Nilai University signed MoU with MAICSA to offer students a career pathway to become Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.
“A Chartered Secretary is a highly trained and competent corporate professional with a diverse set of skills uniquely crafted to work with a company’s Board of Directors and the management team of a company. They specialise in corporate law and practices, corporate finance, corporate governance and corporate secretarial practice,” explained Peter Lim Thiam Kee FCIS, President of The Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (MAICSA). He pointed out that many people misconceive company secretaries as personal assistants or private secretaries.
He highlighted that as of December 2011, there were 972,500 companies being incorporated with the Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia and only 4000 Chartered Secretaries providing the professional secretarial services in Malaysia. It is a mandatory requirement for all companies to have a company secretary under the existing provision of the Companies Act, 1965. “The registration of a company can only be done by any professionally qualified person and members of MAICSA fall within that category. Thus, the profession is in very high demand,” said Peter Lim.
(L-R) Prof Emeritus Tengku Dato’ Shamsul Bahrin (Nilai U President) exchanges documents with Peter Lim Thiam Kee (MAICSA President) during the MoU signing ceremony.
He was speaking after signing a MoU with Nilai University (Nilai U). The MoU is the latest in a series of moves designed to give Nilai U students a cutting edge in the job market by providing students with professional certification. In this tie up with MAICSA, students from Nilai U’s Diploma in Business Administration will be entitled to an exemption of 6 papers for the Professional Diploma in Corporate Administration (PDCA) programme awarded by MAICSA. Students who wish to obtain the PDCA will only need to complete two papers i.e. ‘Corporate Compliance and Practice’ and ‘Law and Practice of Meetings’ during the fourth semester of their Diploma in Business Administration programme.
In the pipeline and awaiting approval from the management of the respective organisations, Nilai U will apply to MAICSA for further exemptions to enable Nilai U’s degree students to sit for MAICSA’s International Qualifying Scheme Examination programme i.e. degree from Nilai U’s BA (Hons) in Accounting and Finance and business related degree programmes. Related degree holders (i.e. Accounting, business, law and finance) could expect further exemptions from ICSA International Qualifying Scheme (IQS) Professional Part 1 programme and will be required to complete IQS Professional Part II programme to be eligible for full membership of ICSA. (Further information of the programme can be obtained from www.maicsa.org.my)
“The main benefit of gaining the prestigious Chartered Secretary qualification is that MAICSA is the premier professional secretarial body recognised by the Government and its members are qualified to become Company Secretaries, a position defined and required by legislation,” explained Peter Lim, citing Section 139A of the Companies Act 1965. “Company secretaries are crucial to the running of any organisation and their expertise in areas such as law and practice of meetings, corporate governance, corporate administration, compliance requirements pursuant to the Companies Act 1965 and entrepreneurship that would enable them to provide competent corporate secretarial services and sound corporate advice to the Board of Directors,” he adds.
ACIS qualification is recognised by the Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) as equivalent to an Honours degree from local universities whilst the Graduate ICSA is recognised as equivalent to a General Degree. Upon completion of the ICSA programme, students will be awarded Graduate ICSA. Graduate ICSA holders with a minimum of three years’ of relevant working experience will be eligible for advancement to Associates category and use the designation ACIS. Fellowship is the senior grade of membership. Associates are eligible to apply for advancement to Fellowship and use the designation FCIS. They must have at least eight years of relevant working experience, out of which three years must be at senior management position.
Having the FCIS and ACIS membership is an indication to prospective employers that a person has passed all the relevant examinations and has sufficient working experience to be part of any local and international organizations. MAICSA was founded in 1959 and is a Division of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, United Kingdom (UK). The UK body was formed in 1891 and has 36,000 members and 22,000 registered students worldwide. Only MAICSA members can describe themselves as Chartered Secretaries. “MAICSA is the premier professional body for corporate secretaryship in Malaysia. Approximately 60% of public listed companies chose MAICSA members to provide corporate advisory services to their board,” said Peter Lim.
Nilai U’ is also working with MAICSA for a Collaborative Masters programme. There are also plans to make Nilai U an accredited Continuing Professional Education and Examination centre. These internationally-recognised qualifications will be a boon to students to pursue a lucrative career and making them highly sought-after professionals, globally.
Besides academic knowledge, Nilai U believes in giving students an added competitive edge with professional certification from relevant organisations. MAICSA is the latest organisation to lend its considerable weight to Nilai U’s efforts in giving its graduates rewarding career options. On record, Nilai U has signed MoUs with Gribbles Pathology, Malaysian Food and Beverage Association and the Institute of Chartered Accountant in England and Wales among many others. For more information, please go to www.nilai.edu.my or call 06-8502338 / 03-79603089 / 07-2262336 / 088-238811.
