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There’s been a bit more buzz around AI this week following an open letter signed by a group of AI experts and other high-profile figures and released by the Center for AI Safety. The open letter had only one line – “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”
Listen to the full interview below.
Originally published by BFM.
Singapore Temasek Holding’s decided to cut the pay of the staff responsible for the failed 275 US million dollar investment in bankrupt FTX, in an unprecedented move for collective accountability and good governance. We speak with Elsa Satkunasingam from Asia School of Business, and what this could mean for Malaysia’s Government-Linked Investment Companies.
Listen to the full interview below.
Originally published by BFM.
Tabung Kewangan Antarabangsa – bersama-sama Bank Dunia yang menjadi Pertubuhan Perdagangan Dunia – diwujudkan pada Persidangan Bretton Woods pada Julai 1944. Matlamatnya adalah untuk mewujudkan sistem antarabangsa yang akan menyelesaikan masalah yang menjejaskan perdagangan dan hubungan kewangan semasa tempoh antara perang.
Manipulasi mata wang telah membawa kepada dasar perdagangan perlindungan yang membahayakan perdagangan dan perdagangan antarabangsa. Keutamaan tarif dalam empayar British juga telah mengehadkan peluang perdagangan untuk tanah jajahan. Beberapa negara, terutamanya Jerman, telah mengalami hiperinflasi dalam tempoh antara perang, dan secara amnya dipercayai bahawa aliran modal tidak stabil.
Kewujudan sistem antarabangsa dipersetujui untuk menangani kekurangan ini dengan menekankan kepentingan sistem perdagangan pelbagai hala terbuka; ketiadaan kawalan ke atas pembayaran antarabangsa untuk urus niaga yang berkaitan dengan perdagangan barangan dan perkhidmatan; dan sistem pariti kadar pertukaran yang dikaitkan dengan emas melalui dolar Amerika Syarikat.
Sistem Bretton-Wood telah berkembang dari semasa ke semasa melalui dua dimensi penting. Pertama, sistem nilai tara bagi kadar pertukaran yang ditambat telah, di banyak negara, memberi laluan kepada sistem kadar pertukaran yang fleksibel di mana bank pusat di setiap bidang kuasa bertanggungjawab ke atas dasar monetari dengan objektif untuk mencapai kestabilan monetari dan kewangan domestik dan bukannya mempertahankan nilai tara tertentu untuk mata wang.
Kedua, liberalisasi aliran modal antarabangsa telah membawa kepada peningkatan yang ketara dalam aliran sedemikian yang membolehkan negara membiayai pelaburan domestik melalui pinjaman luar tetapi juga menyebabkan ekonomi mengalami kejutan yang berpunca daripada pasaran modal antarabangsa. Peranan Tabung Kewangan Antarabangsa telah berkembang seiring dengan sistem monetari antarabangsa.
Daripada memberi tumpuan kepada kestabilan kadar pertukaran semata-mata, IMF kini memberi tumpuan kepada dasar monetari, kewangan dan fiskal secara lebih umum dalam kerja pengawasan dua hala dan pelbagai halanya. Ia juga telah berkembang menjadi sebuah institusi yang menyediakan pembiayaan kepada negara yang mempunyai keperluan imbangan pembayaran, sekali gus menyediakan apa yang dirujuk sebagai jaringan keselamatan antarabangsa untuk ekonomi yang mengalami kesukaran.
Pada masa yang sama, peningkatan pesat dalam perdagangan antarabangsa dan aliran modal telah memihak kepada penggunaan dolar Amerika Syarikat oleh sektor swasta sebagai mata wang yang paling sesuai untuk denominasi pembayaran, sehingga setakat ini ia merupakan mata wang yang paling kerap digunakan dalam urus niaga pertukaran asing.
Ini bukanlah satu evolusi yang secara langsung hasil daripada IMF sebagai sebuah institusi. Ia kerana daripada
Amerika Syarikat yang mempunyai pasaran kewangan yang terbesar dan paling terbuka di mana individu, firma, bank, dan institusi rasmi boleh meminjam dan meminjamkan secara bebas dan, sebahagian besarnya, dengan selamat.
Kita boleh mula dengan penyediaan jaringan keselamatan kewangan serantau yang membolehkan negara meminjam sekiranya menghadapi masalah pembayaran luar. Kemudahan sedemikian telah pun wujud dalam bentuk Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) yang ditubuhkan oleh negara ASEAN+3 (sepuluh anggota ASEAN ditambah Republik Rakyat China, Jepun dan Republik Korea).
