Faculty of Social Sciences & Leisure Management (FSLM), Taylor's University has successfully organized its Annual Industry Advisory Panel (IAP) Meeting for the year of 2022. The IAP Meeting was officiated by Prof. Dr. Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan, Executive Dean for the five schools and one institute under FSLM which are the School of Education, School of Food Studies and Gastronomy, School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Media and Communication and Taylor's Culinary Institute.
School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The School of Liberal Arts and Sciences has always put high emphasis on student graduate employability and industry readiness. Thus, the school has organized its Industry Advisory Panel Meeting 2022 at Taylor's University Lakeside Campus with the theme of "Learning 2030-Purpose-led Impact-Driven University". The focus of the meeting was on how to prepare our students to have purpose-led impact-driven learning to face the ever-changing societies’ needs and careers. There were 26 Industry Advisory Panel members joined the meeting.
Prof. Dr. Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences & Leisure Management introduced that Taylor’s University has recently developed 13 Impact Labs which are aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), to solve complex problems in society and do good in the community. He stressed the importance of not just being the best university but on how we can be the best for the world by integrating different disciplines to work together in producing students who are resilient and can make changes to the community while in school and would potentially be productive and purposeful leaders after graduation.
Subsequently, the Head of School, Prof. Dr. Anindita Dasgupta shared on several impact lab projects that were carried out by the school, which include Refugee Project for TENAGANITA on teaching refugees to read and write in Malay; project with Yayasan Chow Kit on the rights of children to play; and Taylor's HEART Psychological Services (HPS) on providing psychological services to public with minimal charges and mobile clinic psychological services by Trainee Clinical Psychologist (Master of Clinical Psychology students).
School of Education
Taylor’s School of Education hosted its annual Industry Advisory Panel Meeting via Zoom with the objective of discussing the overarching requirements to become a global teacher and global employability with examples from the Middle East, China and Japan contexts.
The meeting was officiated by Executive Dean Prof. Dr. Neethiahnanthan while Dr. Logendra Stanley Ponniah, Head of School, School of Education, moderated the session. Four speakers from academic organizations in the Middle East, China, and Japan shared their thoughts on the following topics:-
Growth of International Schools in the Middle East: Prospects and Challenges for Future Teachers by Ms. Abigail Fishbourne, Director of Learning, International Schools Partnership, Abu Dhabi (ISP, Middle East).
Teaching in the Middle East: Expectations on Teacher’s Specialist Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes by Ms. Zeenat Munir, Head of Primary School, Pristine Private School, Dubai.
Teaching in China: Expectations on Teacher’s Specialist Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes by Ms. Song Bo, Head of Secondary School & International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) Coordinator, Oriental Cambridge International School, China.
Teaching in Japan: Expectations on Teacher’s Specialist Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes by Mr. Keisuke Wakihama, English Teacher, Former Head of English, Seiko Gakuin High School, Japan.
School of Media and Communication
The School of Media and Communication (SOMAC) has organized a meeting with its Industry Advisory Panel (IAP) to update them on the direction of the university as well as to get feedback from the panel about the current curriculum in ensuring all the programmes offered by the School were aligned with the industry demands. This meeting was also timely as the University embarked towards the blueprint of Taylor’s Learning 2030, with the emphasis on Taylor's Impact Labs Project and IR4.0.
During the Executive Dean Prof. Dr. Neethiahnanthan's welcome remark, he deliberated on the three focus areas of the University which are Teaching, Research and Advocacy. The 2022 IAP meeting was attended by nine (9) IAP members including two SOMAC Alunmi from companies in the fields of advertising, broadcasting, journalism and public relations. Ms. Prema Ponnudurai, Head of School, School of Media and Communication presented an update on SOMAC and open a further discussion on new trends in the industry seeking feedback from the panel members.
Apart from discussing the syllabus, the IAP members also discussed the attributes and the required skills expected from the graduates upon leaving the University. They have expressed their full commitment to engage more with the students in the coming year, by having face-to-face activities such as seminars and workshops.
School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events
The School of Hospitality, Tourism & Events hosted its Industry Advisory Panel Meeting 2022 with 12 IAP members representing the Hospitality, Tourism and Events industries. After two years of online events, the 2022 IAP edition finally happened at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus. The session started by Prof. Dr. Neethiahnanthan's Welcome Address and presented the certificates of appointment/reappointment to the IAP members. This year, the school was thrilled to appoint three (3) new esteemed members. They are Mr. Peter Foster, Deputy Executive Vice President, Genting Malaysia; Mr. Jamie Mead, Senior Director Operations Southeast Asia, Hilton; and Mr. Ian Barrow, General Manager, Double Tree by Hilton Putrajaya Lakeside.
The Head of School Assoc. Prof. Dr. Joaquim Dias Soeiro presented the follow-up action plan 2021 and 2022 school key achievements, the further discussions were done on the relevancy of curriculums, technological advancement, industry-academe partnerships and impact-based learning. The IAP session concluded into two breakout sessions to share more detailed information about the programmes delivered under the school. Led by the Programme Directors, Dr. Lisa Tung; Dr. Ruth Sabina Francis; Dr. Shantini Thuraiselvam; and Dr. Rupam Konar, the discussions were very fruitful and provided better opportunities to embed industry matters in the respective programmes.
A note of thanks to all IAP members who took time off their busy schedules to portray their responsible role in shaping our students and their future in the industry.
School of Food Studies and Gastronomy
Taylor's Culinary Institute
In December, there were about 25 members attended the annual Industry Advisory Panel Meeting organised by the School of Food Studies & Gastronomy and Taylor’s Culinary Institute. The meeting started off with Executive Dean Prof. Dr. Neethiahnanthan's warm welcome to all members and presented the certificate to the newly joined members.
The session was followed by Chef Frederic Cerchi, Director of Taylor’s Culinary Institute (TCI) who shared that TCI has a long partnership with University of Toulouse in France and Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), one of the Best Hospitality Management School in the world and the only School Restaurant that gets awarded for One Michelin Star. Apart from sending students for training in these top overseas university, TCI students are also actively engaging in international competition to sharpen their skills since 2012 especially the WorldSkills Competition with numerous awards such as Gold medal and Medallion of Excellence. He also shared that the Institute has been actively inviting industry Chef and successful Alumni to conduct demo in cooking and patisserie to allow the students to be actively engaged to the industry working pace and style.
Ms. Siti Ramadhaniatun Ismail, the Head of School, School of Food Studies, and Gastronomy shared that the school had signed the first franchise partnership with Villa College of Maldives. The school had also sent students to visit food production plant with Unilever Food Solution Malaysia, one of the world largest consumer good companies, to learn about the latest trend and development of plant-based menu. Besides that, the school also successfully secures a RM101,000 research grant by Medklinn International Sdn. Bhd. for a project on new approach of post-harvest greener technology. Lastly, Ms. Siti also shared about the Master course of Food Studies & Gastronomy and the achievements of Culinology team in international & national food product developments.
