As one inspirational speaker I met recently says, winners don’t do different things, they do things differently. Adaikalam’s story is about that, doing things differently. That’s why success has chosen to be his constant companion. His tryst with education began in the early 1980s, and since then there have been many firsts. Armed with an accountancy degree (thereafter he completed a postgraduate degree from Edinburgh Business School in Scotland), Adaikalam started out from a two-room learning centre and set about imparting the skills of A level accounting and mathematics to about 80 students. Then slowly, but very sure-footedly, he expanded by starting the first home-tuition services to about 200 students in the Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley areas. He established this service as the market was flooded with unemployed graduates whom he would later employ and send out to homes that needed such services. Value-addition followed by developing a proper monitoring system and supplying appropriate teaching materials.
In the early 1980s the private higher education system in Malaysia was non-existent and it was a tough time for edupreneurs like Adaikalam since people were not used to the idea of going to private colleges to pursue degree courses. But Adaikalam persisted. Those were initial, yet heady, days built around one man’s dreams, and hopes. By 1989 Binary Business School, the country’s first specialist business and IT school, was instituted. Adaikalam, only 26 years at the time, knew that he was poised on the edge of something far bigger, especially since he was not the stereo-typical accountant... quite to the contrary, he was innovative, creative as well as a good communicator, and writer.
“At the time what we offered were essentially twinning and professional under-graduate programmes from the United Kingdom and Australia and the demand kept growing,” he told INDIA EMPIRE at his Kuala Lumpur office. Yet, not all was rosy. “Every Ringgit earned in profit had to be ploughed back into the institution as it was extremely difficult in the 1980s for educational institutions to secure bank loans since the private education sector was in its infancy.”
In the initial five years, ninety nine per cent of the students were Chinese, there were hardly any Malays, and only 1 per cent Indian students in his college. So he introduced a programme to bring about a truly Malaysian institution to integrate the three races. He gave out scholarships worth more than RM 39 Million to the Malays and Indians who could not afford private education. The strategy worked. By 1999, 37% of the students were Malay, Indians had grown to 12% and the Chinese now made up 45 per cent. The remainder were international students. He sacrificed his earnings to build a truly Malaysian institution but it brought him a lot of happiness. “I was able to do good for our nation,” recalls Adaikalam who incidentally was born on Malaysia’s National Day!!!!.
A decade into its operations, in 1994, Binary became the first private college approved by the Ministry of Education to offer Masters programmes. That meant that Binary was offering the MBA, and along with the Masters of Science in Information Technology and the Masters of Computer-Based Information Systems programmes for both computing and non-computing graduates. And in 1998, the Government chose 10 out of 700 colleges to offer the 3+0 programmes. These are programmes where British and Australian degrees are carried out fully in Malaysia. Binary was in the first group of 10 colleges that was chosen and Adaikalam became the only one PIO to be granted such a licence. This was the turning point for Binary.
Ever since, the post graduate programmes have run smoothly. Besides, the under graduate programmes have run for more than two decades now at the Puchong, Selangor campus. And one measure of the success is the scholarships that are given out to students. Noteworthily, Binary, since 1989, has given away more than RM 39 million by way of scholarships to the Malay community, RM 2.8 million to the Chinese community and another RM 4.5 million by way of the Binary – MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress) President’s scholarships. And after the upgrading in 2004 to a university, the institution came to be known as the Binary University College.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: 1. You can judge a man by the company he keeps, Adaikalam is seen with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak; 2. sharing a toast with former Philippines President Fidel V. Ramos; 3. being congratulated by former Malaysian Minister for Higher Education Dato Shafie; 4. awarding the Best Binary MBA student award alongside Malaysian Minister for International Trade Dato Seri Rafidah Aziz; 5. With current Prime Minister of East Timor Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão
Top Campus
Binary University College is housed in a 7 floor building that consists of 32 classrooms, 10 computer laboratories, a language laboratory (especially designed for international students who need to be more proficient in English) and other facilities such as the digital library, gymnasium, jamming studio etc. The million dollar SUN and IBM laboratories not just help students absorb the latest, they also attract top companies to recruit pass-outs. Add to it Binary’s excellent research and development centre with full-time faculty, it instantly catapults Binary to a league of its own. Little wonder then that this ISO-9000 institution has won a very laudable 36 first world awards in business programmes and has brought home the prestigious Kris Asia Pacific Honesty Enterprise Award.
For the students, Binary is a place to explore. Apart from jogging their minds constantly to think ahead, and think differently, the students are able to look after their bodies in a state-of-the art gymnasium. About 65 per cent of the student population is from outside Selangor, they come from various parts of Malaysia and other parts of the world. A fleet of male and female counsellors work on students’ needs, including their accommodation that is available within a five minute walk from the main building. Students find it extremely convenient to live on campus, given the pleasing surroundings and ambience, and several recreational facilities including numerous shopping malls (including the TESCO hypermarket), a wide range of eateries, banks and clinics. There is even a classy badminton centre ( Malaysia sets high standards in world badminton) with 22 courts about 10 minutes away from Binary.
