UTAR Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF) and Faculty of Economics of University of Toyama, Japan jointly organised an international seminar on Economics and Human Resource Development at UTAR Kampar Campus on 14 February 2019 with a support from student helpers (Business Administration Society and Financial Economics Students).
Present at the talk were UTAR Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong, University of Toyama academic Prof Jun Ma, Division of Community and International Networking Deputy Director Dr Chen I-Chi, FBF Dean Dr Au Yong Hui Nee, Organising Chairperson and FBF Department of Economics Head Thavamalar Ganapathy, Committee members, staff and students.
The seminar aimed to create a platform for UTAR and University of Toyama students to exchange their research ideas. It also provided an opportunity for them to be a global person and to learn the various ways of conducting and presenting their research.
Prof Choong, in his welcome speech, expressed his delight at the success of the seminar and applauded the effort of the organising committee. “I am also very delighted to see the fruit of our collaboration with the University of Toyama that has led to this seminar. Certainly, our collaboration is not limited to organising this seminar, but we hope to be able to continuously engage students and academics of University of Toyama to participate in our annual conferences. I am also aware that we have been received a few students from University of Toyama for a one-year programme in UTAR. We are always looking forward to seeing international enrolment. This enables our students to learn from them.”
He added, “There is also an annual conference for young leaders, and I hope that the students from the University of Toyama would be able to participate in it. The young leaders’ conference is a very good platform for young leaders to interact and discuss solutions for solving world problems while enhancing their soft skills. I hope you will make good use of your time at this seminar to enhance your research, and perhaps even further your studies.”
Prof Jun Ma, in his address said, “The seminar was challenging yet meaningful for my students. UTAR students are not only fluent in their languages, but they are also very professional in their research. I was amazed to see the UTAR students using statistical methods like SAS and EViews to analyse their research problems. I believe my students have greatly benefited from working with UTAR student and they may have even inspired my students to study harder, hence helping them to positively shape their future career development. This seminar is indeed a good platform and an opportunity for the University of Toyama students to learn about the research conducted in other international universities. I hope this seminar will continually be held as it is important to students’ future career, as well as to provide insights, discussion and broader perspective for their research.”
The seminar consisted of two themes, namely Theme A and Theme B. Theme A consisted of Human Resource Development researches and had a total of six sessions that featured presentations with topics on “Disney’s Secret to Steady Profit”, “Workplace Deviance among Employees in Manufacturing Industry in Malaysia”, “Utilization of Social Media Corporate Advertising Strategy: Cases based on Marketing Strategy: McDonald’s, Muji, and Uniqlo”, “Examining the Determinants influencing Employee Engagement of Financial Sector in Malaysia”, “Why does New Graduated Employee Leave within 3 Years in Japan”, and “Monetary and Non-Monetary Incentive towards Employee’s Performance of Food Manufacturing Industry in Perak”.
Meanwhile, Theme B consisted of International Economics researches with a total of four presentations on topics, namely “Japanese Sardine with the Possibility of Entering the Halal Market”, “How Stock Market Performance is affected by Exchange Rate, Oil Price, Monetary Policy and Margin Debt”, “Trends in Comparative Advantage in Asian Service Trade: Analysis with RTA” and “Trade War and Economic Growth”.
The presentations were evaluated and appraised by the seminar moderators, namely Fong Chee Yang and Seow Ai Na who commented on Human Resource Management presentations, while Vinothiny Subramaniam and Chin Lai Kwan commented on International Economics. The moderators suggested improvements and provided recommendations to help in their future presentations.
“The seminar was fruitful and the students from both institutions had a great time exchanging ideas and research knowledge that would help to improving their research. I would also like to thank Prof Kakita for initiating this seminar and Prof Jun Ma for supporting this event. I hope to see more collaboration of such in the future,” said Thavamalar.
The seminar then ended with certificate presentations to students, moderators and student helpers.
Prof Choong delivering his welcome speech
Prof Jun Ma delivering his speech
Students presenting their research
Prof Choong (middle) presenting a token of appreciation to Prof Jun Ma (left) while Dr Au Yong looks on
Dr Au Yong (right) presenting certificate of appreciation to UTAR students
Dr Au Yong (right) presenting certificate of appreciation to University of Toyama students
Dr Au Yong (right) presenting certificate of appreciation to seminar moderators (from left) Vinothiny, Chin, Seow and Fong
Dr Au Yong (right) presenting certificate of appreciation to the student helpers
Dr Au Yong (second from right), Prof Jun Ma, Prof Choong, and Dr Chen
The participants displaying their certificates
Front row: Thavamalar (most right), Dr Au Yong (third from right) and
Prof Jun Ma (most left)
with University of Toyama students
© 2019 UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN DU012(A).
Wholly owned by UTAR Education Foundation Co. No. 578227-M LEGAL STATEMENT TERM OF USAGE PRIVACY NOTICE