Nurturing a New Generation Able to Compete on the World Stage

By studying a postgraduate degree, one will develop skills that will support them through their daily life, such as time management, research work, presentation, and writing skills. Depending on the field of expertise one is studying, they could find themselves in small classes and working closely with people who also share their background, allowing them to work within a team with consideration for different perspectives.

On the whole, postgraduate careers have a greater chance of opportunities than those with lesser qualifications. One’s postgraduate subject area may make them stand out from the person that has the same graduate degree, but not the passion for the particular area the employer is looking for. Being able to talk and relate one’s learning experiences to a future postgraduate career in an interview may not guarantee the job, but it may ease that tricky interview one’s been dreading. On the other hand, a postgraduate program can be used as a conversion course for those who wish to change career directions, leading into a whole new path, regardless of the academic choices they made when they were younger.

Being fuelled by a dream, being successful in one’s career is a great place to start. However, for most postgraduate students, the fuel is the desire to learn and contribute to their field of expertise. For this month’s EduCentre, we will focus on one of the private colleges based in Yangon that has undergraduate and postgraduate Business programs for youths who are looking towards improving their career prospects.

At both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, students can study subjects in areas like accounting, finance, economics, management, marketing, and business IT.

Providing international-level experience for students.

“We also provide courses for soft skills and industry-linked activities to make the curriculum a more holistic approach.

We believe that for every student, student’s life is the most memorable part of their lives. Most of us at MMC have university experiences as students and lecturers in foreign countries. So, our main focus is to always keep on improving, so that we can provide a similar international-level experience for our students in Myanmar, without them having to go abroad,” said Daw Khin Hnin Soe, MMC’s founder and principal.

Almost all classes in MMC are business-related, and there are currently over 150 students for this academic year, said Daw Khin Hnin Soe.

“Marketing and management classes are popular in our country and most students attend those classes. There are already over 70 students who had graduated with HND and MBA at MMC. Here, we believe in a holistic approach towards education so that we can develop not only in the subject area but also soft skills including thinking, self-directed learning and research skills,” she said.

Three unique approaches to teaching

The principal added that the teaching methods at MMC focus on three unique approaches: problem-based, project-based and game-based.

“Based on our three teaching methods, there is a yearly ‘MMC Bazaar’ project for our undergraduate HND students. During the event, they have to produce hand-made products, set up stalls and sell them to the public. Through such activities, they learn about marketing, accounting, sales concepts which they have to write in a report and present to lecturers as part of their assessment,” she said.

For MBA students to have links with business industries, the college has ‘MMC Speaker Series,’ whereby the speaker’s topic is tied to the subject that they will be learning and students can see how the concepts they learn in their subjects are applied in the workplace, said Daw Khin Hnin Soe.

“We also have ‘Student Life Activities’ in six different categories: subject-related, general knowledge, English proficiency, sports and fun, volunteering – MMC with Heart, and leadership and teamwork. By participating in those activities, students learn about work-life balance and the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. Students also gain knowledge not only from textbooks but also from others, and learn to work and live as a community. And most of all, we believe in always improving ourselves so that we can provide the most conducive learning experience for our students,” she added.

There are around 20 lecturers who come from three different backgrounds: repatriate lecturers like herself, lecturers who used to teach in Myanmar government universities, and foreign lecturers. Based on their backgrounds, they provide different learning experiences for the students, she said.

Three areas focused on during academic meetings

“As the principal, what I look for in lecturers is how well they perform ‘the art of teaching,’ how adaptable they are to the changing landscape in the world, and their self-directed learning level as lifelong learners. Those are the three areas we focus on when we hold academic meetings. Through sharing of each other’s knowledge and experience, peer coaching, doing training and development activities as a team, I try to develop the MMC academic faculty”, she said.

“For repatriate lecturers, they have experience in both the Myanmar and international education sectors. So, they understand the background and the kind of experience Myanmar students have and are able to use their international experience to guide Myanmar students to an international standard.”

Recently, MMC started an MBA program at its new campus in Mandalay, and is also planning to open a Bachelor’s degree program from the end of 2017 onwards, she added. The current fees will be from K2 million to K12 million per year at MMC, depending on various programs.

The mission of MMC is to nurture a new generation that will contribute to the development of Myanmar and be able to compete on the world stage, said Daw Khin Hnin Soe.

“As such, we always remind our students to see education as beyond possessing a piece of paper; to actually value the learning experience they get from their lecturers as well as from their peers; and to ensure that they are able to apply what they have learnt in their programs at MMC to their real lives. We also emphasize that what they learn at MMC provides a solid foundation for them to further advance their own lifelong learning journey,” she said.

Moreover, MMC has developed short video clips on Facebook and YouTube, like “Q&A with MMC Lecturers,” where anyone can ask the lecturers any question under the topic of education, and “MMC Career Talk,” the purpose of which is to provide information on various professions, such as their responsibilities and requirements to excel themselves in their respective profession.

The Myanmar Metropolitan College (MMC), established in 2013, offers the Higher National Diploma (HND) awarded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority, UK, for undergraduate level, and Master of Business Administration (MBA) awarded by MMC’s partner, University of Business and International Studies from Switzerland.