19th Management Committee of NUS Bizad Club

The NUS Students' Business Club announced the formation of its 19th Management Committee on 15 September.

Don Wong, President of the 18th Management Committee, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the dean, professors, and the various departments of the School for their support and guidance during his and his team’s term in office.

Said Don, “Many of our projects and events, such as Rag and Flag 2005, would not have been possible if not for the strong support that we received from everyone.”

We all look forward to the leadership of the new management committee in sustaining the vibrant student life at NUS Business School.

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MBA Class' multicultural celebration on International Day

Given that the NUS MBA Program is made up of a grouping of students from over 20 cultures and backgrounds, International Day gave everyone an opportunity to get to know one another’s cultures.

It was evening of fun, frolic and lots of beer. Talent also flowed freely as performances after performances unfolded throughout the evening. The evening started with a Tamil song, followed by a performance by our in-house “rock star”, Rahul Tadimala, and lots of song and dance put up by students of nationalities ranging from Chinese, Indian, Korean, to Danish, English, Israeli, and Norwegian.

The highlight of the evening was two songs sung by an Indian and an Israeli student in each other’s national language, demonstrating that cultural, language and national barriers can be overcome in the NUS MBA Program. The multicultural facet of the evening was foregrounded again when a cross-section of students, their spouses and professors took part in an impromptu “bhangra” dance performance.

Organised by the MBA Club, the evening brought the whole MBA community together as one big happy family.

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Marketing Stars' Night, a playground for Marketing professors and students

Two hundred students, alumni, staff and their spouses attended Marketing Stars’ Night (MSN) 2005 held on 15 September at Club Momo.

On that night, the students mingled freely with the professors, who entertained them with dance items they had practised hard for. The students also joined their professors in a sides-splitting skit and dance performance.

Students then pitted their skills against their professors in hilarious games of arm wrestling and balloon-stepping. Some lucky students walked away with lucky draw prizes such as a personal computer, and even air tickets.

Said an exchange student from the United States: “The atmosphere here is amazing. Students and staff enjoying themselves in games and interacting outside the classroom. You will not find something like this at my university. The closest thing to it would be a semi-formal dinner with our professors.”

Marketing First Committee, which was formed in 2002 with the aim of strengthening ties between marketing students and their lecturers, organised the annual MSN. The event was fully sponsored by the Marketing Department for students majoring in marketing.

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Overwhelming turnout for talks point to BBA undergraduates' interest in banking careers

Careers in a bank
In the second of a series of talks on “Financial Services in Singapore: Careers and Challenges”, organised by Saw Centre for Financial Studies and the Institute of Banking and Finance on 7 September, Mr Terry Lee, Executive Director of ACI Singapore - The Financial Markets Association, spoke to more than 250 NUS undergraduates on careers in banking.

Mr Lee gave a comprehensive overview of the various positions in a bank, from trading in the front office, to middle and back-end office positions in the areas of risk management, advisory and operations. He addressed the possibilities for lateral movements between a bank's offices, which were of particular interest to the audience. Mr Lee also gave a useful description of the skills and experiences that appeal to employers in the banking industry. These include having strong backgrounds in financial engineering, mathematics and statistics.

Wealth management sector in Asia
Mr Henk de Glint, Deputy Managing Director of MeesPierson Asia, gave the last of the Saw Centre talks on finance careers on 14 September. MeesPierson has presence in 19 countries and is among the best in the world in tax guidance, equities portfolio management and succession planning services. Mr Glint shared that the company's recruitment philosophy "hire for attitude, train for skills" puts new employees on intensive training upon recruitment.

Mr Glint also provided insights into the development of the wealth management sector in Asia, which is growing exponentially due to the increasing affluence of Asians and the inflow of wealth from Europe. As a result, the demand for relationship managers now exceeds supply in the region.

Mr Glint differentiated between the generalist and specialist career paths for fresh graduates. A fresh graduate can start off a career specialising in areas such as risk assessment, investment support, legal compliance or trust and estate planning. After gaining sufficient knowledge and experience, he or she can then switch to private banking and pursue a generalist career path henceforth.

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