Rising to the University College challenge

Written by Mr Loh Teck Hua, Lecturer, School of Business and Law.

With the official inauguration of KDU College to University College status in October 2010, exciting plans have been put in place to further upgrade its standing as a prestigious institution of quality higher education. One of these is the change management project which involves every faculty in the organization and, without exception, the School of Business and Law.

What does this ‘change management’ mean to the ordinary person on the street, especially to students and their parents?

First of all, new management vision and mission are in place to drive business growth and educational excellence. If one was to look from our students’ point of view, that would mean providing a cutting-edge learning experience, innovative teaching methods and upgrading the organization’s expertise through research - all with the objective of preparing them well to meet the challenges of a diverse and globally competitive workforce.


This means, in a nutshell, that KDU University College wants to develop high quality students and graduates, provide greater student satisfaction, offer a curriculum that is up-to-date with educational and business trends and establish business and industry linkages to provide our students with the necessary experience for better job placement.

But more than just vision and mission, there is a serious rethink on how the institution can restructure and reorganize itself to be able to deliver these goals.

The management and staff from the School of Business and Law (SBL) gathered at the Grand Dorsett, Subang Jaya on 20th Saturday 2011, for the second round of planning and discussions. Presided over by Ms Patricia Chua, the Special Projects Director, and led by Dr. Dr. Victor Yu, Head of the School of Business and Law, and Benny Lim, the Head of Department of Mass Communications, the workshop also had the honour of having Professor Dr.Teoh, (the Vice Chancellor of KDU UC) and Dr Tan Hui Ling (the Deputy Vice Chancellor - Academic) as ‘guest speakers’. Ms Lau Pin Lean, the Acting Head of Law School chipped in to talk about leadership and team work with an interesting classic story about why birds fly in a ‘V’ formation.

Although it was a serious meeting there was no lack of fun and laughter. Games, team building activities using cards and hoops, and even a dance competition, were thrown in to energise the participants. You should watch how those lecturers moved!

The workshop ended by 5 pm. While there is more work to be done in terms of planning and implementation, the participants were left without a shadow of doubt that changes are on their way.