There is Strategic Initiative 5 in the strategic plan to outline the globalization for the School, see Table 1 as following. The initiative has been giving the direction for specific actions and measurement in the globalization of the School.
Table 1 Strategic Initiative 5 in the Strategic Plan
Strategic Initiative 5: Expand channels for faculty members and learners to take international exchanges and cooperation | ||||
Goal | Objective | Tactics | Measure of Success | Resources Needed |
Promote faculty members to take more international exchange and cooperation | Establish strategic cooperative relationship with more renowned overseas universities | Encourage faculty members to apply for CSC study-abroad programs, “four major programs” in Shanghai, etc. Regularly organize faculty members to take short-term visit overseas or participate in international conferences Strengthen cooperation with foreign universities in multiple fields such as faculty exchange, applying for academic research projects, co-authoring high-quality papers and so on. | At least 3-4 cooperative partnerships are established in the next six years (e.g., better with AACSB accredited business schools in North America and Europe) Build 1 international joint laboratory in the next six years 1 international collaborative research project is applied/ approved in the next six years | Dean, Vice Dean (Research Affairs), Vice Dean (International Exchange Affairs) Office of Administration
Budget of $ 86,000/year |
Promote learners to take more international exchanges and cooperation | Improve the number of universities with mutual recognition of credits Improve the number of learners going abroad to study | Encourage students to participate in summer visiting programs and enhance the international vision and thinking ability Establish cooperative relations with foreign enterprises and makes use of sufficient resources from both sides to carry out positive and effective industry-academy cooperation, and offer internships or training opportunities for students. | About 100 students taking academic visit/exchange program per year (e.g., The University of Texas at Austin, major in Advertising and Public Relations/Accounting) Build 1 overseas industry-academy cooperation base in the next six years | Dean, Vice Dean (International Exchange Affairs) Office of Administration
Budget of $ 43,000/year |
The initiative has laid out the plan for going global in the geographical distribution, and selecting international partners both in the fields of academic and non-academic with sufficient width and depth, mainly focused on the following two aspects:
l International cooperation and exchange in the partnership:The geographical distribution of international cooperation and exchanges is not reasonable, key cooperation partners and projects are not prominent enough, and high-level academic research cooperation is relatively limited. The proportion of international students is low, and the quality and structure of students need to be further improved. The international cooperation level and the international impact needs to be enhanced as well.
l Abundance of opportunities for faculty and students in international academic exchanges and cooperation: International collaboration programs are enhanced to elevate the level of globalization in the School's operations. Such as the University of North Iowa 2+2 Exchange Program and the Edinburgh Napier University Exchange Program in 2020 etc. The School also focuses on increasing the number of academic papers published in journals indexed in SCI, SSCI, the Department of Management Sciences of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, improving graduate students' participation in government-sponsored research projects, and promoting the improvement of School's academic research and innovation abilities globally.
The School provides many overseas studies and exchange programs. For example, The School has signed an agreement with the University of Northern Iowa (AACSB-accredited) to jointly offer a dual Bachelor Degree program to provide exchange opportunities for undergraduate students. In order to guarantee the quality of overseas studies and exchange programs, The School will conduct a survey on students’ satisfaction of overseas studies and exchange programs, including information of whether these programs are conducive to improve students’ employment competitiveness and salary, and calculate graduation rates and job placement of graduating students in the future. In addition, the School has collected and researched the data about faculty from partner institutes to assure faculty quality in the partner institutes which should match the faculty quality in the School to guarantee the quality cooperation. In the future, the School plan to cooperate with more AACSB-accreditted Schools to provide quality studies and exchange programs for faculty and students.
There are a number of factors considered when academically collaborating with the international partners. The factors are illustrated in the following based on one of examples for collaboration with the international partners.
