a warm and welcoming feeling into a world of perfection. Nanyang, with its admirable campus, multicultural student body, esteemed faculty, extracurricular involvement and brilliant staff that constantly aim to buttress the students’ development into successful individuals, –I am definitely looking forward to more as I start my MBA classes the following week.

 

 That’s me making a point during the on boarding sessions!

Our initial weeks at Nanyang, improving English skills with new friends – what a great start!

By Nguyen Truong, Vietnamese and Yeh Ming-min, Taiwanese, with contributions from the rest of the Intensive English Class participants.

Our first impression about this course must be the friendliness of our classmates, professor, and MBA Office staff. Everyone smiles to welcome new students and considers others as close friends at the very beginning. Although below is our very first picture before the class (there were 18 of us, coming from 10 countries), we seem to know each other for a very long time.

Intensive English Class 2012 - Nanyang MBA

After that, Ms. Catherine, our professor, walked with us around Nanyang Business School (NBS), to introduce the school and for us to get familiar with the location. It was a long walk, going through many doors and stairs. The Nanyang campus is huge – we were told that the campus has a land area of 200 hectares and lots of greeneries!  With every door we go through, our classmates were waiting and kept doors open for others. It was so great for the first day!

Ms. Catherine is probably one of the nicest professors we have ever known. She prepared the course carefully that all we needed to do was just to relax and enjoy the class. Homework was really fun, too! We watched “Mind your language!” to learn about the possible dangers when  English is not used properly! Besides the reading and media assisting self-learning, the case studies were excellent chances for us to work together and understand our classmates.

Moreover, each week, we were given one case study to strengthen our analytical capabilities and business presentation skills. We believe that this was a great opportunity for all of us to brush up our English language skills as well as get to know each other before the real journey begins. Honestly, we learned a lot from this class!

Intensive English Class 2012
Taking a break while doing a case study with teammates from (left to right) Rita from China, Nguyen-that’s me! (Vietnam), Eric from Taiwan and Iwai from Japan
Another case study group - peers from China and Thailand
Another case study group - peers from China and Thailand

After our class, it was certainly a great time for sharing interests.

On weekends, the class would often meet for entertainment…
On weekends, the class would often meet for entertainment…

 

…at the Sky Lounge of the now famous Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (Me - Mimi or Ming-Min, in black, middle row,  3rd from left!)
…at the Sky Lounge of the famous Marina Bay Sands, Singapore (Me - Mimi or Ming-Min, in black, middle row, 3rd from left!)

 

…going to the bar to chill out…
…going to the bar to chill out…
…enjoying life with family…
…enjoying life with family…
…hanging around together with new friends…
…hanging around together with new friends…

…and…

…and doing what most gentlemen do…
…and doing what most gentlemen do…

Zhang Rui, Chinese, reminisces the experience. “Three weeks’ time is just like a blink of an eye. I have not been able to go around the whole campus even once, but I will say goodbye to our dearest Catherine, our intensive English class lecturer this coming Friday. I still remembered the first day I met our guys (the incoming cohort attending this preparatory English language class) in front of the MBA Office. I saw so many fresh faces, each with great joy and excitement for the coming new life in this beautiful green campus. I also remembered the first big smile from Catherine, a smile which melted all the strangeness between us. From that day on, we guys spent so many unforgettable moments together. We learnt how to do a professional presentation, we discussed for hours, how to do an analysis of a business case- we made progress every time we accepted a new challenge and we cheered for everyone’s improvement. Most happily, we received such precious friendship from each other. We also left our footprint on the Marina Bay Sands, that famous new integrated resort in SIngapore which is presently a main tourist attraction. Together, we enjoyed cuisine from around the world- yes in this food paradise called Singapore.”

Now, it is the last week of this course. Time passes so fast, especially when we are happy. Each of us actually gained many experiences and improved significantly in these two weeks. Waiting ahead is not only another  learning week or the assessment but also the last day of this program , and everything here become sweet memories about our first days at Nanyang… Zhang further adds, “when I look back to all I experienced, all I did and all I got in the past three weeks, I want to say “thank you” to our MBA programme, to Ms Catherine Cheng and to all our guys (my MBA peers). Thanks for the special arrangement of the MBA programme, I have this opportunity to come one month earlier to join the Intensive English Course. Thanks to Catherine, I have learnt so much from her well-designed course and her well-prepared learning materials. Thanks to our guys, with you, I feel so great now and raring to start my MBA journey at Nanyang next week.”

Preparing to be a consultant – a Management and Consulting Club Event

by Vida Zhou Dan, VP for Communications, Chinese, Nanyang MBA Participant, Intake 2011

Consulting as a profession is among the most popular choice by MBA students. While everyone is enthusiastic in pursuing this career, a lot of anxieties or worries about being able to snare a job assignment in this industry prevail, despite the numerous case studies we already did at Nanyang. To address these concerns, the Management Consulting Club organised an event earlier this year to help us, club members, to understand more the intricacies of becoming a management consultant and prepare ourselves to be one. Preparedness they say is the key!

Nanyang MBA Alumnus, Italian Angelo Polimeno from Delta Partners
Angelo Polimeno, Nanyang MBA Alumnus, generously shared his experience and knowledge in consulting during the Management & Consulting Club Event

We invited one of our own as our guest speaker, an alumnus who now works as a consultant of Delta Partners, a leading consulting firm, after completing his Nanyang MBA in 2010. We were glad to welcome Italian Mr Angelo Polimeno, formerly based in Italy and is now based in Singapore, yet he travels extensively across continents for consulting assignments.

“As a Nanyang MBA alumnus, I completely understand what you are all going through as I have been in your shoes.  Do feel free to ask me questions on these cases we are going to discuss. I will do my best to help as much as I can to show you how to handle the various ‘challenges’ that these cases pose” were Angelo’s opening lines. His introduction made us feel more comfortable to really dig into knowing more about this industry from a practitioner’s point of view.

During the session, Angelo also demonstrated two case studies and coached us on how to deal with these different situations. We eagerly took part in the interactive discussion – from practice details to structural thinking methods, and more. It was a lively session worth doing as Angelo gamely and generously shared his experience and knowledge with us.

After the event, some 20 of us who attended, felt that we should continue to cultivate more of our skills by ‘doing’ more and more case studies, to prepare us to tackle the challenges posed by real life scenarios which consultants must face. Preparedness is key – and this is more emphasized after the event. We were further enlightened and inspired to pursue our aspirations to become a consultant one day.

‘Get to the Point’ – speaking in style in public

By Ramya Krishna, Indian, Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA, Intake 2011

Don’t we all want to be good speakers?

We all want to impress, influence and motivate our teams, clients, each and every person we meet. How, then, do we get there? How do we train and practice?

Like everybody else, I had a plethora of the similar never ending questions.

‘Get- to- the- Point’ is a public speaking workshop by Eric Feng, a well-known public speaking coach for CEO’s in Asia. The workshop was organised by The NANYANG MBA Women In Business Club (WIB) and it was a perfect venue for us to learn some great tips. The event was conducted right after our mid-trimester holidays at Nanyang’s other campus, NTU One-North Campus in Buona Vista, so it was a refreshing start for most of us.

Contrary to what you might expect in sessions like these, we had lots of fun.  Yes, absolute fun.

Now, you all wonder why all the learning in the world isn’t the same… Below are a series of photographs captured during the various activities, showcasing on how interactive, and ‘fun’ the workshop was for all of us – we learnt about our capabilities and how to maximize these, with Eric coaching us on how to become effective public speakers.

Eric Feng
Eric Feng in action

Continue reading ‘Get to the Point’ – speaking in style in public