The Role of Public Service in Socio-Economic Development: A Case Study in Leadership

The Taylor’s Bachelor of Social Sciences Programs & the American Degree Transfer Program collaborated to organize a webinar on leadership recently on the 15th of April 2022. The invited Guest Speaker was the Eminent Chief Secretary of Assam, India, Mr. Jishnu Barua. He was appointed as the Indian Administrative Service in 1988 and has served the Assam-Meghalaya cadre with distinction over 34 years. He has held important positions including as the Head of the Districts of North Cachar Hills and Jorhat, and has been at the helm of district administration, companies, departments of the government and in 2020, appointed as Chief Secretary of Assam.

The webinar was well attended by around 150 staffs and students from the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The opening remarks were delivered by Professor Dr. Anindita Dasgupta, Head of School, School of Liberal Arts & Sciences who was also instrumental in communicating with the Chief Secretary’s office and arranging for this specific sharing session. The session was moderated by a first semester Business major from the American Degree Transfer Program, Maya Mason Kazel.

Mr. Jishnu Barua started the talk with a brief overview of the civil service in India, and highlighted its historical role especially during colonial times, further focusing the talk on the modifications in administrative structures and functions that have taken place with changing socio-economic priorities of the nation. Modest and rather calm in predisposition with a strong sense of patriotism for his country and state, Mr. Jishnu spoke passionately about the various types of leadership, using his own life and work experiences as references.

The audience was attentive and engaged throughout with many students coming forward to post questions to the speaker during the question-and-answer session. Mr. Jishnu was receptive to the questions posed and answered each one patiently. The sharing session ended on schedule with the audience gaining valuable insights on exemplary leadership exhibited by individuals committed to a career in public services, the corporate sector and civil service in general.

“Find your own calling and do not be influenced by others. Take initiative and don’t be influenced by some fad or fashion. Be unconcerned about immediate failures” Jishnu Barua, IAS

SOMAC Won First International Award for Best Public Relations Campaign in Asia Pacific Region

School of Media and Communication (SOMAC) proudly announces their first International Award for Best Campaign during the Public Relations and Communications Association of Asia Pacific (PRCA APAC) 2022 award ceremony held in Singapore. SOMAC has not only won the award for the University, but also for the country, Malaysia as the sole recipient for Best Student Public Relations Campaign in the Asia Pacific region. The award ceremony was held at Intercontinental Hotel, Singapore which was attended by the winning campaign’s Lecturer cum Advisor, Ms. G. Manickam Govindaraju.

The Best Campaign Award went to “Catch Up myGAP” which was organized by eleven (11) final year students of ‘ProPassion’, under the guidance of the Module Lecturer, Ms. G. Manickam Govindaraju, for the Department of Agriculture, Malaysia. This campaign aimed at bringing awareness on food safety to the public, especially to the younger generation in Malaysia.

Malaysian Good Agricultural Practice (myGAP) is a Malaysian version of United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s Good Agricultural Practice (GAP). The strategies included social media postings, pitching to digital media, and an online forum. The campaign optimized Facebook and Instagram as the platform to promote this campaign. On this platform, infographics, promotional videos, and a competition, entitled “MyPlate Challenge” were carried out. Judges for PRCA APAC 2022 commented that “MyPlate Challenge” was a brilliant strategy in achieving the objective of the campaign.

The School of Media and Communication extends their congratulations to the students involved in this campaign and to the supervising Lecturer, Ms. G. Manickam Govindaraju.

We are the Winners Again! Bachelor of Psychology Students Bagged 2 Awards at MAPSA 2022 Conference

Once again, Taylor's Bachelor of Psychology students won at the Malaysian Psychology Student Assembly (MAPSA) 2022 Conference. It's a conference conducted annually for all undergraduate and postgraduate Psychology students studying in Malaysia.

This year, the conference was held in hybrid mode and took place at University of Nottingham, Malaysia with the theme of ‘The Real-World Approach to Psychology’. 16 students from Taylor’s University Bachelor of Psychology programme participated this round presenting their research projects.

Leen Ahmed, a final year student, won the Best Presenter (Live) category for her research paper entitled ‘Predictors of Sexual Harassment Attitudes Towards Women’. Whereas, Natalia Yew Xin Yi, also a final year student, won Best Presenter (Online) category for her research paper entitled ‘Smartphone Addiction and Self-esteem as Predictor for Anxiety Symptoms amongst University Students in Malaysia’. The Bachelor of Psychology programme would like to congratulate the Lecturers for supervising and guiding the two students towards this success.

Bachelor of Psychology students from Taylor’s University have been winning awards every year at the MAPSA conference since their first participation in 2018 when Taylor’s students won the Best Professional Review Paper and Best Peer Review Paper. In 2019, Taylor’s students once again bagged both the Best Oral Presenter and Best Poster Presenter Award. The MAPSA conference did not take place in 2020 as we were all hit by the pandemic. In 2021, Taylor’s students held on to their winning streak and won the Best Paper. In 2022, this year, we won again!

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing”- Pelé.

Taylor’s University is driven towards a purpose-led and impact-driven education. In line with this, our students are inspired to pursue a project that is meaningful and impactful, guided by accordant supervisors, to ensure students design and conduct formidable research. Being selected as winners at conferences signifies the quality of Bachelor of Psychology students at Taylor’s University. They have shown, year after year, that they are indeed the best, not just among undergraduate student researchers but even among post-graduate student researchers. The Bachelor of Psychology Department at Taylor’s University is very proud of the achievements of both Leen Ahmed and Natalia Yew, and continues in its aspiration to nurture outstanding students.