Ini adalah perjanjian pertukaran kontrak antara negara yang terlibat di mana ahli boleh meminjam untuk membiayai keperluan kecairan imbangan pembayaran jangka pendek, dan ia menyediakan jaringan keselamatan kewangan serantau sama seperti kemudahan pinjaman IMF menyediakan jaringan keselamatan kewangan global.
Seperti yang dinyatakan, IMF menjalankan pengawasan ke atas dasar ekonomi negara anggota dengan objektif untuk mengurangkan secara awal kemungkinan mereka perlu memanfaatkan kemudahan pinjamannya. Begitu juga, negara ASEAN+3 negara menubuhkan AMRO-Asia (ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office) yang beribu pejabat di Singapura.
Di samping menjalankan pengawasan dasar ekonomi negara anggota, peranan utamanya terdiri daripada menyokong CMIM dan menyediakan bantuan teknikal kepada negara anggota. Dengan kewujudan CMIM dan AMRO-Asia nampaknya tidak perlu untuk mewujudkan Dana Kewangan Asia untuk menjalankan pengawasan makroekonomi, pinjaman sokongan imbangan pembayaran jangka pendek, dan bantuan teknikal.
Setakat mana fungsi ini perlu diperkukuh atau diubah suai, nampaknya lebih cekap untuk melakukannya dalam rangka kerja institusi sedia ada daripada menubuhkan institusi baharu. Bagaimana pula dengan percubaan untuk mengurangkan peranan dolar AS dalam transaksi pembayaran serantau? Ambil perhatian bahawa kepentingan dolar AS dalam pembayaran antarabangsa telah berkembang secara organik melalui keputusan oleh mereka yang terlibat dalam pembayaran tersebut dan bukan melalui dekri oleh mana-mana institusi rasmi.
Dan seperti yang telah dinyatakan, evolusi kebanyakannya adalah hasil daripada saiz pasaran kewangan AS dan ekonomi AS secara amnya, bersama-sama dengan apa yang dipanggil luaran rangkaian yang membayangkan bahawa faedah kepada unit individu menggunakan mata wang tertentu dalam urus niaga meningkat. apabila individu lain turut menggunakannya.
Luaran rangkaian ini biasanya membayangkan bahawa satu mata wang akan menjadi mata wang yang dominan dalam sistem ekonomi bersepadu. Walau bagaimanapun, teknologi pembayaran baharu yang menjadikan sistem pembayaran negara saling beroperasi tanpa perlu bergantung pada sistem pemesejan kewangan seperti SWIFT mungkin menjimatkan untuk menyelesaikan beberapa transaksi dengan wilayah tertentu dalam mata wang tempatan.
Perkara ini telah dibincangkan dalam kalangan negara-negara ASEAN khususnya dan memorandum persefahaman telah ditandatangani dan dilaksanakan bagi tujuan ini. AMRO-Asia sedang mengkaji bagaimana untuk membangunkan lagi penyelesaian mata wang tempatan sedemikian.
Sekali lagi, nampaknya tidak perlu untuk mewujudkan dan AMF untuk mempromosikan penggunaan mata wang tempatan dalam perdagangan dan pinjaman. Institusi sedia ada sudah pun meneroka kos, faedah dan modaliti untuk berbuat demikian. – DagangNews.com
Pandangan yang dikongsi dalam ulasan ini adalah pendapat beliau sendiri.
Originally published by Dagang News.
ChatGPT, AI, and the Evolution of Education In the rapidly shifting landscape of technology and education, few individuals have their fingers as firmly on the pulse as Professor Sanjay Sarma. With a career spanning decades in academia and innovation, Professor Sanjay has watched the sunrise of AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, and traced their trajectories as they reshape our world.
As these technologies gain momentum, their influence seeps into every sector, not least of which is tertiary education. Professor Sanjay, with his extensive experience in Open Learning, is uniquely positioned to predict and interpret these tidal shifts. The critical question on everyone’s mind is, “To what extent will AI change education?”
Professor Sanjay Sarma’s journey in academia and technology has been nothing short of inspiring. This journey began at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, from where he received his bachelor’s degree. Further education at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California at Berkeley resulted in a master’s degree and a PhD, respectively. Armed with this solid academic foundation, Sanjay embarked on a career that would see him break boundaries and redefine norms.
He served as the Vice President for Open Learning at MIT, where he also co-founded the Auto-ID Center. His pioneering work led to the development of many key technologies that form the backbone of the EPC suite of RFID standards, now a staple in industries worldwide. Professor Sanjay also brought his innovative thinking to the entrepreneurial world, founding OATSystems and serving as its Chief Technology Officer before it was acquired by Checkpoint Systems in 2008.
