Dr Halpin’s (centre) vast experience adds value to the MBT programme. 

There is no greater pull factor for a masters degree programme as one that is conducted by a stellar, world-class faculty. At INTI University College (INTI-UC) in Nilai, its Masters in Business Information Technology (MBT) is such a programme.

INTI’s attitude to higher education is simple and, guided by its ‘Enrolment to Employment’ philosophy, dictates that every academic programme offered here is career-focused to boost the employability of its graduates. In fact, INTI’s clients are not the students who walk through its doors, but the prospective employers who will hire them. To create these elite graduates with a competitive edge, INTI focuses also on the quality of its faculty, more specifically, a faculty with vast industry experience who understands the unique demands of the workplace.

Professors Dr. Terry Halpin and Dr. Tony Morgan are the epitome of INTI’s commitment to its philosophy. Together, they not only developed the MBT programme, but bring over 70 years of experience in industry and academia as specialists in computer science and information technology, or more precisely, information or data modelling technology. The programme, which kicked off in January this year, has received rave reviews from its students, two of whom have relocated to Malaysia from the United States for the sole purpose of learning under Dr. Halpin and Dr. Morgan.

Prior to INTI-UC, both professors taught computer science at Neumont University in Utah before undertaking Laureate International Universities’ initiative to set up the MBT programme at INTI-UC. Neumont and INTI Education Group are part of Laureate International Universities, the largest group of private colleges and universities in the world, spanning 20 countries.

As industry specialists who have worked as developers, designers, consultants and researchers with international conglomerates and national agencies, the professors came to realize that the practical skills and knowledge in combining business and information technology was a much-needed area of focus and development for successful implementation of technology for a successful and efficient business. Basically, the goal is to bridge the gap between business and the actual programmers who code up actual information systems.

“There is something about the way we develop software that is highly error-prone and we have some strongly-held ideas that clearly do not work,” says Dr. Morgan, who hails from the UK. “Therefore, this has been a long-running interest of ours, to find a better of way doing things to increase the likelihood of success.” So why does so much software development go wrong?  He explains simply, “The technical people don’t understand business, and the business people don’t understand the technology.” Dr. Morgan has also worked for numerous software development companies including EDS and Unisys, and has had a long-term working relationship with the UK Department of Trade and Industry.
 

Dr. Halpin reveals that after years of working in the industry, he had realized what was needed in the workplace was very different from what he was teaching. “Students were not properly prepared after graduating, resulting in companies having to spend lots of time and money training them. This challenged the way I taught,” adds Dr. Halpin, who is also a former professor of Computer Science at the University of Queensland in Australia where he is originally from. Dr. Halpin was the concept designer of NORMA (Natural ORM Architect), an open source modelling tool for Microsoft Visual Studio and has worked with companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, BHP Pty. Ltd. and Infomodelers. He continues to have a working relationship with the European Space Agency and computer programming company, LogicBlox. To date, he has written six books and over 160 technical publications, and has received two awards from Data Management International (DAMA International) and the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP).   

Through his connections with LogicBlox and with the professors’ practical knowledge of the industry, Dr. Halpin believes the programme’s “problem-based learning” curriculum will greatly benefit the students in terms of gaining industry experience even before they graduate. Currently, IBM is the programme’s industry partner, providing real-world problems to students to solve through their coursework, 50 percent of which is spent working on industry projects that include problem-solving, writing technical papers and presenting seminars. Dr. Halpin also reveals LogicBlox’s interest in offering projects to students of the programme.

The MBT programme is currently a one-year, full time course, with two intakes per year. Its next intake is July 2010.

INTI-UC is a member of the INTI Education Group, which in turn is a part of Laureate International Universities – the world’s largest private education network with a presence in over 23 countries, with more than 43 accredited universities and 130 campuses, serving over 600,000 students globally.

For more information on INTI-UC and the MBT programme, call 1300-88-4684 or visit www.newinti.edu.my.