Thank you, Monash University Malaysia

Assalamualaikum,

Hi, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I apologize for the late update, I’ve had the past one week to write about this but somehow never got around to actually doing it (partly because I was busy settling other things and catching up on some much needed sleep and just lazing around).

Anyhow. It’s been around a week, but I am now officially unemployed!

Yes, that’s right. Last Monday (July 30th) was my last working day as a Administrative Executive (Course Administration) at the School of Business, Monash University Malaysia. It’s been a good one year (July 10th, 2017 to July 30th, 2018), but life’s gotta move on and it’s time for me to bid farewell to my first ever full-time job (I’ll write more on where my life will take me to in a different post soon, once everything has settled down and confirmed).

Overall, I think I had a pretty good experience for my first job. I definitely consider myself lucky that I was able to get a job at Monash University Malaysia. Not only that it’s close to home (I live in Bukit Jelutong and Monash is in Bandar Sunway, so it’s around 30-40 minutes drive away), but the pay’s pretty good (personally, at least, for a fresh graduate like me) and the benefits are pretty okay (granted, some things can be improved, as always with any other companies, but overall it’s OK la, you win some you lose some, no?).

Best of all, I think this was a good opportunity for me to see and experience first-hand how student services and administration is from the university’s point of view. It is an insightful journey as I was able to see and take part (or sometimes even take charge) of how things go behind the scenes of a normal student’s life in university.

I’m not sure if anyone would be interested to know, but just in case anyone is curious about what I do or what my job required from me, as well as for my own personal references in the future (in case I forget, which I will most likely forget lol), here are just some of the things I did while I was at Monash University Malaysia as an Administrative Executive (Course Administration) [also known as Course Executive, or, if I want to say it in a general laymen and US-like term, an academic advisor].

Note in advance, especially for my non-Australian friends: Course here refers to the degree program (i.e. Bachelor of Business and Commerce at Monash University Malaysia), a major refers to the specialization that a student takes (i.e. Accountancy), and units refers to the subjects that the students need to take (i.e. Intro to Financial Accounting). This is counter-intuitive, especially for me as I came from a US background where a course refers to the subjects, but oh well.

1. Handle, organize and manage new students orientation for the School of Business – which includes (1) delivering the course advice session / enrolment information session where we brief the new students on their course structure, requirements to graduate, policies, etc, (2) enrolling the students into their units during the lab sessions.
2. Assessing applications for credit transfer students – which includes students transferring into the School of Business at Monash University Malaysia from (1) other courses within Monash University Malaysia itself (i.e. from Engineering to Business), (2) other courses under Monash (i.e. from the Monash College Diploma or Diploma in Higher Education) and (3) from other universities and/or colleges. 
3. Assessing applications for outbound exchange students – which includes both inter-campus exchanges (Malaysia campus students going to Australian campuses) and partner-university exchanges (going to partner universities like University of Warwick).
4. Course completions – which is going through students’ statements to ensure that they are on track for graduations and to confirm that they have completed all degree and non-degree (i.e. MPU) requirements to graduate.
5. Helping the Student Services in managing and compiling timetabling data and information from all departments within the School of Business.
6. Advising School of Business students with anything related to their course progression – which includes (1) what units to take in order to complete their major(s), (2) planning out their course map to ensure timely graduation, (3) what to do when they encounter any disturbance to their course progression (i.e. failed a unit, changing majors, having to take a semester off, etc), and other academic-related things.
7. Attending external and internal education fairs and advising potential students on the course structure and admissions requirements and procedures (though mostly on the course structure and majors offering, since anything admissions related we’d pass it to the Admissions Office).

So, yes, that’s pretty much a summary of what most of my time revolves around. Sure, there are things here and there that I need to do that relate to the office and overall administration of the School and Campus (like attending graduation, help organizing the best graduate award for the school, etc), as well as ad-hoc reports and assessments here and there.

Anyhow, this post has been going on for quite long, and I need to wrap it up for now. Overall, I think my first job at Monash University Malaysia was a pretty good opportunity and I’m definitely thankful for the colleagues and the experiences that I had. It was definitely an eye-opener for me to see how a Malaysian higher education institution works from the administration side, and gives me a first-hand experience in working with students and playing a role in their overall student experience in university.

That should be all for now. I’ll write again soon on where my life would be heading into, and catching up on my Fresh Grad 101 blog series. Until next time, stay awesome!