His remarkable journey doesn’t stop there. He serves on the boards of GS1US, Hochschild Mining, and several start-up companies, including Top Flight Technologies, a testament to his wide-ranging influence across various sectors. He was recently appointed as the new CEO and Dean of The Asia School of Business (ASB) where he is set to navigate the waves of change that AI is bringing to tertiary education.
Professor Sanjay Sarma’s varied background, rich with achievements and practical experience, positions him uniquely to comment on the future of technology, particularly the role of AI in education. Professor Sanjay has been living and breathing AI before it became a buzzword, delving deep into its potential for years. As we navigate this new age, his insights become ever more relevant and pressing.
I think that AI’s influence on education can go in both good and bad directions. It’s not unusual to see many educational institutions express concern about how AI could potentially disrupt the education system – for instance, students may misuse it to write essays. Such concerns are valid but futile – it’s akin to shaking your fist at the clouds, demanding the rain to stop.
The imminent influence of AI on education will undoubtedly challenge educators, urging them to wield this new tool effectively to improve education. This won’t be a trivial task. I see two broad areas where AI will make a substantial impact.
Firstly, AI can serve as an excellent coach and a co-passenger on the journey of learning. This requires educators and institutions to identify ways to utilize AI as a mentor. This mentoring role of AI can extend to various areas, from helping write code to diagnose problems. Khan Academy has demonstrated how ChatGPT-4 can function as a tutor, assisting students in problem-solving.
The second area where AI will influence education is what I like to call “outperformance.” It’s like a tiger that’s always chasing us, pushing us to outrun it. The people and educational institutions that can surpass AI’s capabilities will enjoy significant success.
Despite its many strengths, AI can often be wrong. So, the essential skill becomes the ability to identify when AI errs. This is what outperformance entails – the people who can surpass AI’s abilities. Regardless of our sentiments, it will undoubtedly influence education. We cannot simply wish it away.
Yes, I do use it. It would be intellectually dishonest to say I don’t. However, the key lies in how I use it. ChatGPT is an extraordinary tool – it’s the first time we’re engaging with a system that can carry on a rather cogent conversation. Like humans, it’s not always correct, but it gets it right a significant amount of the time.
The surprise element of ChatGPT lies not just in its ability as a language model but also as a knowledge model. It made me realise how profoundly we are defined by our language, and how language encodes a lot of knowledge. It’s quite astounding and it changes the dynamics of things, even for tech giants like Google.
As for my usage, I employ it as a co-pilot, much like Microsoft’s portrayal. Just the other day, I was drafting my own bio. On a whim, I decided to use ChatGPT to assist. While I had to revise and correct some parts, the overall process became substantially quicker – it probably saved me about 15 minutes. So, I do see it as an assistant, but an assistant that can make mistakes. It’s crucial to remember that you still need to be in control.
Yes, if a student is asked to write an essay and they use ChatGPT, that would be considered cheating. But trying to prohibit this entirely is akin to telling someone to swim in a lake but not swallow any water. It’s nearly impossible.
The solution lies in designing assignments in a way that ChatGPT becomes a part of it and students have to work around it. For instance, you could have students generate an essay using ChatGPT and then critique it.
It is about embracing “outperformance.” We need to redesign our assignments accordingly. Just as we don’t check spellings any more thanks to the automatic spell-check in Word, we need to move a step beyond and learn to outrun ChatGPT.
It will do both, in my opinion. It will help some while it may hinder others. Let me explain. For a lot of graduates who fall in the middle of the pack, AI might hurt them. There’s a risk that AI might take over their jobs, especially if their skills are common or easily replicable by machines. So, yes, for good writers, for instance, this could pose a problem.
However, individuals who possess extraordinary abilities, be it cognitive or physical, are likely to be least affected by AI. For now, robotics can do coarse motor skills but struggles with fine motor skills. It can drive a truck, but can’t, say, perform delicate stitching work or create nuanced art. Similarly, AI can do amazing things within its capabilities, but at the extremes of sophistication, it falls short.
So, for those who can outperform or perform tasks beyond AI’s capabilities, AI can serve as an excellent support system or an assistant. But for those whose tasks and skills fall within the sweet spot of AI’s capabilities, the technology can indeed be highly competitive and possibly disruptive.
Clearly, anything related to language is immediately impacted. Coding will also be significantly affected as AI can write remarkable code. However, even within coding, there will still be high-value jobs – the outperformers as I call them. Architect roles, for instance, will become more valuable, while those who write more basic code may see their jobs diminish.
