Flexibility has positive value. Be it in our careers, savings and investments scheme, or in policy making. Part of the reason for this is forecasting future events is fraught with uncertainty. Whether it’s the direction of our local stock market, our salary in 20 years, or the value of the Malaysian ringgit against other currencies – example, how many of us could have predicted that the ringgit would have appreciated from roughly 23 Japanese yen to the ringgit in August 2019 to 35.6 Japanese yen to the ringgit currently? Or that the ringgit would have depreciated from 4.5 ringgit to the US dollar in January 2020 to 4.78 in April 2024?  

If one adds in the reigning geopolitical economic uncertainties the world over, the challenge of forecasting becomes even more acute. Case in point: one would have thought that the world has evolved to a much higher state of being – and a more civilized one – by now to avoid warring with each other, be it at the workplace or across nations. Yet we still do.

In any situation where uncertainty reigns, flexibility has positive economic value. If you are uncertain about the state of nature that will prevail, or the final outcome of an economic activity, textbook finance informs us that both financial options and real options have positive value!

How does this thinking fit in the education space?  Many of our children, relatives, friends, and colleagues at work sometimes face uncertainty about their educational trajectory. A US-based student who wishes to take a break from formal education (a.k.a. a “gap year”) to say volunteer at a syntropic agriculture commune (a.k.a. “sustainable agroforestry”) in Indonesia should not enroll in a university that does not provide the flexibility for a gap year before graduating with a degree. And let’s say the student’s participation in syntropic farming has climate change “additionality” and hence generates tradeable carbon credits that could offset the cost of her tertiary education. This adds value to the net present value calculation of the student’s future human capital wage income – net of costs – that is attributable to her education.

I think my readers should have gotten the point by now.

So why should Malaysia’s education system be any different? It, too, should be embedded with flexibility. Based on the examples heretofore, and without going into the financial mathematics, it would make one’s educational experience and value-add dominate the one that doesn’t. In economics we call it being on the Pareto efficiency frontier, which is when resources and economic opportunities are allocated in the most efficient manner.

In the early 2010’s, a program called MIT Open Learning brought MIT’s invaluable engineering and science classes to the world using digital and online technology. MIT could pull this off as it excelled in science and technology. In fact, I am a product of its daunting and impressive engineering school.  MIT’s auspices beginning in the digital education space was when our very own Asia School of Business President and CEO, Professor Sanjay Sanjay of MIT’s Engineering School, assumed the inaugural role of Director of Digital Learning – and later as the Vice President of Open Learning – at MIT.

Sanjay’s appointments at MIT led to a revolution in the educational technology delivery space using digital technology. An interested and pre-qualified learner located in a  remote corner of Patagonia could now enroll in a Systems Dynamic engineering course fully online, both via live cams and feeds, and by watching videos at her leisure. If she did enough accredited courses this way at the Master’s level, she may even qualify for admission into a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering program laterally, i.e., at the half-way point of the program on campus. That is flexibility of the highest form. Many top universities in the US – and the world over – now have  e-learning programs, each of a different flavor.

My ASB colleague, Prof Sanjay Sarma, and the rest of our faculty colleagues, have likewise launched an Asian version of the digitally-flexible education movement for Malaysia, Southeast Asia and the rest of the emerging world. It is called Agile Continuous Education (ACE). And if you stack enough of these Master’s  level courses in this manner, you could qualify to enroll in our prestigious MBA or EMBA program via Lateral Entry. A 12-month full-time or 16-month part-time Business Administration program at the Master’s level at ASB, and a future pathway to MIT’s and other prestigious business schools’ Master’s programs, now becomes an option for the e-learner; and with a much shorter runway to complete her postgraduate degree program right on campus while enjoying the live, experiential learning segment and networking opportunities. 

How does it work?

Let’s say you have registered for my highly-exciting Professional Certificate in Corporate Finance: AI-Powered Learning in Action (CFALA) microcredential module via ACE@ASB scheduled for this February 2025, here are the five simple steps:

1. You watch a series of CFALA videos offline, i.e., asynchronously;
2. Then attend live hybrid (in-person or videoconferencing) session on a Saturday with the Professor for finance simulations, case study discussions and fun corporate finance games;
3. After that you can switch off your camera, and head to the park;
4. The cycle repeats itself over the following week, for about 5 weeks in total;
5. Upon successful completion of all CFALA course requirements, including assessments, quizzes, etc., you will collect your prize: the Professional Certificate in Corporate Finance microcredential from ASB (in collaboration with MIT Sloan).

In fact, if you successfully complete seven pre-MBA/EMBA professional certificate microcredential modules at ACE (a.k.a. prerequisites), you will not only pick up a couple of MicroMasters along with that – ACE MicroMasters® Certifications at ASB are specializations in AI & Organizations, Analytics, Finance, Supply Chain, etc. – you will also qualify to apply to be considered for admission into our prestigious MBA or EMBA program at the halfway point via Lateral Entry. This includes the 12-month full-time or 16-month part-time Business Administration program at the Master’s level at ASB.

The Lateral Entry curriculum includes:

1. Three weeks of the MIT Sloan Immersion in Cambridge, Massachusetts;
2. ASB’s unique week-long Integrative Management Lab (IML) module & program-long Student Journey experience. In the IML module, seven top ASB- and MIT-affiliated faculty collectively integrate ideas from and learnings by students emerging from multiple perspectives w.r.t. Strategy, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain/Operations, Organizational Behavior, AI/Analytics, and Global Political Economy, on a critical real task facing senior management in this region;
3. Action Learning modules (Where Mind Meets Hands!); and lastly,
4. The benefit of being taught live by both ASB’s and MIT Sloan’s top faculty right here in Kuala Lumpur!

As a final reward, you also have the option to exercise a future pathway to MIT’s and Yale’s Master’s programs in the US, which includes applying to the 9-month Master of Science in Management Studies (MSMS) degree program from MIT Sloan or the Master of Advanced Management (MAM) degree program from Yale’s School of Management. The MSMS is a STEM-designated degree that provides international students from ASB with work authorization in the U.S. for three years. 

ACE represents a conscious shift in the approach to learning by ASB through agile and continuous education. It emphasizes that learning ensues throughout one’s career and life. It is hence imperative that education is agile and flexibly accessible to learners. As mentioned, at ASB, ACE is offered as standalone professional certificate courses, allowing one to build and hone professional skills in desired fields. Learners also avail themselves to the option of stacking courses and completing a specialization ‘pack’, a.k.a. ACE MicroMasters® Certifications, in related fields such as Artificial Intelligence & Organizations, Data Analytics, and Sustainable Finance. And one could accumulate further credits for “lateral admission” at the halfway point into ASB’s full-time MBA or part-time Executive MBA program via a process referred to as Lateral Entry.

ACE courses are accessible remotely on specific dates as videos and online assessments (asynchronous), live online or in-person (synchronous) sessions, with additional access to live online classroom sessions, such as recitations, assessments, etc. By offering options and agility in education at a very high quality, we hope to ace Malaysian continuous education learners’ keen interest in having both flexibility and excellence when acquiring knowledge. A classic case of having your cake and eating it, too.

More details about ACE at ASB is available at: https://asb.edu.my/ace/ or email ace@asb.edu.my

Joseph Cherian is Deputy CEO and Practice Professor of Finance at the Asia School of Business in Kuala Lumpur and a Visiting Professor of Finance at Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at the SC Johnson College of Business in New York.