Browsing by Author "Rethinasamy, Souba"

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    Academic Journey from China to Malaysia via Avid E-Education: The Multi-Layered International Business Model and Beyond
    (Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Manoharan, Pravina; Rethinasamy, Souba
    The year 2020 and 2021 have been a year of pandemonium as the Covid-19 pandemic drastically affected all forms of human interaction and mobility from travel, work conditions, economic sector, to social activities. The education sector has not been immune to these changes and the last one and a half years has seen many learning institutions shifting their conventional face to face mode of engagement to a virtual platform. Border closures and total lockdown around the world meant restricted travel for many students studying abroad. Thus, universities around the world resorted to offering online courses for their local as well as international students. This paper aims to provide a detailed description on the collaboration between a Malaysian public university and the industry to develop a comprehensive start-up Educational Technology (EdTech) platform called Avid Education. The collaboration is aimed at providing undergraduate and postgraduate academic support for students in China intending to pursue studies at Malaysian universities. The paper focuses on the creation of the business model of the platform and the various layers that contribute towards its successful execution. The Avid Education employed the On Demand Business Model that was spurred by the increased demand in student applications from China. The business collaboration was first established between the university and the industry to develop the Avid Education online platform. MOUs were then signed with student recruitment agents from Malaysia and China and the university to ensure a legal and steady flow of students. Module writers were engaged based on their vast expertise in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Bilingual teaching assistants and tutors were also hired to help students with their writing process. Based on the requests, three main modules were created, namely the postgraduate proposal writing module, undergraduate music module and English language proficiency enhancement module. Learning on the platform is delivered in three folds. Firstly, there are weekly live lectures taught by the module writers themselves with the presence of a bilingual teaching assistant. The content of selected topics is complemented by pre-recorded videos that are presented in a bilingual team-teaching format. This is then followed by one-to-one tutoring sessions with a bilingual English-Mandarin speaking tutor to assist the students and enhance their understanding of the module. The tutors consist of senior students who are given the opportunity to put their learning into practice and earn some pocket money as well. Assessments are presented in the form of gamification to keep learners engaged. At the end of the programme, the students are awarded a certificate by the university to acknowledge their successful completion of the module. In addition to the creation of the multi-layered business model and financial benefits, this paper will also discuss the educational benefits based on the findings from the feedback received from the first batch of students and how it has doubled their chances of gaining acceptance into public universities in Malaysia.
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    Broadening the Horizon of International Student Mobility Programme: Transformation of the Edutour Programme to Beyond Normal
    (Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2021) Rethinasamy, Souba; Ohkubo, Tatsuhiro
    The intense advancement in globalization in the past two decades has prompted the need for internationalization of higher education. Institutions of higher learning have realigned their approaches to include initiatives to develop their graduates' global mindedness that would underpin their personal and professional lives. One of the strategies employed to meet this goal is through student mobility programmes which require experiences with host universities ranging from a few days to a year in length. This paper provides an illustration of the international student mobility programme called EduTour which is collaboratively designed by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Utsunomiya University Japan (UU), describes its journey from face-to-face to virtual, to the creation of intellectual property (IP) and commercialisation. In 2017, UNIMAS and UU signed the Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen their collaboration in teaching, learning and research. One of the initiatives is to establish student mobility programmes. After several rounds of discussion between UNIMAS and UU academics, the EduTour which is a two-week programme hosted by UNIMAS was planned and successfully implemented in 2018. Following its huge success, the programme continued in 2019 and 2020 with an increased number of participants and improvements made based on the feedback gathered from the participants. The EduTour includes English language classes based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) themes, campus tour, faculty visits, visits to historical sites and highlights of Kuching, recreational activities, food and cultural exchanges. Throughout the programme, UNIMAS participants take on the role of student buddies and provide a holistic support system that adds a special meaning to the programme. They are actively involved from welcoming the UU students and staff at the airport, as teaching assistants during the English classes, local guides during the visits, playmates during recreational activities, co-performers during the closing event, and right up to bidding adieu at the airport. While the EduTour participants' friendship continues beyond the programme through various social media platforms, it also became a catalyst for the students' participation in other exchange programmes, internships, and scholarship opportunities. However, the EduTour's continuity in 2021 was blurred by the travel restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, motivated by requests from previous and potential participants and the valuable experiences gained from successfully carrying out the programme for three consecutive years, UNIMAS and UU decided to continue offering the programme despite all odds. UNIMAS and the UU coordinators discussed the possibility of conducting the EduTour virtually without compromising its quality. Decision was made to employ the hybrid approach with a combination of pre-recorded contents and live interactions that are similar to the old normal EduTour programme. The new beyond normal programme was aptly named e-EduTour and successfully carried out in February 2021. The uniqueness of the e-EduTour unfolded the opportunity for the creation of IP followed by the commercialisation of the programme. The presentation will discuss the full cycle of the student mobility programme from the improvements made based on the feedback gathered, to the application for IP and commercialisation of the beyond normal e-EduTour Module.