Similarly, for someone who crafts the theme of a magazine or a story, their jobs will become more valuable, while routine tasks of writing based on prompts and facts might be automated. Someone still needs to edit the output and find errors. So, jobs that require outperformance will increase, while the standard ones will be impacted.
Look at the banking sector for an example. ATMs replaced the job of dispensing cash, but it led to an increase in the need for roles that give financial advice. In conclusion, I truly believe that education and learning are the oxygen of the new modern economy.
In the midst of this technology-driven evolution, the Asia School of Business (ASB) stands as a beacon of innovative education. Established by Bank Negara Malaysia and MIT Sloan School of Management, ASB is leading the way in management education, championing transformative and principled leaders through its award-winning Action Learning-based curriculum. With Professor Sanjay’s guidance as the new CEO and Dean, ASB is set to navigate the waves of change that AI is bringing to tertiary education.
Find out more about their MBA program.
Originally published by The Peak.
Image courtesy The Edge Malaysia
When it comes to retirement, it is first about setting your retirement goals. And then it is about coming up with a sound and prudent savings programme that helps you achieve those goals. In Malaysia, we are lucky to have a national social security savings system, also known as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), to help us save for retirement, so we can sleep soundly at night.
What should retirement be about? It should be about enabling you to continue with your economically and socially productive activities and lifestyle pursuits, be it for work or leisure. Since the proportion of time you allocate to each category will change from your working years to retirement, you have to be sure of three things on the financial front so you can freely pursue your goals and activities, and meet your consumption and healthcare expenses, even while in retirement:
What could we do to help nudge our nation’s retirement savings path towards a more correct direction? Here are three basic proposals we suggest:
1. The default mode on retirement should be a version of the EPF periodical payment withdrawal scheme. This provides for a regular income stream during retirement instead of a lump sum withdrawal. The latest EPF 2021 annual report states that only 271 members are on this scheme. Down south, Singapore’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) has implemented such measures more than a decade ago with the introduction of the Retirement Sum Scheme (RSS) and later, the CPF LIFE scheme.
2. To help the B40 and M40 groups accumulate more retirement savings during their working years, the employer contribution portion needs to be increased for these groups. On the other hand, for the T20 (top 20% income group), the employer contribution amount can be capped at a certain income limit. This capped contribution to tax-advantaged retirement funds has been a feature in many countries including Singapore and the US.
3. Last but perhaps most important, form a “The Future of Malaysian Pensions Advisory Panel” comprising industry financial experts, finance academics, EPF, financially trained civil servants from the appropriate ministries and so on to review Malaysia’s pension and social security savings scheme. It can perhaps be chaired by the most knowledgeable person with reference to pensions from EPF (or co-chaired with a secretary-general from the Ministry of Finance). The panel should come up with recommendations that can be considered by the government and/or parliament for implementation. That’s what Singapore did in 2014 via its CPF Advisory Panel, where the panel made important, value-added changes to the CPF scheme, which were all implemented by 2016 (just two years later).
Given the dire state of inadequate EPF savings in Malaysia, with around 73% of members having too little savings by EPF’s definition, the need to set up some kind of Malaysian SuperFund to support a Basic Pension Scheme appears imminent to some experts — that is, a Basic Living Wage provision within the SuperFund that is means-tested and needs-based given that the well-to-do don’t need subsidies or government handouts.
Prof Geoffrey Williams suggested during the Policy Roundtable to use excesses from a Malaysian petroleum fund (creating one if it doesn’t exist). Just the way Norway funds its pension system via the Norges Bank (NBIM or the Government Pension Fund Global), which states, “The aim of the oil fund is to ensure responsible and long-term management of revenue from Norway’s oil and gas resources, so that this wealth benefits both current and future generations.” This is something the Malaysian pensions advisory panel can perhaps take up as part of its deliberations.
In conclusion, these principles and ideas are presented here to hopefully ensure that Much Ado About Our EPF doesn’t turn into Much Ado About Nothing (of Shakespearean proportions)!
Joseph Cherian is practice professor of finance at the Asia School of Business in Kuala Lumpur and Cornell University (visiting) in New York. Ong Shien Jin is professor of practice at the Asia School of Business and an international faculty fellow at MIT Sloan.
Originally published by The Edge Malaysia.
ChatGPT is a real threat as a career disruptor and people must figure out how you can master GPT—or any other AI program—and use it as a tool rather than run from it, said Sanjay Sarma, CEO and president, Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur. Sarma, also the former vice-president for open learning at MIT, said learning is the new oxygen for the economy and companies need to give learning benefits to recruit good people.
