Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) Dean Dr Sia Bee Chuan had the honour to share her opinions at the “Modernising Student Recruitment: New Strategies for Maximising Engagement and Support” webinar organised by Times Higher Education (THE) on 25 May 2021, in partnership with Unibuddy.

The webinar discussed the need for universities to leverage social media, student ambassadors and alumni’s success stories to modernise their student recruitments strategies for the digital age. It was also brought to light that current students and online tools can also be key for spreading positive messages to potential recruits.

“Given the choice of what is happening during this pandemic, we all have to get on board with this idea, whether we start it early or late. When the pandemic happened, we shifted to the digital platform, like organising the cyber open day and various other activities to ensure that the digital platforms enabled us to meet up with the students,” said Dr Sia.

“At the same time, I agree there is a need for balance. When the pandemic happened last year, when it was not that bad, some parents and students were still interested to come to the campus via appointment. We still continued leveraging on student ambassador and alumni sharing their experiences because it is relevant to the students. However, there were still some students who wished to talk. Parents too wished to interact with us, so there were times we organised webinars that involved parents. So the balance here is that, I believe for the young generation, the digital tool will continue to be used, but at the same time, there is still a need for face-to-face interaction for parents and students,” explained Dr Sia.

On future-proofing admission through digital platform, Dr Sia commented, “In the long run, as educators, we should also be looking at future-proofing our graduates, so when they graduate, they will be able to face the challenges. I agree we need constant and close collaboration with the industries and need to expand internalisation efforts. So, it is not just the entry point that we should be looking at, but also ensure that full-proofing goes all the way to the exit point. This is where we can get more alumni to come back and they will be our ambassador; sharing their stories. Therefore, this comes down to the University’s strategies, and at the end of the day, the focus is still on its core products and services, and its vision and mission. That way, the entry and exit point are continuously ensured of its quality and improvement.”

Joining the panel for discussion were Head of Department from International Islamic University Malaysia Erry Adesta, Head of Student Affairs from Disted College Penang Jessica Ang, Associate Dean at Asia School of Business Sean O’Ferguson, Head of International Admission Office from Universiti Teknologi Petronas Azalia Abd Rahman, Senior lecturer from Swinburne University of Technology Sueh Ing Su, Head of School (Design and Arts) from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus Ida Fatimawati Adi Badiozaman, Unibuddy University Partnerships Manager Sean O’Dea, Provost of University of Reading Malaysia Wing Lam, and Senior lecturer from Hong Kong Baptist University Angus Young.