Time to celebrate as 1,719 MSU students graduate

The Management & Science University (MSU) held its 19th convocation in Shah Alam, Malaysia recently. A total of 1,719 graduates received their degrees in Doctorates in different subject disciplines (19), Master’s Degree (49), Bachelor’s (Hons) Degree (977) and diplomas (674) from various disciplines. The Degree Certificates were awarded by MSU Chancellor, the Queen of Malaysia, Tuanku Hajah Haminah.

This degree awarding ceremony was graced by Tan Sri Dr Wan Mohd Zahid Mohd Noordin and MSU President Professor Tan Sri Dato Wira Dr. Mohd Shukri Ab Yajid. Among these successful graduates were Sri Lankan students who completed their doctoral studies, Bachelor Degree in Hospitality & Tourism Management (Hons) and Diploma Hospitality & Tourism Management. MSU Malaysia has established the MSU Learning Centre in Colombo to create better opportunities for Sri Lankan students in order to receive an excellent education at home. MSU is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and recognised by the University Grant Commission (UGC) of Sri Lanka. As Malaysia’s best teaching and learning university, MSU gives priority to quality education and the importance learning experiences towards producing quality and holistic graduates.

Besides incorporating international exposure in the students learning experience, extensive industrial training components and personal enrichment competency elements are also blended into the programme of study to ensure the graduates employability. Until now, MSU graduates remain the popular choice among employers. A graduate tracer study conducted by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education shows 98% (98.6%) employability rate of graduates entering the work environment. This rate is the highest among all higher learning institutions in Malaysia.

The research, based PhD programme offered by MSU, meets the international standards by complementing the thesis work with minimum of three refereed journal publications. The programme is conducted as per the schedules provided by the university that consist a defense presentation, thesis work, work completion seminar and the final defencse of VIVA. Thesis of each Ph.D student was supervised by Malaysian two supervisors assigned by MSU. In addition, local academic advisors constantly provided their guidance for these PhD students for localising the international standards of these research studies. Monthly progress monitoring and all exams were conducted by MSU Malaysia. Dr. Yasas Jayaweera: “The doctoral programme in Computer Science at MSU helped me to gain world class knowledge through inculcating thorough excellent research culture. The great supervision provided my supervisor at MSU, Malaysia helped me immensely to complete my Ph. Study successfully, which has become a lifelong learning and encouraged me towards achieving my goals.

This structured programme at MSU helped me to complete my studies on schedule. I thank MSU for making it happen.” Dr. Sampath Kappagoda: “Selecting to follow my Ph.D. at the Management & Science University has become one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The faculty helped me to identify high impact research area and provided incredible mentorship to bring the research to fruition. Despite their busy schedules, PhD student mentoring is always a priority of the faculty. I realised that the benefit I obtained from was not just about writing several high-quality papers with them.

They made me understand the importance to go deep and be broad, and they showed me a true scholar is a lifelong learner who is always modest and curious.” Dr. Dilhan Manawadu: “Starting to pursue a Ph.D. at MSU was a great decision I had made in my professional career. The international exposure gained on research and publications was beneficial in increasing my overall academic and research experience. The opportunity to learn and engage with international academics and students shaped my research and professional competencies.

Thus, the overall exposure gained studying at MSU, helped me improve my self-discipline and character, while directly influencing me in being a better professional at the end of the day. “Greater emphasis placed by MSU in journal publication motivated me to publish three articles in high end journals and to present a paper in an international academic conference. For year association with MSU have transformed me to be more meticulous with greater conceptual power and communication skills which will enable me to contribute in a more meaningful manner.

I have no hesitation in recommending MSU to all those who wish to pursue doctoral studies” Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma: Dr. Harshana currently serves as the Director Corporate Affairs at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, the apex regulator for Capital market in Sri Lanka. Harshana is one of the few to hold three Fellow Memberships from CIMA-UK, ACCA-UK and CPA-Australia, together with an Associate Membership from CIM-UK. P r i o r t o j o i n i n g t h e Government sector three years ago, he was in private sector for 20 years of which most of the involvements were at strategic level with multiple board positions and has worked in Africa for six years and five years in Australia.