“This is the age of agile continuous education, and the onus is on the individual to keep learning. The transcript does not end when you graduate. If you are not logging on and taking courses, you are logging out of your career,” Sarma said. Edited excerpts from an interaction with ET’s Saumya Bhattacharya Tested:
Companies need to give learning benefits to recruit good people. Employees must reskill and upskill. So, there is a lot of appetite for learning. The challenge is that there is loyalty to the old regime of degrees. Advanced companies are making the jump while traditional companies are still focused on the degree.I do believe in degrees. They give you foundation.
But the way it will happen is that credentials and skills will not replace degrees; they will complement them. As the change begins to happen at some companies, others will follow suit as they risk a paucity of talent. We need to start teaching students how to learn as much as what to learn. We do not tell people how to be chief learning officers of their lives.
I will not dismiss rote learning completely. A little bit of memorisation is good. Consider multiplication tables—they help in our reasoning. We have created robots and are wondering why robots are taking our jobs from us. We must build creative thinkers.
The future belongs to the humanities: reasoning, logic, questioning, and thinking out of the box. We do not do enough of that. We teach what we can test but not what is needed. Memorisation is easy.
It is a real threat. You have to figure out how you can master GPT—or any other AI program—and use it as a tool rather than run from it. How can you use it to make yourself superhuman, rather than wringing your hands? This is not the first time we have encountered something transformative.
Plato complained about writing—a new technology—arguing that it eroded the need for memory, which in his view was an essential component of the intellect. Yet many would argue that writing, when used as a tool, is the highest form of thinking. My advice is to figure out how to use it to your advantage.
The opportunity cost of spending two years away from the workplace is too high in the context of digital disruption and advancements in the field of technology, especially artificial intelligence. I feel that the two-year MBA will survive in a few places like MIT. Hanging out in a candy store has its benefits. But in most places, it will go one year.
Curiosity. The science is simple. Curiosity generates dopamine and facilitates learning. One has to be hungry to learn, and this is an acquired taste (and skill). Curiosity channelled towards becoming better at one’s job can help us outrun the technologies that are nipping at humans’ heels.
Originally published by The Economic Times.
Millennials and Gen Zs are increasingly becoming the main players in the economy. They are the future of our country, but these younger generations face challenges that have never been experienced before. On the education side, did you know that 390,000 out of 560,000 SPM candidates opted to join the workforce immediately after the exam, while the remaining 170,000 students were interested in continuing their studies?
This goes to show that the Malaysian education sector is taking a back seat. Instead, they are eager to earn money as fast as they can and as much as they can. With that in mind, Smart Investor spoke to Dr Sanjay Sarma, the new CEO, president, and dean of Asia School of Business (ASB), to get his insights on his plans at ASB and about the youths.
Dr Sanjay Sarma, CEO, president,and dean of Asia School of Business (ASB
Dr Sanjay Sarma: Thank you! Several reasons. First, the previous deans, the staff, and the students have built an amazing platform. Second, Malaysia is, in my view, a geopolitical epicenter, given everything happening in supply chains, sustainability, innovation, and energy systems.
Third, the Malaysian education sector will transform in the coming years for many reasons: the growth of online education, the growth of micro-credentials, the emergence of artificial intelligence, and the changes in how we work. With all this, ASB is a unique platform from across the world from which to embrace the future.
DSS: The points above set the direction. First, I want to double down on a central tenet of ASB: a pedagogy based on action, which we call action-learning. This pedagogy extends to how we deliver materials (we don’t deliver typical ‘lectures’), how classes become studios, and how we engage with the real world.
Second, ASEAN is a fascinating case study in progress with a diversity of all kinds. This includes cultural, economic, geopolitical, biological, and social forms — and our research-oriented faculty continue to deliver great insights on all fronts. I want to expand that.
Third, I would like to increase our focus on the education of working professionals. I believe that the Malaysian education sector cannot end with a degree. At MIT, we called it agile, continuous education. I would like to embrace that mantra — something the School has already made great strides in — and expand it greatly.
DSS: What can be done to improve the situation further? I am of the belief that the way we educate has to change quite fundamentally. The rise of tools such as ChatGPT means we need a new class of graduates who can outperform technology.
Education worldwide — Malaysia, China, India, and the US — is not prepared for these challenges. And it needs to evolve and evolve rapidly. We need problem solvers, critical thinkers, and doers to solve the problems we are leaving for the next generation.
DSS: Well, it vividly points out the pole star we should shoot for. What are the things that AI and robotics, and other technologies cannot do that we should be preparing our graduates for? Of course, if we prepare robots, we cannot lament the loss of jobs to robots.
