UTAR and REHDA Institute join effort to offer Master of Real Estate Development (MRED)

Exchanging signed documents (from left): Prof Faidz, Prof Ewe, Dato’ Jeffrey Ng, and member of REHDA Institute BOT Tan Sri Datuk Eddy Chen Lok Loi

REHDA Institute, the training, research and education arm of REHDA Malaysia collaborated with UTAR to offer a master’s degree programme, namely the Master of Real Estate Development (MRED). The signing and exchanging ceremony of the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the two parties were organised in conjunction with REHDA Malaysia’s Annual Delegate Conference (ADC), held at Wisma REHDA in Kelana Jaya on 26 September 2020.

Representing on behalf of REHDA Institute was its Chairman Dato’ Jeffrey Ng Tiong while UTAR was represented by its President Ir Prof Dr Ewe Hong Tat. Also present during the event were President of REHDA Malaysia Dato’ Ir Soam Heng Choon, UTAR Vice President for R&D and Commercialisation Prof Ts Dr Faidz bin Abd Rahman, members of REHDA Institute Board of Trustees (BOT), UTAR staff and members of the media.

Over the last two years, the Institute has been collaborating with UTAR to roll out the MRED programme. Now an approved and duly accredited master’s programme, the programme is providing learning opportunities, in collaboration with the industry, with input from the expertise and experienced industry players emphasising on applied knowledge and skills as opposed to purely theoretical and academic learning.

In his keynote speech, Dato’ Soam shared the intention of offering MRED to real estate and property companies, “Whilst the Institute has been organising regular training sessions for members and industry players on industry’s know-how’s and latest developments and changes, it has always been REHDA’s inspiration that one day, industry leaders and experts could share their invaluable knowledge and expertise with future industry CEOs through a formal education programme that is designed specifically for the property development industry. The collaboration with UTAR on the MRED programme paves the way for this aspiration and we hope this will be the first step towards many more industry-relevant education programmes with higher learning institutions.”

“The MRED programme is a brainchild of the Institute’s Board of Trustees. Initiated in 2016, the Institute foresaw the need to accelerate the skills and knowledge of the industry’s talent pool and future leadership through a formal master’s degree programme. MRED has been carefully designed through extensive industry input to fulfil the Institute’s aspiration in accelerating skills and knowledge empowerment amongst industry personnel and ensure an adequate talent pool of industry managers. The programme provides learning opportunity from the sharing of knowledge and experience of senior and top management of leading and reputable property development companies and emphasises on applied knowledge and practical skills as opposed to purely theoretical and academic learning. We believe that all property development firms should incorporate MRED as part of your talent management and organisational development as it is designed with the objective to help equip future real estate development managers with adequate industry skills and knowledge to be senior managers and CEO of tomorrow,” said Dato’ Jeffrey Ng in his welcome remarks.

“With input from the industry, we customise the programme so that it meets the demand from the industry. In fact, about thirty per cent of the content will be delivered and shared by REHDA members. This approach will equip the students with not only advance knowledge in real estate management but also practical insights and experience from REHDA members,” said Prof Ewe during a press conference held after the event.

The partnership is an essential milestone for the organisations as it sets the path for knowledge sharing and research collaborations towards successful housing and real estate development in Malaysia.

Dato’ Jeffrey Ng (left) and Dato' Soam delivering their speech