Speak up and be heard at Prasetiya Mulya institute
Speak up and be heard at Prasetiya Mulya institute
Money, or its pursuit, talks at most business schools. At
Prasetiya Mulya Business School, however, it is the students who
are encouraged -- even demanded -- to speak up and say what they
have in mind.
No more tongue-tied eggheads sitting passively as the faculty
member prattles away with his/her one-sided assessment of
concepts and paradigms. Search in vain for nervous nellies taking
root in dark corners of the room.
Befitting its prominence as the country's first business
school to offer an MBA degree, Prasetiya Mulya Business School
aims to graduate students who can think and express themselves in
the competitive business world.
At Prasetiya Mulya Business School, students have the freedom
to ask questions of their faculty members at any time. But the
requirement for such active class participation means that the
students must keep up with the reading assignments in order to
contribute.
Prasetiya Mulya Business School's 35-strong faculty, 90
percent of whom are graduated from foreign universities, stress
to the students the importance of participating in class
discussions.
Faculty members are not upset or feel offended when the
students ask a lot of questions, or even probing questions.
Freedom to participate, and doing away with the tradition of
intellectual kowtowing to authority, lends itself to a more
relaxed relationship between faculty members and students at
Prasetiya Mulya Business School.
Students and faculty members mingle on campus, even going out
together as a group for lunch or dinner. "It's a more democratic
climate than other universities," says one faculty member.
"Students can come to us at any time. They can even tell us
whether they like or dislike our teaching style. Like if we are
too slow or too fast. But the freedom to speak up takes some
getting used to for many Indonesian students."
There are some difficulties at first because the learning
paradigm in Indonesia is to listen and learn. But students at
Prasetiya Mulya know that they will not get many benefits from
their lesson if they do not participate.
An assessment of an applicant's ability to participate in
class discussions is included in the admissions process. In
classes, students are required to present their group
assignments, conduct business simulations and case discussions.
At the end of the program, the students are assigned into groups
and each group must prepare a business plan and pass the final
comprehensive exam before they are granted the MM degree.
The school is oriented to the practical application of
business concepts to situations in the workplace to help students
understand how to use their learning in the workplace.
Alumni vouch that it stands them in good stead for the
business world. They say that after starting a job, they realize
they obtained so much from the school, and they are not taken by
surprised by the demands of the work environment.
Prasetiya Mulya Business School, Jl. R.A. Kartini, Cilandak
Barat, Jakarta, 12430, Tel: 7500463/7657257, Fax:
7500460/7511125.