But the human mind is boundless. We must break the curricula we have trapped ourselves in — often remnants of the colonial era — and create people who can provide the creativity, ethical frameworks, and inspiration to take on the rising inventory of challenges.
This might all seem like empty inspirational talk, but our students at ASB have convinced me that we have this potential. And at events we have hosted, such as the International Women’s Day and the Leadership for Enterprise Sustainability Asia (LESA) Conference, we saw precisely the sort of role models we could aspire for.
DSS: I have never met a young person disinterested in learning. Curiosity is the most fundamental aspect of learning and is impossible to extinguish. I have, however, met many people who are disaffected with how we teach. That’s a different matter; as I said earlier, we need to fix that urgently.
That was true before COVID, climate change concerns, and ChatGPT. It is even more urgent today. As mentioned, at ASB, we are all about action – and I believe classrooms need a more engaging, thought-provoking nature for the next generation to be prepared.
DSS: The last century saw the growth of corporations — scale was achieved through size. Now we are seeing the rise of the gig economy. Moreover, more and more approaches to generating income are technology and innovation-driven. Just ask a taxi cab medallion owner from a decade ago who did not see Uber coming.
Subscription models are another trend — services are more and more subscription-driven, whether it is Amazon Prime or Netflix. Living and thriving in this world requires mental agility. Education — done right — is one way to ensure that. You can no longer assume you will be employed for life and live in a company town. You have to become the CEO of your own life. In many ways, the MBA is about that too. (Ergo, ASB).
DSS: All of the above, but we also see a much greater emphasis on social, and indeed planetary, good. I recommend reading about the Ubuntu philosophy: “I am because we are.” Young people are similar to young people a generation ago, with one key difference — a sense of the collective good.
DSS: We live in an era of unicorns. That drives this partly. But unicorns are mythical creatures, and the valuations of some of these unicorns have been mythical too. How can a young person who lives in this era not be tempted? I don’t blame them, though I don’t recommend it. It’s no different from buying lottery tickets today; these young people must bet everything in that YOLO moment. It is up to educational professionals to draw them back into reason and away from betting their lives away.
I don’t believe they are more or less than a generation ago. It’s just the opportunities are different. They live in a far stormier sea and are often likely to bet on extremes (swing for the fence, as Americans might say). Crypto is an example. Again, it comes down to educators to fix the Malaysian education sector so that our youth enter the next decade prepared to take on the challenges we are leaving them.
DSS: Money chases intelligence, not impulsiveness, and luck sides the brave, not the reckless. Education can help you find the dividing lines.
We would like to wish Dr Sanjay Sarma and ASB all the best!
Originally published by SmartInvestor.
Sanjay Sarma, who became dean of the Asian School of Business in March, may well know more about digital learning than any other academic on the planet. He spent nine highly formative years from 2013 to 2022 leading MIT’s work on digital learning. It was Sarma who, in 2015, conceived of and then led the launch of the MicroMasters, a new credential for working professionals to pursue master’s-level courses online.
Nearly 2 million students have since enrolled in one of the five MicroMasters offered by MIT, and 5,000 learners have earned MIT MicroMasters. Sarma also began MIT Bootcamps, which offers blended learning experiences for entrepreneurs, and which has reached over 2,400 learners. “Digital is a certainty,” believes Sarma. “We should not see it as a replacement for in-person. We have to see it as an enhancement to in-person and for those who don’t have access to skills that are fast moving.”
While many business school deans may think this obvious, Sarma sees a serious challenge in how schools are moving forward with online learning. “What is missing is the strategy. Just throwing your hat into the ring doesn’t solve the problem. If you don’t have a strategy you are just another player among many.”
Read the full article HERE.
Originally published by Poets&Quants.
PETALING JAYA: The proposal by the Union Network International-Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC) to raise the employers’ contribution rate to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to 20% from 13% to help raise retirement savings can be done gradually to take into consideration the question of affordability. With a more friendly ear in Putrajaya, on Labour Day the UNI-MLC proposed the contribution rate hike only for employees earning below RM4,000 a month, in addition to the recent changes made to the Employment Act 1955.
UNI-MLC president Datuk Mohamed Shafie B.P. Mammal told StarBiz the union called for the rate hike to help replenish and increase the retirement savings of low wage workers and not an across-the-board increase for all employees. “We are asking for a 7% rise for workers in the B40 category, as for someone earning RM2,000 a month, the increase won’t be very substantial. “We don’t want the employers to wash their hands of this problem and to think of this as doing CSR (corporate social responsibility),” he said.
