UniSey launches new degree programme |26 January 2016

The University of Seychelles (UniSey) has launched a brand new programme – Masters in Business Administration (MBA) – in collaboration with the University of the West of Scotland (UWS).

The degree programme was officially launched yesterday by the vice-chancellor of the UWS, Professor Craig Mahoney, in a ceremony at the International Conference Centre. 

The first cohort of 18 students started the programme yesterday and the second and third batches will start in May 2016 and September 2016 respectively.

“This is another big achievement for UniSey and it is a very important day for us. This MBA degree will offer opportunities for graduates to achieve higher level in their professional lives and where management is part of their everyday experience. It will also assist the nation in the development of capacity. For our first intake, we brought together people from different fields and together they will go through the challenges of this course and the end product will be for Seychelles to have a strong cohort of future managers,” said the vice-chancellor of the UniSey, Professor Dennis Hardy.

Talking about the choice of the university to partner with UniSey, Prof. Hardy said the UniSey wanted to find a good match.

“We got proposals from various universities. One criterion was clearly to seek for a well regarded programme and also a partner who would listen to our needs. And now we are happy that we finally started the MBA programme for our local students,” Prof. Hardy said.

The British high commissioner, Caron Röhsler, noted that this course will enhance the development of professional business practices in Seychelles and increase the potential for young entrepreneurs to succeed here and internationally.

“Big businesses here, whether foreign or local, need employees who are well-versed in modern business practices. At the moment, many investors in Seychelles bring in foreign staff to fulfill this need, or have to develop their local staff themselves to attain the high standards required. I am sure their eyes will light up when they see job applicants whose CVs list an MBA from UniSey, especially one with global recognition for its quality,” said Ms Röhsler.

She further noted that this partnership with the UWS reinforces at the tertiary level the strong educational links that already exist between Britain and Seychelles.

“UWS is relatively young having attained university status in 2007, but it has experience in tertiary education dating back to 1897. Both the UniSey and UWS share a similar vision to have a transformational influence on the economic, social and cultural development of their local communities. I encourage young Seychellois to seriously consider taking this course, and I look forward to seeing the first UniSey MBA students graduate,” said the British high commissioner.

Professor Mahoney said he was pleased to be associated with the Seychelles.

“Our aspiration is to create a global brand and we are happy to have Seychelles as partners. Having an MBA signifies that you have a licence for more opportunities. We hope that our partnership will bring more fruits and we will see what the way forward from now is,” he added.

The director of the MBA degree, associate Professor Anthony Lowe, shared that before introducing this degree in Seychelles, they conducted some focus groups to see where the need is.

“We will start with three majors: Entrepreneurship, Health Management and Finance. We will introduce further majors according to the demands. Our ambition is as from next year to recruit international students,” he said.

One of the students, Beryl Pillay, a journalist for 20 years who decided to change her field of work two years ago, said an MBA course will give her more knowledge and skills for her personal career path.

“It’s been so long since I completed my last studies and I am all excited to be back on the bench,” she said.

Another student Jean Malbrook, who is currently the director of international cooperation at the Ministry of Health, said he has never done any studies in health and with this degree he will be able to learn more on how to manage health.

“I seized the opportunity as soon as I saw this course advertised in the media and I am also very excited to learn new things coming my way,” he said

Currently UniSey is recruiting for the May 2016 batch and the course is either one year full-time or two years part-time with three semesters per calendar year. The total course fee is R156,000.