Sunway University College and Lancaster University get British Council Grant
Lancaster University Management School and Sunway University College (Sunway) have been awarded a PMI 2 grant by the British Council to assist with the introduction of three masters’ degrees in Malaysia.
In 2005, the British Prime Minister renewed his commitment to internationalizing UK education and the development of mutually beneficial partnerships with other countries through a second ‘Prime Minister’s Initiative’ (PMI 2). A part of the initiative is the awarding of competitive grants to encourage collaboration ‘to build world class education systems and institutions’. These PMI 2 grants are administered by the British Council and, at the initiative of Professor John Mackness of the Lancaster University Management School, a joint application was made for funds under the ‘Collaborative Programme Delivery Awards’ category. The submission was made to assist with the joint development of Masters degrees in Law and Management; Money, Banking & Finance; and Management at Sunway University College.
In the letter informing of the success of the joint application of grant worth £45,000 (approximately RM287,000), Suzanne Gardiner, PMI Project Delivery Officer at British Council, said “You will be interested to know that we received an overwhelming number of applications from the sector and the quality of the bids was extremely high. Each application was assessed by an Evaluation Panel made up of senior members of staff from universities and appropriate sector bodies”.
“This is an example of collaboration with a foreign university that goes way beyond the validation of degree courses and financial benefit for the foreign partner. It is a true partnership where the development of younger institution is a vital part of the affiliation,” said Professor Jarlath Ronayne, Vice-Chancellor of Sunway University College.
Professor Ronayne congratulated Professor Mackness for his wisdom in identifying an opportunity for collaboration and for preparing the application, and Professor Leong Yin Ching, Academic Advisor at Sunway, for speedily completing the Sunway side of the documentation.
“I now look forward to the introduction of our very first Masters degrees by coursework with our distinguished partner.” added Professor Ronayne.
Professor Mackness in an email correspondence remarked “‘We are delighted to win the PMI 2 funding award and the funding is a terrific help in getting the Masters Degree project off the ground. The funding will help with the travel and communications between ourselves and our Malaysian counterparts at Sunway University College. It means we can get a much better understanding of cultural and people issues before we start, which is essential for a strong partnership’.
According to Professor Mackness, Lancaster University has sent the documentation through QA procedures at the UK and they are concentrating their efforts on designing the courses with e-learning content. “This means putting our teachers together with ‘learning technologists’ who can advise how best to use technology in the teaching process” explained Professor Mackness. Uniquely at Sunway since September 2006, they have the full support of a first class UK university in establishing undergraduate and graduate degrees, and are now set to introduce Masters degrees with Lancaster University which has a business school that ranks in the top 4 in the UK after London Business School, Oxford and Cambridge.
In its affiliation with Lancaster University, Sunway currently offers undergraduate studies in Accounting and Finance, Business Management, Business Studies, Information Systems, Information Technology, Multimedia Systems, Hospitality Management, Tourism Management and Psychology.
Leave a Response