He added that some big companies like Tenaga Nasional Bhd and local banks are already contributing above the mandatory 12%-13% to the retirement fund, but the bulk of smaller and medium-scale companies keep to the regulated minimum mandatory level. Left to fend for themselves during Covid-19, many workers depended on the various withdrawal schemes from the EPF to tie-up their finances but at the expense of depleting their savings, with some wanting to withdraw even more despite the economy moving into the endemic phase since last year.
While the need to bump up the savings of many contributors is not in question, how to approach it is key. Dr Joseph Cherian, the Practice Professor of Finance at Asia School of Business (in collaboration with MIT Sloan) said any proposed increase in the contribution rate could be shouldered by all the parties involved to get better buy-in. “I think a better way would be to decide how much more those in the lower EPF savings bracket should be able to contribute, and then to split the difference.
“One option is to split the 7% increase between the employer and the government or split it three ways, the employee chips in 1%, the other two 3% each. And so on…,” he said. UNI-MLC’s Mohamed Shafie said he would welcome such options that could benefit employees. The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) was, however, quick to state its objection to the call to increase the employers’ EPF contribution rate, especially during this current challenging economic period where the outlook is uncertain and global growth remains fragile.
Mandating all employers a higher contribution rate would be detrimental, especially for small and medium enterprises that make up 97% of businesses, it added. “The industry is of the view that the focus of the government at this point of time should be on short-term and immediate initiatives for workers to have more money in their pockets and to improve the purchasing power of the rakyat amid the continued price pressures that impact everyone.
“The government’s focus should be on keeping the cost and standard of living of the rakyat manageable as well as ensuring a positive economic growth trajectory, which would provide a conducive environment for businesses to increase their profits and improve their cashflow, which would then be able to support better wages and benefits for their employees,” FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said in a statement yesterday.
While the core issue is the low wage levels for many workers, employers say any move to bump up the contribution must be done after engagement with all parties and done gradually to ensure local companies remain cost competitive. “Retirement planning should be shouldered by the government and individuals with some help from the private sector. Here, we need to clearly understand what is the problem – which is wanting retirement money – and the options to solve it.
“The government must engage with the employers before making policy measures that will affect them,” Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association president Datuk Seri Wong Siew Hai told StarBiz. He said the government’s move to announce changes to the employment act and raise the minimum wage and electricity charges over the past year without giving time to prepare have added to the cost of the manufacturers, Wong said.
He added that any changes planned on this issue or others should be done after engaging with the employers. “The government must consider that the private sector must have two to three years to plan and respond to the changes planned. Any policy measures should also ensure local companies remain competitive globally,” he said. With the pushback from employers very likely, Dr Cherian said the government could consider a “Pillar 0” pension support scheme for those in need, which would have a basic living wage provision for retirees that is means-tested and needs-based, which is funded through a non-contributory pension scheme.
A “Pension 0 pillar” is said to be a general social assistance programme designed to specifically deal with the poverty alleviation. According to Investopedia, it is meant to provide the most basic social protection. “This isn’t a novel idea. Norway funds its basic pension system with its national oil receipts via Norges Bank (NBIM or the Government Pension Fund Global), which states, ‘The aim of the oil fund is to ensure responsible and long-term management of revenue from Norway’s oil and gas resources so that this wealth benefits both current and future generations,’” he said.
Those who qualify could avail themselves of the Cagamas reverse mortgage scheme, he added, although the caveat here is the national mortgage corporation’s reverse mortgage scheme will mostly help retirees who are cash-poor but asset-rich to supplement their income in retirement. “Tackling the low retirement savings is a very important issue if we go by some countries’ experiences. It could lead to poverty, acute health problems, social unrest etc,” he warned.
To top it off, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said EPF members need to be equipped with knowledge on financial literacy. This would include how inflation can affect their livelihood and how investment can help overcome this problem.
They need to understand how the interest rate is being set and this would mean they need to understand how Bank Negara decides the level of overnight policy rate. “They need to be able to differentiate between fixed rate and variable rate in the financing contract as well as their rights as a borrower. “By equipping themselves with such knowledge, they are able to make an informed decision,” he said.
Originally published by The Star.
The world of business is changing fast. The International Data Corporation predicts a major upheaval in both the “mechanics and social attitudes” of work in the next five years, a result of technological advancements and an increasingly globalised economy. It’s very likely that organisations will move to adopt immersive metaverse conferencing services, low-code tools to build applications, automated processes, and more.
They’ll need executives who can seamlessly adapt — a trait that’s largely gained out of hands-on, action-oriented work experience. Still, understanding the theoretical principles behind these is just as crucial. “Theory gives you translatable insights to look at something in one area, then translate it to another,” says Sanjay Sarma, former Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Vice President for Open Learning at MIT.
