Finnish Education Model: What is so Special about It? by Mr. Heikki Vartia from HEI Schools, Finland

Taylor's School of Education organized a talk titled “Finnish Educational Model: What is so Special about it?”. The invited guest was Mr. Heikki Vartia, Partnerships and Sales Manager of Helsinki International Schools (HEI Schools), Finland. He has over 20 years of experience working in different settings in the consumer goods business. In 2019, he changed his career path to education export business. The session was livestreamed on Youtube. In his talk, Mr. Heikki introduced the world-famous Finnish Education System, which has been ranked as the best in the world in several studies and rankings. He shared the history of the education system, basic principles of the Finnish pedagogy and some insights based on latest research on how children learn. He also shared his knowledge on the research-based educational solutions for the early years offered by HEI Schools.

The questions asked during the Q & A session included the qualifications of Finnish teachers, design of early childhood programmes and assessment system in Finland. Issues related to how teachers in HEI schools adapt the Finnish curriculum based on local contexts in different countries as well as the challenges they face were also discussed. The talk ended with a summary and words of appreciation for the speaker and attendees for their support. The attendees gained valuable insights on the factors leading to successful Finnish Education System and the key elements emphasized in HEI schools for children development.

The video of the talk is accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDJEsNUqgsU

Roundtable Forum with Hotel GMs on "Post-Pandemic Business Strategy Sharing for Lodging Industry"

The School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events (SHTE) held an exclusive event entitled "GM Roundtable Online Forum on Post Pandemic Strategies". Speakers from the Hospitality industry graced this event and shared their views on the current and future trends. SHTE was privileged to have Mr. Todd Williams, General Manager of Mercure Miri City Centre, Sarawak; Mr. Jonathan Lai, General Manager of Holiday Inn Johor Bahru City Centre and Mr. Damian De Costa, General Manager of Holiday Inn Express Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Three GMs were thanked for sparing their valuable time to share with our Master of International Hospitality Management (MIHM) postgraduate students.

Mr. Todd spoke on how Asia Pacific becomes the focus of new hotel openings. More hotels are focused on lifestyle and luxury with 39% growth in new Accor properties happening in China touching 500 properties with 350 still under development. Mr. Jonathan mentioned that currently there is strong growth in the market. Previously, turning the hotel into a quarantine centre helped to ensure cash flow into the business. Staff were multi-tasking between departments and encouraged to adapt. Mr. Damian shared 2020 was focused on maintenance. He advised that the staffing will be a challenge during post pandemic and knowing your source markets will help in bringing in the guests.

The insights was trying to estimate when China will fully allow travel and there is a potential market in India. The opening of the travel between Johor Bahru and Singapore has benefitted the Johor Bahru hotel with the influx of Singaporeans. Overall, a post pandemic strategy is possibly to increase room rates given the increased in demand, to lower the Guest : Staff ratio and increase salaries for hotel staff.

There was a good flow of Q&A about staff retention strategies, whether the government’s economic stimulus packages had benefitted the hotel industry, the inclusion of Artificial intelligence (AI) and robots in the future of hospitality industry. On the whole, MIHM students enjoyed the GM Roundtable Online Forum as it provided an intimate session to have frank discussions with decision-makers in the hotels.

Malaysiakini Op-ed Publication on "Cyberbullying & Callousness in our Education" by Dr. Benjamin Loh

Dr. Benjamin Loh, Senior Lecturer, School of Media and Communication published his first op-ed of 2022 with Malaysiakini entitled “Cyberbullying and Callousness in Our Education System”. The article addresses the recent controversy of a University Professor who was caught on video berating one of her students for not having a laptop. The video was released with a thick veil of anonymity with an anonymous Twitter account that was subsequently deleted.

The leaking of an internal memo doxed the students in the class, yet no attention has been given by the university to address this breach of trust and dissemination of private information. Even as the leaker took steps to protect the identities of those involved, they still ended up being doxed which highlights the chilling environment where these actions are tolerated and condoned.

This article unpacks why doxing and cyberbullying are so rampant in this country and why there is a need to stop it from affecting whistleblowers.

The Malaysiakini article link: https://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/616572