2007 ~ 2012 |
A NEW CAMPUS AND THE BIRTH OF SASS
Many Good Moments and
Happy Memories
Prof. James Chin
With Professor Stepanie
Fahey (CEO Austrade)
at the Asia Institute
Tasmania (2018). ▶
Yeoh Seng Guan asked to note down my time in
SASS. All I can say is that I had a happy time in SASS
and I will always remember SASS fondly.
42
Monash
University
Malaysia
remains
the most
successful
example of
how branch
campuses
can work
– offering
high quality
education
away from
the home
country.
How did I end up as the first head of SASS?
The first time I heard that Monash Malaysia was
looking for a new Head of Arts was sometime in late
2007. A person rang me up and told me that there
was an interesting opportunity at Monash University
Malaysia. I remembered two things from the short
conversation: Monash University Malaysia was thinking
of establishing a Social Sciences school in Malaysia
and they were looking for a person who understood
how things work in both the Australian and Malaysian
university systems. He also mentioned about a
brand-new campus in Bandar Sunway. I was intrigued
that Monash University, already a big brand name
in Malaysia, was looking to expand its operations in
Malaysia into a full, stand-alone branch campus. Prior
to that, Monash University Malaysia was operating out
of the Sunway campus (site of the present Sunway
University) and sharing the facilities with Sunway
College. It was even more interesting to me that
Monash was willing to invest in a Social Sciences
school given that most foreign private institutions (then)
were more interested in courses like Business and
Engineering where the bulk of the students were.
An Arts degree was seen then as a niche market
with few Malaysian parents willing to pay for it.
In any case, after speaking to a few friends, I applied
for the job and was interviewed. The chair of the
selection committee was Robin Pollard, himself a
recent appointment as PVC for the Malaysian campus.
I am not sure how many candidates they interviewed
for the position but I was told immediately after the
interview that I got the job.
So I had a month before I would arrive at the new
campus in March 2008. The first person I met was
Pua Eng Chong, then the head of the School of
Arts and Sciences (the Arts programme was placed
together with the School of Science then). I remember
clearly what he said to me: ‘you don’t really need to
report to me as your job is to launch the new school’.
He was of course referring to the new School of Arts
and Social Sciences.
Naming Issue
Two things I had to deal with immediately was (1)
recruitment of the key administrative staff for the new
school and (2) the name of the school. I was lucky in
both.
A senior administrator from Nottingham Malaysia
applied for the position as SASS School Manager
and we were lucky to get her. She is still there after a
decade and holding the fort!
The second one was more tricky. Initially, they wanted
to name the school “School of Arts” to align it with
the Faculty of Arts in Australia. I knew immediately
this would create huge problems for us in Malaysia.
In this part of the world, when you tell people you
teach at the “School of Arts” they will likely be
thinking of the performing arts! I remember having
to fly down to Melbourne, meeting the Dean and
the Vice-Chancellor, and telling them that the only
name that is suitable for us is the “School of Arts and
Social Sciences”. They understood immediately and it
became a non-issue after that.