Across Asia, business schools are transforming how they prepare graduates, placing real-world relevance at the center of their education.

• Business curricula are aligning more closely with employers’ daily priorities, translating classroom theory into real workplace purpose.
• Regional case studies and industry-tested faculty are reshaping the Asian classroom experience.
• Hands-on simulations and real-world scenarios are turning classrooms into living laboratories that deepen student engagement.

Transcript

Joseph Cherian: [00:12] When individuals, employers, and students question the value of the business degree, they’re questioning everything: the entire model, the value it brings to the table, the relevance to industry (especially employees asking, ‘is this relevant for my workplace?’) and the costs.

[00:33] Fortunately, Asians still value education. The half-life, or the duration for time decay in terms of its relevance, will be longer than in the U.S. or Europe, which are more impatient. But that said, Generation Z is also getting impatient in Asia.

[00:51] They’re asking and questioning: why should I get this degree? How does that add value to my career trajectory or my relevance in society? Many Gen Zers want to do good. They want to give back to the community more than I did—now I do, but in the old days, I did not. As a result, they begin to question, even in Asia.

[01:14] What employers are signaling is that the stuff that you learn in business schools—if we can focus on business schools, since this is what we’re here for—has to be relevant to what we are doing on a daily basis: our vision, our mission, our purpose.

[01:29] The last thing an employer wants is to take in talent from a business school, retrain them, and put them through some kind of rotation program to drink the Kool-Aid.

[01:42] Schools should be doing that. We should make our curriculum and our programs relevant. If you live in Asia, you’d better be using Asian cases. It should be experiential, it should be hands-on.

[01:56] Sometimes it’s good in life that you fail in every aspect of your career. I failed in academics. I failed industry. And I failed in, I don’t know, what’s the last one? Policymaking…Just kidding.

[02:05] What I think is useful is the experience. The blended experience of working in academia, being trained in academia, and then having a career in industry is invaluable. I don’t say it for self-serving purposes. I say it because that’s what a business school is about.

[02:23] It’s like talking to a professor of surgery at the top medical school who says, ‘hypothetically speaking, this is how you perform an incision for a type of surgery.’ You don’t want to go to such a school. You want to make sure you get a surgeon, a professor of surgery who’s performed surgery.

[02:42] Somehow, business schools are exempt from this rule, but we can be straight through from university with no experience, and yet be teaching students how to become professionals. Something doesn’t add up.

[02:55] At the Asia School of Business, we are doing modularized learning. Basically, you can take the education in bite-sized pieces. We call them stackable microcredentials. It’s not the newest concept on Earth. It’s been around for many years; many schools have been doing it.

[03:12] But we’ve made it into a unique form suited to the Asian audience. When students come to my class—I teach finance, particularly portfolio management and investments—they watch my videos asynchronously, and at the end of the week, they can dial in or come in person. Most come in person if they’re in the neighborhood or in that zip code.

[03:34] What happens is we have the jam sessions. I mean, I don’t mean we plug in the guitar, drums, and all that. What we mean is that we run simulations, conduct scenario analyses, and perform what-if situations. So we put students in a thinking-cap mode, and it’s more fun.

[03:52] For the boring theory stuff, you can get it from any textbook or watch videos anytime you want—and you can rerun it as many times as you want, like on Netflix. You watch the series a gazillion times. But when you come to the class, we learn how to apply that theory in the living laboratory.

Originally published by AACSB

Malaysia’s financial center ambitions are gaining traction by leveraging its world-leading Islamic finance strength rather than directly competing with Singapore. To maximize success, economists emphasize uniting its various regional financial hubs into a single, cohesive ecosystem centered in Kuala Lumpur.

For instance, TRX has attracted major financial institutions including HSBC, Prudential and Affin Bank, alongside technology companies such as Ant International, consultants and other professional services firms.

Professor Joseph Cherian, CEO, president and dean of Asia School of Business, noted that physical clustering is only the beginning.

He said at the moment, TRX is a very successful property development, but that alone does not make it an international financial centre.

He said the financial capability has to be deliberately built. Labuan arguably has more of that institutional infrastructure already because it has operated as an offshore financial centre for many years.

“You need intellectual capital. You need people who understand finance, markets, regulation, asset management, capital raising and product development.”

He suggested bringing expertise from institutions including Bank Negara Malaysia, the Securities Commission, Employees Provident Fund, Permodalan Nasional and the Ministry of Finance together at TRX with a mandate to develop the financial ecosystem.

The discussion should focus on three key areas: developing new financial products, attracting asset managers, and internationalising Malaysia’s sukuk market.

