Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS) reached another milestone when it inked a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with McDonald’s Malaysia on talent development collaboration. Hosted by McDonald’s Malaysia, the ceremony was held on August 2nd, 2019 at the Everly Hotel, Putrajaya. Top officials from McDonald’s Malaysia, UTM, AHIBS and members of media attended the event.
The MoA was signed by UTM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Ir. Dr. Wahid Omar and McDonald’s Malaysia Managing Director and Local Operating Partner Mr. Azmir Jaafar, in the presence of Prof Dr. Mohd Cairul Iqbal Mohd Amin, the deputy director-general, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education. AHIBS Dean Prof. Nur Naha Abu Mansor served as the witness.
Apart from its status as a global brand, McDonald’s Malaysia shows an exemplary commitment to talent development. Through their established in-house training programs, around 1,000 of its managers completed their Restaurant Management programs every year, and many of them have progressed and climbed the career ladder from the crew level up to management positions.
The MoA involved several stages whereby in-house training programs offered by McDonald’s Malaysia, sourced from the Hamburger University, were examined and mapped against AHIBS MBA program. The outcomes will be professional inputs by subject-matter experts to enhance their training programs, several possible credit transfers, and co-design projects in teaching, learning, and research. The partnership will last between 5 to 8 years and will provide AHIBS with access to over 14,000 McDonald’s Malaysia employees that translate into potential students enrollment into the MBA program.
This collaboration is an initiative to crystallize the Ministry of Education’s and UTM’s strategic aspirations to offer stackable and flexible education. It aims to synergize academia and industry in their purposes and objectives, redefine the traditional route of human capital development by bringing together university-based education with company-led in-house training, and combine the worlds of academia and industry into one.
The project is led by AP Dr. Rossilah Jamil with AP Dr. Noor Hazarina Hashim, AP Dr. Rohaida Basiruddin, AP Dr. Siti Zaleha Abd Rasid, AP Dr. Nomahaza Mahadi, and Dr. Nurhasmiza Sazalli.
