Rising to the challengeMDIS in the News
Rising to the challenge
An MBA programme at MDIS, awarded by the University of Sunderland, enables Ms Angelle Yong to enrich her learning.
WORKING in the banking industry for the past 20 years, Ms Angelle Yong has been educating customers on the importance of investment. Late last year, she decided it was time to invest in herself too.
Though she was past 40, she resigned from her job as senior assistant vice-president at OCBC Bank, a post she had held for seven years, and enrolled in a Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme at the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS). The MBA is awarded by the University of Sunderland, United Kingdom.
She says: “Since I started working, I had only focused on giving my best to my job. In the blink of an eye, I had already worked in the banking sector for more than 20 years.
“I looked back at my life and it dawned on me that I had simply been working and working; I felt a calling to take a break to renew and redefine myself.”
Ms Yong, who has a diploma in business administration from Singapore Polytechnic, was able to progress directly to an MBA, thanks to her years of relevant professional working experience.
The MBA part-time programme can be completed within 18 months.
Besides the programme Ms Yong is enrolled in, MDIS also offers two new MBAs — Master of Business Administration (Supply Chain Management) and Master of Business Administration (Human Resource Management). Both courses are also offered by the University of Sunderland.
Getting back on track
Her biggest challenge, she reckons, has been restarting her “learning engine”.
“I need to do it really fast and furious with the amount of research work to be done. But as it is my dream to further my studies, I love every bit of this mind-enriching experience and I am ready to challenge myself and stretch my limits,” she says.
The postgraduate course has given her higher management insight in managing an organisation, while the operations management module has further helped her understand how to manage operations in order to maximise resources and achieve continued growth.
“The course better equips me for a higher management role of planning and executing. An MBA gives me the added potential of getting a higher management role. I am confident I can put my specialisation to good use and contribute more to an organisation,” she adds.
Besides, the MBA brings Ms Yong a step closer to fulfilling her dream of teaching and helping others. She is exploring teaching as a career, starting with diploma levels.
She believes that with her years of working experience, she can contribute to a course by preparing students well for the real working world.
Ms Yong urges working adults to take time off their busy schedules to upgrade themselves should the opportunity arise.
She says: “Education helps open up more options for ourselves and makes us more knowledgeable to take on our life’s opportunities and challenges better. “It is a guaranteed worthwhile investment of a lifetime.”
Source: The Sunday Times, 1 July 2018 © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission. Click here to read the article.