The school offers a Dual Master’s Degree program in collaboration with the Singapore University of Social Science (SUSS). The collaboration agreement on dual master’s degree with SUSS was signed to be valid for an initial period of three years, that is, from 3 January 2022 to 2 January 2025, it would be renewed based on the outcomes of the first three-year collaboration. There have been no students sent to the partner university yet so far. By the Standard 6, there are measurable factors which bring perspectives for the school to assess and ensure the quality of academic work accepted as transfer credit from partner institutions. The factors were rankings, faculty qualification and sufficiency, and AOL, etc. See the details as following.
l Firstly, the partner institution's academic ranking and resources are thoroughly considered.The School of Business in Singapore University of Social Sciences is one of the AACSB Business Alliance Members, working towards AACSB accreditation. Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) is ranking #6 under the ambit of Ministry of Education (MOE). The Master of Management (MMGT) program of SUSS takes 1 to 4 years. For international students (accelerated track), they have the option to finish the MMGT program in 12 months, depending on the study plan.
l Secondly, the School requires the due process to examine students who engage on the dual degree program.The School encourages SUES students who havesuccessfully completed the first year of the MBA Program or the MPA Program to pursue the MMGT program offered by SUSS.A selected candidate who has achieved grade equal to, or higher than, 60% in any two to four major elective courses in the MBA Program or MPA Program, as applicable, can apply for 15 credit units(cu) recognition for the MBA program or 10cu credit recognition for the MPA program upon completion of the Selected Candidate’s master’s thesis at SUES(based on each 5cu course at SUSS being equivalent to a 2-credit course at SUES). Typically, students must achieve a minimum grade in their courses for the credits to be transferable.
l Thirdly, the School will monitor the students’ learning outcomes of the dual master’s degree program. After rigorous evaluation processes, credits earned by students studying in Singapore can be transferred. Upon returning from abroad, MBA students undergo an evaluation, and only upon passing this assessment are they awarded their degree. Both of the schools specify representatives who meet regularly to review the eligibility criteria, selection process, credit limits for each student, credit exemption and recognition arrangements, and the learning outcomes.
l Fourthly, the learner profiles in SUSS are similar to that of SUES. In MMGT program of SUSS, there are 44% males and 56% females. The average age of the learners is 36 years old, and the average working experience is 10 years. In MPA program of SUES, there are 34.5% males and 65.5% females. The average age of the learners is 30 years old, and the average working experience is 7 years. In MBA program of SUES, there are 43.9% males and 56.1% females. The average age of the learners is 29 years old, and the average working experience is 6 years. For international students, they have the option to finish the MMGT program in either 12 or 18 months, depending on the study plan.
l Fifthly, the facultyqualification and sufficiency of School of Business in SUSS have been benchmarking with the school. There are 12 full-time faculty members of MMGT program in SUSS. They are Jimmy Wong, Dianna Chang, Amy Wong, Huong Ha, James Tan Swee Chuan, Ameen Talib, Marcus Lee, Emily Ortega, Chui Yoon Ping, Tan Eng Joo, Ding Ding, Ng Kai Teck. All of full-time faculty members of MMGT program in SUSS are either with a doctoral degree or associate professor (or above). There are 8 practitioner instructors, and practitioner instructors are either with a doctoral degree or senior managers (including CEO, Director, Founder, Senior Vice President). They are able to bring real-world experience to the classroom. Beyond their initial academic preparation, these faculty members are engaged in continuous professional development.In the past two years, 67% full-time faculty members of MMGT program have at least one paper been published. For example, Amy Wong published fifteen papers in 2023 and four papers in 2024. Jimmy Wong published one paper in Journal of Services Marketing (SSCI) and had one IEEE conference paper about artificial intelligence in 2024. Dianna Y.L. Chang published two papers in 2023. Huong Ha published one paper in 2023 and one paper in 2024. James Tan Swee Chuan had three conference papers in 2023. Ameen Talib had six papers published in 2023. Emily Ortega published one paper in 2024. Ding Ding published Five papers in 2024 and one paper in 2023. In addition, Chui Yoon Ping had two invited presentations. 25% practitioner instructors of MMGT program in SUSS engage in various intellectual contributions. Dane Hudson is a case. He published four articles in 2024 and three in 2023. Another example is Karin Sixl-Daniell, with two books been published in 2023. Therefore, the facultyqualifications and sufficiency in SUSS have been comparable with the criteria in the school.
l Finally, once the School start sending students to SUSS, the future outcomes would be measured and compared to the other existing Master Program, it will guarantee the same or better learning outcomes. Since no students have been sent to the partner university (SUSS) so far, there have been some plans set in the school to promise the bright future for the students engaging in the dual degree program, such as great job placement, decent salary with entry level, good titles or positions compared to the students from the other master programs.
Above all, quality is one of most important factors when considering globalization, not numbers ,not size. According to the Guiding Principles, go global will be always one of major initiatives in the Strategic Plan. The rules and policies for globalization has been focusing on the quality ever since.
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