In this, sports offer an unlikely but useful revelation. “When I began lessons in tennis, I realised that my racquet preparation was wrong. My posture was incorrect,” he says. “So the fact of the matter is that theory gives you the mental model of how to look at things because you won’t know what you’re doing wrong until you’re taught to understand it.”
Sarma has been involved in some of the greatest innovations — both at MIT and beyond. At MIT, he oversaw OpenCourseWare and the creation of MITx, which brought a range of thought-provoking courses to a more accessible, online platform. He was a co-founder and CTO of OATSystems, a provider of software for RFID — which he helped develop at MIT — as well.
As the CEO, President and Dean of the Asia School of Business (ASB), Sarma is working on creating a one-year MBA Programme that strikes the ideal balance between theory and practice. It combines the pedagogy of the MIT Sloan School of Management with the expertise of the Central Bank of Malaysia, making for a business education that’s as distinctively globalised as it’s focused on the future.
As CEO, President and Dean of ASB, Sanjay Sarma is working on creating an innovative “post-GPT” MBA for the future-focused student. Source: Asia School of Business It’s a necessary strategy. “It became very clear to me about 15 to 20 years ago that the way we teach is not how people want to learn,” he explains. “Learning something in short bursts is not always effective — you have to practise it, discuss it, mend it and break it.
This is quite common in disciplines like engineering, but it turns out that the cognitive psychology of that is the same regardless of what you learn.” The ASB MBA focuses on Action Learning, giving students the chance to work on real, diverse and mission-driven projects in one of the fastest-growing regions in the world: Southeast Asia. Combining the mind, hand and heart grants students a more nuanced, more sophisticated understanding of how things work — a third of the ASB MBA curriculum is dedicated to this.
“Action Learning is a central tenet of the ASB MBA,” shares Sarma. “For example, you might learn the fundamentals of a large restaurant chain’s operations but fail to understand how it actually works. Why might a kitchen be slow to adapt if the menu changes? Why does procurement take a long time? How would you change the processes around this? Well, wouldn’t it be great if you could find out through first-hand exposure in a real restaurant setting?”
Students get real-world experience through Action Learning, where they work on diverse and mission-driven projects in the heart of Southeast Asia. Source: Asia School of Business Sarma submits that there’s another key differentiator to the ASB MBA, i.e. how it’s a “post-GPT” qualification. “Technology is going to have a profound impact on the planet,” he explains.
“We’re in the early stages of GPT, AI and language models, and we’re already seeing the effects of it on our work. The way you write code, create scenes, do art — everything’s changing very fast. We’re trying to create an MBA that responds to this.” To prepare for this, core modules immerse students in the Internet of Things, AI, biotechnology, blockchain, supply chain and more. Students learn from a cohort of thought leaders, combining the expertise of the MIT Sloan faculty with the regional knowledge of ASB staff.
It’s a rousing combination not found in the hallowed halls of Ivy Leagues. “There are more opportunities for social upliftment in Malaysia,” says Sarma. “For instance, Malaysia is a relatively rich country in Southeast Asia, but it has much more of an unorganised economy. You have the hawker sector, the gig economy — and so SDG issues are completely different. Then there’s the regional aspect of things, where you deal with the multiple cultures and religions, and different legal regimes that are put in place because of specific colonial paths.
It’s a wonderful petri dish that you won’t be exposed to if you’re in Cambridge.” Apart from learning from MIT Sloan staff – who regularly fly over to teach on the ASB campus — the MBA includes up to a three-week immersion in the MIT Sloan campus. Having spent 27 years at MIT, Sarma attests to the quality of teaching at the institution — and the transformative experiences that can come out of it.
“MIT is a pretty special place,” he says. “You’re exposed to the latest in technological and academic trends, all while learning alongside some of the brightest minds in the world. In my opinion, I do believe that any experience at MIT has a profound impact on your mindset.”
The best part? The combination of an ASB and MIT experience delivers both an outstanding education as well as equips students with a recognisable and reputable qualification, setting them up for seemingly endless possibilities. Some choose to continue their studies at MIT with a Master of Science in Management Studies (MSMS) or other Ivy League institutions. Others secure jobs with top companies on a global scale.
Either way, the ASB MBA plays a major role in elevating an individual from a student to an expert. “The point of an MBA is not that you have a business background — the point is that you’re prepared to do business,” affirms Sarma. “In a master’s programme, we take advantage of your experience both in life and work and help you utilise that to your advantage. It’s up to you to decide from there.”
Originally published by Study International.
