Quality education produces quality graduates - Real insights from UTAR graduates

The first impression that comes to our mind when people talk about quality education is the kind of education that not only gives students the essential knowledge and skills that match the job market requirements, but also develops students holistically. This means that quality education providers will strive to develop students into all-rounders who not only excel academically, but are also active in co-curricular activities, including organising large-scale events and activities that involve hundreds of participants, actively participating in academic and/or sports competitions, etc besides upholding professional and moral etiquettes and actively engaging in meaningful community service projects.

UTAR is no exception. UTAR prides itself on being one of the reputable quality tertiary education providers that offers the most reasonable and affordable tuition fees among the private universities in Malaysia. According to the National Graduate Employability Index presented by TALENTBANK, UTAR is voted Top 3 in Graduate Employability among all of the private universities in Malaysia. This recognition is 100% determined by leading graduate employers in Malaysia. This recognition showcases that UTAR graduates are able to secure jobs very fast (usually within one to six months) upon graduation, thus indicating that the graduate employers have confidence in the quality of UTAR graduates and are happy to welcome and develop UTAR graduates into full-fledged professionals.

A team of academics from the Faculty of Business and Finance Department of Commerce & Accountancy, namely Foo Pik Yin, Chin Yoon Mei and Loh Chun T'ing were honoured to interview four UTAR graduates and gather valuable insights regarding their backgrounds; career achievements; how UTAR programmes have laid a strong foundation for their further postgraduate and/or professional qualifications attainment, and also career advancement. The four graduates who participated in this interview were Ong Zhan Hao, Ong Zhan Ye, Chen Chee Kit, and Fong Mi Lyn.

Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) Accounting graduate, Ong Zhan Hao

Formerly a Genting Malaysia Berhad scholar, upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Commerce (Accounting), Ong Zhan Hao proceeded to work as a Finance Executive at Genting Malaysia Berhad, handling financial reporting, management reporting, administration and tax-related tasks for the entire Genting UK Group. “I have to praise UTAR for providing an excellent quality education for me through those accounting profession subjects such as Financial Reporting, Management Reporting, Tax, Audit and Finance subjects. Thanks to that, I have a strong foundation to sit for professional examinations such as ACCA and pass all ACCA professional papers with above-average marks with only one attempt. Besides that, due to the strong foundation, skills and knowledge accumulated during my degree years at UTAR Kampar, I managed to perform my tasks well and professionally. Thus, I was trusted by my superiors in the workplace and was given opportunities to handle various types of tasks (including advanced-level tasks) independently instead of only handling simple routine tasks,” Ong Zhan Hao quipped. Ong Zhan Hao is now a qualified ACCA and MIA member, and is now taking a short career break to complete Master in Business Administration (Corporate Governance) programme at UTAR Sungai Long Campus.

Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) Accounting graduate, Ong Zhan Ye

Ong Zhan Ye, who was a Penang State Scholar, is now an accomplished senior analyst based at Deloitte & Touche LLP (Singapore). Upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Commerce (Accounting), Ong Zhan Ye worked as an audit associate at PwC Malaysia from 2019 to 2022, before joining Deloitte & Touche LLP (Singapore). “Starting my career as an audit associate, my daily routine started from vouching for supporting documents to validating the amount recognised in my client’s financial statements. Besides vouching, I also have to proceed with data cleansing when clients provide us with listing generated from the system. On top of that, I also have to obtain an understanding from clients about the business process that might have an impact on the figures recognised. With the progress in my career, skills were required to survive when I moved from managing work to managing people as a senior analyst, which is my current position. I had to ensure that not only my part is delivered on time, but the entire project can be completed on time. As the contact window of multiple stakeholders in an audit engagement, I have to manage the expectations of my client and manager, building rapport with my client, provide guidance to my subordinate to resolve the audit issues and report to my manager/ partner. During my tenure with PwC Malaysia, I joined a programme called Digital Accelerator. As part of the programme, I learnt about numerous digital tools such as Alteryx, Power BI, Python and also Machine Learning by attending online courses provided by a third-party educational organisation (Udacity). At the end of the programme, I was able to automate several audit procedures with the aid of the aforementioned digital tools and also obtain a Nano Degree of Machine Learning, Business Analytics & Data Analytics from Udacity and also a certificate from PwC Malaysia. In addition, I was virtually seconded to PwC Austin for an IT Audit project for a reputable Fortune 500 company. In the project, I reported directly to managers and partners located in PwC Austin US and liaised closely with the overseas client to obtain necessary audit evidence. This exposure enabled me to analyse potential audit issues that could arise from IT Control deficiency and mitigate control to minimise the negative impact. The robust foundation I built at UTAR enabled me to understand the concepts of accounting and the rationales behind the conditions It was also helpful for me to answer high-level technical questions in ACCA examinations. Resources provided by UTAR that aided in building a strong foundation for me included the library and databases subscribed by UTAR as well as all the friendly and helpful lecturers I have met in the Faculty of Business and Finance during my three years of study at UTAR. Overall, all the technical knowledge I learned from UTAR had prepared me to be ready for the corporate world. On top of that, interpersonal skills learned from group assignments and Final Year Project (FYP) were also helpful; coordinating with team members whom we newly met in UTAR was challenging but it is very similar to the audit industry where we are randomly assigned to a team with new faces and we have to work together to get things done on time,” Ong Zhan Ye said. Ong is now a qualified ACCA member.

Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) Banking and Finance graduate, Chen Chee Kit

Upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (Banking and Finance) in October 2021, Chen Chee Kit worked as a Personal Financial Consultant at OCBC (Malaysia) Bank Berhad from December 2021 to April 2022, before joining Ambank (M) Berhad as a Relationship Manager. Chen holds three licenses awarded by The Malaysian Insurance Institute (i.e. Certificate Examination in Investment-Linked Life Insurance (CEILI), Pre-Contract Examination for Insurance Agents (PCEIA) & Pre-Contract Examination for Life Insurance (PCIL)). Besides that, Chen has also passed the Investor Protection Professional Certification (IPPC) examination conducted by the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers. Chen is now pursuing Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification. “From my perspective, UTAR is a good platform for students to start learning the right way to communicate with their coursemates and lecturers. By communicating with the lecturers in UTAR, I learnt to view things from different perspectives. The channel of communication with every single person is different and it is a skill to tune the right channel during the communication process. Good communication skills can assist an individual to develop good relationships with others. This is one of the main things that I learnt during my life at UTAR. All of the lecturers whom I’ve encountered at UTAR have shown a passion for teaching and even leading students. All of the lecturers and professors whom I’ve encountered tend to be extremely responsible when they are transferring their knowledge to students,” said Chen.

Bachelor of Communication (Honours) Advertising graduate, Fong Mi Lyn

Bachelor of Communication (Honours) Advertising graduate Fong Mi Lyn is the country manager of Dine Inn Malaysia. Dine Inn is a Singaporean start-up company that focuses on being a one-stop community marketplace that connects the makers and lovers of food. “In the first year of my current job, I worked as a Digital Content Creator. The responsibilities I held during that time included managing social media accounts, brainstorming content, and doing graphic design and video production. After that, I received a promotion to become the country manager; the position I’m currently holding. My responsibilities include managing and leading my team, focusing on developing my company’s business aspects, and continuing with any design projects that are needed. My company is considerably a new business in Malaysia. When the website was launched in Malaysia, I carried out User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with my team to ensure all the functions were working properly. Regarding how UTAR education has helped me in laying a strong foundation to progress further, UTAR has provided a strong foundation in terms of knowledge and skills required for me to land this current job and also maintaining it. When I began as a digital content creator, I was able to adapt to the workflow quickly and carry out my work efficiently thanks to the subjects taught at UTAR as well as the experiences acquired during my internship. Since the pandemic hit, things have been changing at an alarmingly fast rate whereby various activities have been digitalised. It would be great to explore more on how each industry has been affected by it,” shared Fong.

In a nutshell, a university’s teaching and learning practices can make an important difference in a young graduate’s life. University education should also instil in graduates an appreciation for other people’s development. Tertiary education should also give students opportunities, choices and a voice when it comes to growth and dignity, security, work safety, and job satisfaction, besides preparing them for participating in the economy and broader society. When universities see quality in terms of human development, their role becomes more than churning out workers in an economy. Universities will have the mandate to nurture ethically responsible and more rounded graduates who are better equipped in pursuit of a better society, socially, economically and politically.