Are you a school leaver hoping to further your education by choosing a business course? Finding a business course can be a tricky process without the right guidelines and advice. Many students think they want to do business but have little idea what a business qualification actually is; explains Ms Loo, Program Leader for the business diplomas at
Online Degree College.
Regardless of the industry you work in or the company you work for, business skills are becoming more and more necessary in order to compete. Globalisation and modern technological advancements have redefined the way we conduct business. Today's businesses are more competitive, service-oriented and customer-focus. The need for good business skills therefore have become a pre-requisite for most employers. Business graduates have the added advantage of capitalizing on current industry trends to become better employed than their peers.
So what does studying business entails? A business course normally includes a host of core subjects such as management, marketing, accounting and finance, law, economics, statistics and information systems. These subjects provide the theoretical framework to understand the fundamentals of modern business activities. The strength of a business course is the fact that theories and concepts are learnt and students can then apply these to a number of different scenarios and industry types. That is why a business major is able to find jobs in many types of industry and in many different roles.
Students sometimes make the false assumptions that theory and practice are totally different that what happens in real life is not at all like what is ideally written in text books; Ms Loo continues. The truth is theories were derived from real life business experiences and many successful Fortune-SOO companies today continue to use theories in practice. The Online Degree College Business School believes that a good business student must first acquire a strong foundation in theories and concept first before he/she learn how to apply these theories into real life scenarios to understand, analyse, recommend improvements or find solutions to business problems. At the Online Degree College business department, diploma and degree students are often drilled on theories and concepts then practices what they have acquired with real life business cases. In a marketing class for instance, students compete in an Apprentice-style real life competition to come up with the best business idea and a marketing plan to sell this idea. The college then arranges for students to compete openly to start a business to sell their idea. In the process, the students learns how to integrate other business subjects like management, accounting, finance, human resource and so forth into the marketing component.
The department also puts a lot of emphasis on communication skills as an integral tool in teaching business. Students are given additional English subjects as part of their studies with an emphasis on business writing and presentation skills.
Despite a reputation of having a tough syllabi and difficult assessments, the Business Department is the largest school at Online Degree College and its popularity continues to grow. Many of its students come from referrals by existing students who are studying in the various diplomas and degree programmes at the school.
Many students refer their friends to study with us because we give them a good quality business diploma or degree. We don't take any short cuts with our teaching and often teach more than is required to ensure our students get the best opportunity to succeed/ explained Ms Loo. Talented students are groom to excel while weaker students are given individualized academic counseling and coaching to help them become better. The school has a motto that every student must be given a fair chance to learn and to excel. Our dean was previously from corporate management and came into the school with the firm conviction that the industry desperately requires knowledgeable and skilled graduates in business/ explains Ms Loo.
The school runs two diploma business courses in business administration and accounting and 3+0 business degrees in accounting, finance, marketing, management human resource management and logistics management from Murdoch University, Aust and Northumbria University, UK.
To enter a diploma course, students require at least 3 credits at SPM with a pass in BM, Maths and English. The diploma intake commences in January and February 2007.
Labels: Business Studies, College, education