Abstract: The School of Management and Information Systems at Victoria University Australian resides within the Business Faculty and has a range of Management and Information Systems degrees. In 2008 all degree programs in the Business Faculty introduced a compulsory generic graduate skills unit that focussed on problem-solving, critical thinking, communication and teamwork. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the challenges faced when delivering the generic graduate skills business unit into a Business degree at a Malaysian University College. Cultural, pedagogical, logistical, operational and student perceptions are some of the challenges that must be assuaged when introducing new units. This paper will present preliminary quantitative data to analyse and identify key classroom delivery challenges and facilitator/student qualitative data to provide context and a deeper understanding of the challenges. These challenges include; the need to customise programs into culturally different destinations, the need to find and train facilitators that could deliver the generic graduate skills-based activities, and the adoption of a team-based learning pedagogy with the commensurate difficulty this type of pedagogy engenders in a teaching culture that is heavily reliant upon the individual in its education system. Suggestions for improving learning outcomes are provided and include; the adoption of a team-based learning pedagogy; a focussed student assessment rationale and the development of a student lecturer trust relationship.

Keywords: Business education, Transnational Education, Graduate Skills, Implementation issues

Download this article: ISEDJ - V10 N4 Page 14.pdf

Recommended Citation: Stein, A., Licciardi, R. (2012). The Challenges of introducing a Generic Graduate Skills Unit into a Business Degree in Malaysia. Information Systems Education Journal, 10(4) pp 14-23. http://isedj.org/2012-10/ ISSN: 1545-679X. (A preliminary version appears in The Proceedings of ISECON 2011)