He said Malaysia’s strongest opportunity lies in something more difficult for Singapore to replicate: Islamic finance.

He said Malaysia’s decades spent building expertise in sukuk, Islamic banking, takaful, and Shariah governance give it an unrivaled edge in the region.

Rather than trying to replicate a conventional financial centre and adding Islamic products around its edges, Islamic finance should become the organising principle of Malaysia’s IFC strategy.

One opportunity would be to internationalise Malaysia’s sukuk market by encouraging major multinational companies operating in the country to issue US dollar-denominated sukuk and distribute them to global investors.

“If you want an Islamic financial centre, come to Malaysia. We are among the best in the world,” 

The objective should not be to defeat Singapore but to build capabilities that make the two centres valuable to each other.

“Malaysia doesn’t have to defeat Singapore or Hong Kong… It has to develop capabilities that make those centres want to work with Malaysia,” 

Malaysia’s efforts to develop multiple financial centres also present another challenge: whether spreading activity across different locations undermines the concentration that makes financial centres successful.

Malaysia’s efforts to develop multiple financial centres also present another challenge: whether spreading activity across different locations undermines the concentration that makes financial centres successful.

Prof Cherian said Malaysia needs a clearer hierarchy, with Kuala Lumpur and TRX serving as the country’s principal international financial hub and other centres developing specialised roles.

“You cannot have Labuan, Penang, Johor and every other location all saying, ‘We want to be the financial centre.’ You need to choose your main international financial centre,” 

Under his proposed hub-and-spoke model, Labuan could retain its offshore role while developing areas such as Islamic finance and tokenisation, while Johor could specialise in Islamic wealth management and family wealth.

Originally published by Business Times

Universities around the world are offering unique, tailored module selections that address and anticipate the evolving demands of the business world. And for many in Japan, the value of an international program is clear: access to a comprehensive English-speaking business environment, multinational appeal and the prestige of a recognized university.

To help make the choice easier, here’s our GoConnect guide to some of the best international MBA programs in 2026, and why each is worth your consideration if you’re looking overseas.

Asia School of Business

School Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Affiliated University: Established as a collaboration between MIT Sloan School of Management and Bank Negara Malaysia
International Student Cohort: 50-60%

The Asia School of Business MBA (ASB) has a unique origin story. MIT Sloan and Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara, built the school together. For the students, this means that they’re being taught by ASB residential faculty and MIT Sloan faculty. They aren’t just licensing the name and walking away — they’re creating an MBA worthy of the MIT Sloan name. 

One of ASB’s biggest strengths is that their course isn’t all theory. About one third of the coursework is what the school calls Action Learning. It’s a practical element, working with consulting projects for companies across Southeast Asia. The cornerstone of the MBA is then cemented in with a required stretch on MIT’s own campus in Cambridge. This, combined with the small cohort of 35 to 50 students in each course, ensures a first-class educational experience. This is only enhanced by the support offered in housing and relocation by ASB’s team, so students arrive without the stress of weeks of house searching and utility setup.

Dr Yi-Ren Wang, Associate Professor II of Organizational Behavior, and head of ASB’s ‘Mindset Lab,’ put the commitment to student care and development on full display when describing the program: “Beyond the curriculum itself, ASB places a strong emphasis on how students think, act, and grow. Students are trained to think like scientists, seek evidence, integrate perspectives, and act on what they learn. At the same time, the school’s Mindset Lab and executive coaching help them develop self-awareness, cultivate mindsets to continually stretch beyond their comfort zones, and grow into well-rounded leaders.”

The value for anyone based in Tokyo is clear. Students walk away with an MIT-caliber degree with Asia’s business norms baked in, at a fraction of Tokyo prices. Add the planned on-the-ground experiences in China, Vietnam, Japan and Thailand designed to offer global exposure and deepening students’ local roots and connections. And sign the package off with classes and instructors from MIT Sloan, which still opens doors on prestige alone, and you’re left with a premium MBA.

Read the full article HERE.
Originally published by GoConnect.jp

Kuala Lumpur: Sebuah jawatankuasa bebas akan ditubuhkan bagi meneliti keseluruhan aspek berkaitan pembentukan One Higher Education Act (Akta Pendidikan Tinggi Tunggal) susulan keputusan kerajaan memansuhkan Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti 1971 (AUKU).

Menteri Pendidikan Tinggi, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, berkata jawatankuasa itu akan melihat pelbagai aspek berkaitan akta baharu bagi memastikan ia memenuhi keperluan pendidikan tinggi semasa dan masa depan.

