Showing posts with label international visit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label international visit. Show all posts

Saturday, April 19, 2014

ARI-PBBM International Training - Day Eleven

Final Day

Today is our final day in Amsterdam.  We were taken to experience two "must dos" in Amsterdam: (i) Windmill and (ii) Canal excursion.  The Netherlands is synonymous for its windmills, clogs, tulips, canals, cheese markets… practically everything that you would expect to find in a charming and utterly picturesque country. But, whatever image you associate with the lowlands, the first thing likely to come to mind is the windmill (also known as molen). For centuries, windmills have helped the Dutch fight water shortages so it is little wonder that they were the first to develop ‘windmill technology.’ In the glory days, the Netherlands
boasted more than 10,000 mills but the molen population today stands at a mere 1,000. 

Many of the remaining mills are open to the public and a couple have even been transformed into homes.  In the morning, we were taken to visit a village famous for its windmills.  Later in the afternoon, we took the canal excursion in Amsterdam city.  In the evening, the group left Amsterdam for our lovely country Malaysia.  Home sweet home, but what a wonderful experience we had in England and Holland.

Friday, April 18, 2014

ARI-PBBM International Training - Day Ten

Day 10

Our last training destination is Amsterdam.  As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an "alpha world city" by a recent study group.   The city is also the cultural capital of the Netherlands. Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters there, and 7 of the world's top 500 companies, including Philips and ING, are based in the city.  In Amsterdam, the training participants were taken to visit the tulip plantations in Keukenhof. Covering some 79 acres (32 hectares), the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens is the world’s largest flower garden. We were told that during the springtime, the meandering, wooded gardens are visited by some 800,000 flower-lovers, who come to soak up the blaze of color that envelops the park, its greenhouses, brooks and shady ponds and
winding paths. It’s truly a memorable sight. At Keukenhof Tulip Gardens, nature’s talents are combined with artificial precision to create a wonder of landscaping, where millions of tulips, along with narcissi and daffodils, hyacinths, bluebells, and many others blossom perfectly in place and exactly on time. And if the temperatures have been wilting, don’t worry: fresh blooms are planted by helping hands for the duration of the season. Special exhibits are held in the pavilions around the site, and there are cafes and refreshment stands throughout.

Later in the evening, the participants had their group

presentations.  The participants were basically divided into six groups namely: (i) Bank Simpanan Nasional, (ii) Inland Revenue Board, (iii) Tabung Haji, LTAT and MAWIP, (iv) IPTAs, (v) Service Federal Agency (MTIB, Lada, SME Corp and MIDA) and (vi) FINAS and Perkeso.  The group basically reflected on the trainings that they have undertaken and indicated how they will improve on their operations, governance and leadership so that they will obtain much better performances in the future.  Well done everyone. 

Thursday, April 17, 2014

ARI-PBBM International Training - Day Nine

Day Nine

Today, it's a different form of training.  The participants were taken for a fieldwork at the Manchester United Stadium Football Club at Old Traford in Manchester.  We were taken in for a professional tour and briefings  of the second largest stadium in the United Kingdom.  Manchester United Football Club (MUFC) is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. The training participants were told that MUFC was founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878 and later, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.
 Being one of the most successful football clubs in the United Kingdom, MUFC have won twenty League titles, a record eleven FA Cups, four League Cups, and twenty FA Community Shields. The club has also won three European Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one Intercontinental Cup, and
one FIFA Club World Cup. In 1998–99, the club won a continental treble of the Premier League, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, an unprecedented feat for an English club. Just like any other business and government entities, MUFC  inculcates good governance and leadership in managing its football club.  Manchester United is the third-richest football club in the world  in terms of revenue,  and the second most valuable sports team in 2013 It is one of the most widely supported football teams in the world. 
After being floated on the 
London Stock Exchange in 1991, the club was purchased by Malcolm Glazer in May 2005 in a deal valuing the club at almost £800 million. In August 2012, Manchester United made an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.  Later in the afternoon, the group left for Amsterdam.


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Teaching and Learning Innovations at University of Chulalongkorn Thailand

Chulalongkorn University, Thailand’s first institution of higher learning, opened in 1917 and is located in the centre of Bangkok city. The Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy was first established in 1938 &
contains five academic departments: Accountancy, Commerce, Statistics, Banking and Finance, and Marketing. There are currently 2,300 undergraduate students in the faculty and the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) International Program is the first undergraduate level programme that is taught entirely in English at Chulalongkorn.  The University has taken steps to innovate teaching and learning.  Premised on the belief that learning must go beyond "listening to lectures", faculties and students at the Chulalongkorn Business School (CBS) are exposed to "acting" as an effective mode of learning accounting and business-related knowledge.   The two types of learning laboratories at CBS are namely (i) a Theathre-like "black room" for students to act out "drama scenes"; and (ii) an online stockbroking room using live databases such as Bloomberg,  Standard & Poors and the local Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).  ARI researchers were invited to visit the university and they explored  the various innovative teaching and learning tools at the university.