He was also an entrepreneur where business ventures were created and successfully managed which poised him to further his knowledge into business performance. Harshana’s PhD study focused on ‘Business Performance, Impact of Business Networking and Inter net Adoption; in which a model has been developed and empirically tested for validity in the SME sector. He acknowledged the great assistance given by MSU Malaysia for his PhD achievement through the collaboration with academia of local universities which enabled grounding to local context whilst supported by world class input from MSU. Dr. Chandrani Adikaram: “With a great privilege, I earned my PhD in May 2016 from the world recognized global University, the Management & Science University, Malaysia. The unique training that I obtained during my PhD under the supervision of Prof Tan Sri Dato Wira Mohd Shukri Ab Yajid, the President and Prof Dr Ali Khatibi,

Vice President Business and Social Sciences appears to be very helpful in each step of my success. The supervisors guided me to strengthen the research and analysis skills furthermore to become a fully qualified Doctor of Philosophy than mere an author of a thesis and many journal articles.” “The dream of becoming a PhD qualified Education Management Specialist has been fulfilled through the guidance and direction of the renowned Professors of MSU. The experience in the field of education management, human capital development, socio-economic development and international relations has given me the opportunity to “research” in the field of marketing and bring in new knowledge to the academic literature. Service quality of any organisation is the key to success and is the most demanding factor for the ultimate customer satisfaction. Therefore, the research model was developed to explore the “Return on Customer Satisfaction” (RoCS).”

Dr. Gishan Sumanasiri: “My PhD study at Management and Science University was focused on ‘Organisation-Based Self- Esteem and Self-Perceived Employability of University graduates. The Self-Esteem and Perceived-Employability model appeared to be highly correlated and can be considered important for Sri Lankan IT export sector. The Doctoral program at MSU supported my career growth and guided me about the learning and employability of higher education. I wish to thank MSU for the opportunity given and would like to continue my efforts further to improve the standards of private higher education in Sri Lanka by providing education opportunities for students.”

Dr. Sumanasiri performs duties as Founder CEO of IMC – International Medical Campus, a leading medical education advisory service provider. Dr. S.W. Geethani K. Bulankulama: “I am fortunate to accumulate the doctoral experience. I didn’t realise it until after I finished my Ph.D. The program structure allowed me to explore my research interests on ‘Social Media for Competitive Advantage’ with the help of supervisor and resource persons of MSU. I never had a hard time approaching anyone for advice on an idea I went through it to develop a concept. But most importantly, this has truly been one of the best decisions I made. Because, everyone associated with doctoral program in MSU is incredibly brilliant and generous in their time and attention through the sound knowledge with research methodology and data analysis. Most importantly, the MSU have high expectations and gave me every opportunity to meet those expectations. The close collaboration with supervisor and resource persons of MSU and encouragement to pursue me to my research agenda was outstanding.” The early morning downpour on MSU’s 19th Convocation Ceremony was not a deterrent factor to the great excitement and enthusiasm of graduates, parents and loved ones with the moments of glamour and the reverence of tradition. MSU President Professor Tan Sri Mohd Shukri reminded alumni that achievement (of getting a Bachelor’s Degree) is not an end in itself.

Alumni must think forward, and what comes next is more important. “Nothing comes easy to be successful. You need to move out of that comfort zone, make some sacrifices and go that extra mile,” he added. The Bachelor of Hospitality & Tourism Management (Hons) is an undergraduate academic programme that leverages on a unique learning opportunity in the combined disciplines of hospitality, tourism and management. The students following the programme will be exposed both in the hospitality and tourism industry, as well as to the stateof- the-art technologies used in the fields of economics, management and marketing. As such, graduates of the programme are expected to be competent to handle not only the common hospitality and tourism practice but as well to provide advice on complex strategic issues in business decision making process. For more information about MSU programmes and Specially about next PhD intake kindly contact Management & Science University, Colombo Learning Center on enquiry@ msu.edu.lk telephone Tel: 0112576900/0112576700 Hot line 0770777880, or visit No. 300, Galle Road Colombo 3. www.msu.edu.lk or www.msu.edu.my.