“Dalam mesyuarat Kabinet semalam, Perdana Menteri memaklumkan bahawa Kabinet mengambil maklum mengenai keputusan untuk memansuhkan AUKU, tetapi pada masa sama perlu ada akta baharu, iaitu One Higher Education Act.

“Justeru, kita akan melaksanakan beberapa langkah. Pertama, menubuhkan satu jawatankuasa bebas untuk melihat keseluruhan aspek akta baharu yang akan kita tubuhkan.

“Kedua, kita akan membabitkan semua pihak berkepentingan dan ketiga, menubuhkan satu kumpulan untuk membangunkan rang undang-undang baharu,” katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian selepas Persidangan Kebolehpasaran Graduan Pendidikan Tinggi (PKGKPT) 2026 dan Peluncuran Pelan Strategik Kebolehpasaran Graduan (PSKG) 2026-2030 di sini, semalam.

Hadir sama Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi (KPT), Datuk Dr Aminuddin Hassim dan Timbalan Dekan Penyelidikan dan Akademik Asia School of Business, Prof Madya Dr Melati Nungsari.

Pada 15 Ogos lalu, Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim mengumumkan kerajaan akan memansuhkan AUKU bagi memberi ruang kebebasan yang lebih luas kepada mahasiswa.

Laksana Mekanisme Peralihan

Zambry berkata, kerajaan juga akan mewujudkan satu mekanisme peralihan bagi memastikan urusan perundangan institusi pendidikan tinggi tidak terjejas sepanjang proses pemansuhan AUKU dan penggubalan akta baharu berkenaan.

Menurutnya, proses dijangka mengambil masa dan memerlukan penelitian menyeluruh memandangkan AUKU merangkumi pelbagai aspek termasuk kepentingan mahasiswa, penubuhan universiti, tadbir urus, akademik dan kedudukan pensyarah.

“Saya tahu ada desakan supaya ia mesti diumumkan dalam sidang Parlimen tetapi ia bukan perkara yang kecil dan semata-mata melibatkan satu kelompok sahaja.

“AUKU ini akta induk bagi institusi pendidikan tinggi. Daripada 44 seksyen, ada yang menyentuh mengenai soal mahasiswa, penubuhan universiti, tadbir urus, akademik, kebebasan akademik dan kedudukan pensyarah.

“Jadi, apabila kita mahu menggantikannya, kita perlu melihat keseluruhan perkara itu dan bukan sekadar meletakkan nama akta sedangkan perkara lama masih ada,” katanya.

Mengenai garis masa proses berkenaan, beliau berkata, KPT telah memulakan pelaksanaan kerja di peringkat dasar bagi membangunkan One Higher Education Act.

“Kita perlu melihat keperluan masa kini dan juga masa hadapan sebelum merangka sebuah akta baharu. Saya harap semua boleh bersabar kerana dalam proses untuk mewujudkan akta yang baharu ini,” katanya.

Originally published by Berita Harian.

In today’s rapidly changing business environment, senior executives need to do more than accumulate experience—they must continuously update their knowledge and perspectives. Asia School of Business (ASB) has introduced its Mandarin Executive Education Programme to help Chinese-speaking senior executives strengthen their business insights, leadership capabilities, and decision-making skills. 

Conducted entirely in Mandarin, the programme is led by experienced faculty and industry practitioners. It equips participants with a systematic understanding of business trends across Asia and the global market, while enhancing their ability to lead and make decisions effectively in a cross-cultural environment.  

Staying Ahead in a Rapidly Changing Business Environment 

The business landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and senior executives cannot afford to stop learning simply because they have reached the top of their careers. In recent years, a growing number of executive education programmes have emerged, covering areas such as leadership, digital transformation and strategic thinking. These programmes are designed to help business leaders refresh their knowledge and make more forward-looking decisions in an increasingly complex environment. 

Among these areas, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as one of the most sought-after topics. According to Huang Su Ling, Executive Director of the Executive Education Centre at ASB, the school’s AI-related programmes are consistently fully subscribed. 

“Senior executives want to understand how to lead their people in the age of AI, as well as what kind of talent they should be hiring,” she said.  

Leadership programmes are also highly popular among executives. In contrast, sustainability—which was once a major business buzzword—has attracted less attention in recent years amid changing geopolitical developments and global trends.  

A Business School with Strong Foundations 

ASB has a distinguished background. It was established through a collaboration between Bank Negara Malaysia and the MIT Sloan School of Management, and offers MBA, EMBA and Executive Education programmes. 

