Dublin Business School (DBS) has embarked on its next stage of its international development by announcing a partnership with leading Malaysian College, Kolej Poly-Tech Mara (KPTM) in Malaysia. This will result in Malaysian students obtaining an Irish education award in Malaysia and a further opportunity to continue their studies in Ireland to complete a professional accountancy qualification. The announcement was made at the formal launch of the DBS BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance programme (awarded by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI)) at KPTM’s Bangi Campus in Malaysia which saw 175 students enrol on the programme.
DBS is part of Kaplan Inc., the education division of Graham Holdings Company. Since 1994, DBS has maintained an involvement in higher education and professional accountancy training in Malaysia and a strong relationship with Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) and has recruited many hundreds of MARA sponsored students to study in Ireland during this period.
Speaking at the launch of the programme, Gerry Muldowney CEO of DBS said, “This is an exciting development for DBS as well as for Ireland Inc. It underlines our commitment to developing the DBS brand internationally as well as underpinning the promotion of the higher education Ireland Inc. brand abroad. We look forward to developing many more collaborations globally like the one launched today in Malaysia”.
Chairman of KPTM, Mohd. Azis Jamman, said “This partnership represents a great opportunity for local students to continue their studies, and allows for Malaysian students to further their studies in Ireland. Programmes like the DBS BA (Hons) Accounting & Finance programme will help the students explore their interest in this field and also improve their employability skills”.
Also present at the launch were: Director of KPTM Bangi, Abdul Azmi Abdul Aziz, Irish Ambassador to Malaysia, Declan Kelly, CEO of Dublin Business School, Gerry Muldowney, CEO of Kaplan, United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland, Peter Houillon, and Vice President of Academic KPTM, Ismail Jusuh Mohd. Azis.
In May 2014, DBS underwent a successful Transnational QQI validation process both in Dublin, Ireland and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that saw the first transnational agreement of its kind under the new regulations of the Irish Government regulatory body, Qualifications and Quality Ireland (QQI). Subsequent to this, the programme underwent a successful programme validation that allows DBS launch its BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance degree programme in Malaysia. This validation event was attended by Irish Government regulators, Malaysian Government regulators, DBS and staff of KPTM College in Malaysia. The programme was validated by both QQI and MQA (Malaysian Government Quality Assurance Agency) for a period of five years. The 175 students on the programme which was launched today are all sponsored students of the Malaysian government.