Ali Shafiq

My experience at Taylor's University Malaysia is nothing short of being amazing! The two years so far at Taylor's University have given me immense learning at professional and personal levels. It is a pure example of how lean and agile organizations should work, that has inculcated in me time management, short and long term planning, quick decision making, and efficient and effective use of information technology.

Further, being exposed to a multicultural, multi-racial, and multi-religious organization imbued in me characteristics like tolerance, patience, empathy, and rationality.

As a lecturer, I am designated to teach a maximum of 18 hours per week to final year undergraduate students. These students represent the dual-degree award program between Taylor’s University and University of West of England. Pursuant with this, developing module lectures, assignments, exam papers, and subsequent marking and reporting comprises major part of this job. All of this requires strict adherence to program standards and timeline set by both the universities.

My job here also requires me to produce scholarly research in reputable journals and conferences. The results are promising as during my brief experience with Taylor's University I have published/presented 7 research papers. I have also won a research grant worth RM16, 500 for a period of 18 months.

My job at Taylor's University also requires me to supervise undergraduate students in their Final Year Project. This demands strict monitoring of students' performance against the timeline. It also needs a good control over quality of students' work. While the actual number varied, the average number of students per semester was about 5.

In short, it has been a very enriching experience.

This job was hybrid in nature - on one hand I was a lecturer who taught undergraduates of business administration 3 credit hours, while on the other hand I was still a postgraduate student pursuing PhD.

At this job I worked directly under Deputy Dean for Academic affairs, which required strict compliance to formal procedures and quality standards. Delegating class assignments, administering class quizzes, and conducting exams were the usual tasks in any given week at this job.

However, the unusual experience for me was interacting with international students of various ethnicity with an even more variety of dialects. This involved skillful use of vocabulary that was understandable at the median level. Moreover, the classroom discussions improved my cross-cultural skills and increased my knowledge.

Responsibilities:

My prime responsibility included delivering 9 credit hours of lectures to under/graduate students. Preparing course curriculum and exam papers were also included in my professional duties. I was assigned a multitude of courses at CIIT. Among my favorites were marketing management, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, introduction to management, HRM, and cross-cultural management. I also taught microeconomics as an additional course.

Besides academics, I also acted as an Advisor to students. This involved dealing with students' issue regarding course taking, projects, and other similar matter. I was also a member of Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) report preparation and compilation committee. QEC works in tandem Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan for streamlining the curriculum across Pakistan's higher education institutes.

Experience gained:

At CIIT, Pakistan, I was the pioneer and faculty advisor for its ad-making club, which provided a platform for students to help CIIT in its marketing campaign.

At the same job, I was an active member of Management Concepts and Cases (MCC). It is a seminar-based society which brings brilliant researchers of Pakistan under one roof to share their knowledge.

These experiences not only made me develop my communication skills, but also improved my short-team handling abilities.

Responsibilities:

In this capacity I delivered 9 credit hours of lectures to undergraduate business students and prepared the respective course curricula and exam papers. I taught a variety of course at this position, including principles of marketing, consumer behavior, entrepreneurship, fundamentals of management, HRM, organizational behavior, sociology, and psychology.

I also efficiently performed various departmental duties including; student advisory, Final Year Project coordination, preparing and managing timetable, and handling students’ transfer/migration cases. These tasks, on the face appear trivial, but in actual are the pin holding the department intact.

Experience gained:

At NUCES Pakistan, I was the faculty advisor of Ad-Making at NUTEC - the biggest multidimensional extravaganza of the state. Recognizing my creative potential, I was always assigned tasks of similar nature. I designed graduates’ directory and invitation cards for the Convocation for NUCES, Pakistan. Time and again, I also designed billboards, banners, and other promotional material for the university.

I was a fresh graduate when I joined this profession and I had the whole world in front of me to learn. This job gave me so much to learn - communication skills to pressure handling, confidence to negotiation.