Its Executive Education portfolio covers areas including leadership and management, sustainability, corporate governance and technology, catering to managers at different levels, senior business leaders and board members. 

In the Financial Times Executive Education Ranking 2026, ASB was ranked 94th globally, making it the first business school in Malaysia to break into the global top 100.  

While empathy and work-life balance are increasingly valued in today’s workplace, Huang believes certain principles remain fundamental regardless of how the business environment changes. Ethics and integrity, for example, remain essential qualities for every senior executive.  

ASB’s Executive Education programmes are generally short-term in nature, with some designed as one-day programmes. However, learning does not end when a course is completed. Participants can continue their development by enrolling in advanced or other specialised programmes offered by ASB.  

ASB also offers micro-credential programmes, covering areas such as financial accounting and managerial economics. These programmes are designed to be concise and focused on specific professional skills, with credits that may be transferable towards formal degree programmes.  

Practical and Customised Learning 

ASB also provides customised executive education programmes for government agencies and corporations. 

Huang explained that companies can share their specific challenges with ASB’s team, after which the school will develop a customised programme tailored to address those needs.  

The school’s Executive Education programmes place strong emphasis on practical application, enabling participants to apply what they learn directly to real-world business situations. More importantly, the programmes aim not merely to impart knowledge, but to encourage executives to embrace change and actively seek new opportunities. 

Because these programmes are designed for experienced business leaders, the teaching approach goes beyond traditional textbooks and classroom lectures. ASB incorporates interactive learning methods such as business simulations and even virtual reality technology. The school also maintains a rigorous selection process for its faculty.  

Mandarin Executive Education Programme (MEEP) 

ASB currently offers the Mandarin Executive Education Programme (MEEP). One of the upcoming programmes is a one-day course scheduled for 26 August 2026, titled: 

“Key Responsibilities of a CEO: Leadership, Management and the 4R Management Model” 

The programme will be conducted by Dato’ Dr Chang Tong Kwee.  

With more than 30 years of cross-industry experience, Dato’ Dr Chang’s career spans the financial, manufacturing, property and investment management sectors. He spent more than 20 years in senior management roles with the Hong Leong Group.  

During the programme, he will explore the fundamental differences between leadership and management, and how senior executives can effectively master both capabilities. 

Many professionals are promoted into senior management because they excel in a particular area, such as sales, research and development, or production. However, some struggle after stepping into executive roles because their mindset remains rooted in their previous responsibilities and they have yet to develop the broader perspective and decisiveness required of a leader. 

“This is why my course will examine the difference between leadership and management—what management does and what leadership does,” he explained.  

The 4R Management Model 

The course will also introduce the 4R Management Model, which focuses on four critical elements for sustainable business growth: 

• Right People  
• Right Product  
• Right Cost  
• Right Return  

The framework provides business leaders with a practical approach to building a management system that supports sustainable growth.  

In addition, Dato’ Dr Chang will introduce the concept of “Ambidextrous Leadership”, which forms part of his doctoral research. 

In simple terms, ambidextrous leadership means managing today’s business effectively while simultaneously exploring opportunities for the future. This may involve strategic upgrades, organisational innovation and business transformation. 

Through real-world cases and classroom interaction, participants will learn how to improve operational efficiency while simultaneously driving strategic renewal.  

Combining Real-World Experience with Academic Knowledge 

Drawing on his extensive management experience, Dato’ Dr Chang will bring practical insights from his years with the Hong Leong Group into the classroom, allowing participants to better understand how leadership and management work in real business situations. 

Beyond his extensive professional experience, he also has a strong academic background. In 2015, at the age of 58, he enrolled in a Doctor of Management programme jointly awarded by Peking University’s National School of Development and Fordham University. 

At the time, some people questioned whether pursuing a doctorate after the age of 50 was too late. For him, however, one of the main motivations was to experience university life properly. During his undergraduate years, he had been busy working to finance his education and never had the opportunity to fully experience campus life—something he had always considered a personal regret. 

Another important motivation was his desire to integrate his extensive practical experience with management theory and use this knowledge in his doctoral research. He also had a long-standing ambition to become a university professor and pass on the knowledge and expertise he had gained through years of practical experience to the next generation of business leaders.  

As the saying goes, “Your perspective determines the scale of your vision.” 

But Dato’ Dr Chang adds: “What connects perspective and vision? It is management, execution and leadership.” 

Through this programme, he hopes to provide participants with more than a deeper understanding of management. His goal is to equip them with a practical management framework that can be directly applied to real-world business situations. 

Originally published by Sin Chew Daily.