Management, IT and Entrepreneurship remain the key focus. Binary and its vice chancellor are certain that the world needs more entrepreneurs and ISP graduates. It’s simple, entrepreneurs create jobs, and wealth for the nation. They are the backbone of any economic resurgence and upswing. But traditionally, entrepreneurs are not trained, they follow routes that can turn out to be costly. Binary wants to set this trend right.
USP is ISP
This is what makes Adaikalam beam broadly, the institution’s USP lies in its focus to produce ISP graduates—the world’s first Industry Specialist Professional graduates. ISP is about producing graduates with a highly specialized knowledge for a particular industry, and hence employment is almost guaranteed. Throughout the post graduate and undergraduate programmes, the lecturers (Binary has two sets of lecturers, a Faculty of Academic Professionals and a Faculty of Industry Professionals) constantly keep students alert to the ISP modules.
MADE FOR EACH OTHER: Adaikalam made his mark and came into the limelight during the tenure of former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir, the longest serving elected Asian leader
Quality takes precedence over anything else, and Binary’s philosophy is clear, they would deliver less of more, and more of less. That means, focusing on a few things, but providing extensive training in order for students to become valuable to employers or to become successful entrepreneurs one day. In the specially developed programmes, students do in-depth study of the industry they opt for, besides basic business subjects like finance, marketing, HR and economics.
So if a student has chosen to specialise in the logistic industry, he needs to understand how a logistic company works. Ditto for banking, finance. They become conversant with the major players in the industry, the associations that they are a part of, are familiarized with Government policies, agencies and laws that are relevant to the industry. They even have to understand the position of the industry regionally. Students from South East Asia look at ASEAN, those from the Middle East at from the Gulf states’ view point, whereas those from Africa, for instance, look at the AEC point of view.
“What we teach here is really unique, something that is hardly taught in most universities but this is what the industry wants globally and we want our students to go out and start working armed with exactly the way the industry wants them to work. Hence, there is no gestation period as they are already trained during their course. As a PIO, I can say that we are producing a new breed of management, IT graduates and entrepreneurs. As a consequence we are becoming a force to reckon in Asia,” says Adaikalam.
As a specialist institution, therefore, Binary is very focused. The years of fine tuning its course strategy has paid rich dividends, the world’s top IT companies like IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and SAP have made alliances with Binary, making it the only educational institution in Malaysia with such prestigious tie-ups. Now, the University is on expansion mode, and looking beyond the horizons for partners within Asia, especially in China , India and Africa . Adaikalam himself is a frequent and high-profile traveller, and is an integral part of the Prime Ministerial business delegations that visit countries across the world, marketing Malaysia and all its excellence. Recent trips have taken him to Namibia, India, China, Italy, Bosnia, Germany, Uganda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Qatar, Oman and United Kingdom to name a few.
“All programmes here are catered to meet the needs of the employers. We don’t just confer a degree because employers today want beyond academic,” says the vice chancellor with a glint in his eye. He adds, “With the liberalisation of higher education, now there are more degree holders and the employers can be very, very selective. For instance, if 1,000 graduates apply for 10 job vacancies, it would be those with the extra capability, the extra edge that would land the job. Unfortunately not many students think about employers needs and wants when enrolling for a degree or masters. Many opt for the easy, cheap and fast routes to just earn an academic qualification,” he adds.
The benefit of being an ISP graduate works both ways, for the employers and the passing out students. For the former, it’s a bit like a plug-and-play situation. The students are industry trained, they have had hands-on training and lectures, and the employers are happy to see them bring results from day one.
Finally, the man himself leads by example. Datuk Professor Joseph Adaikalam has been a director of the Business Ethics Institute for several years. He is a corporate member of several professional bodies among which includes the Malaysian Associated Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MAICCI), the Malaysia-Turkey Business Council, the Malaysia - India CEO Council, ASLI CEO Council, ISIS and the Malaysia-China Friendship Association. He also is the chair for the Binary-MIC Scholarship Fund, Binary-KBSS Scholarship Fund and the Binary-Pemuda UMNO Scholarship Fund. He is also Charter President of Kiwanis International (Putrajaya Division).
Adaikalam has also received numerous awards both locally and internationally which include the Asia Pacific e-Entrepreneur of the Year award for Leadership Excellence, the MAICCI Entrepreneur, the GOPIO Excellence Award, the Enterprise 50 Award among many others. For his contributions to society and mankind in 2007 he was awarded the honorific title of “Datuk” by His Royal Highness the Sultan of Negeri Sembilan, the state where Adaikalam was born.
With such distinctions, and feathers, it isn’t a surprise that Binary is where it is today. Truly at the top of management education in Malaysia, and a world class institute that promises to go from strength to strength. Former American President John F Kennedy once famously remarked that leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. Either way you look at it, Binary is allowing its industrious students community to do exactly that—to learn and be leaders. You could thank one Joseph Adaikalam for that.
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