ABEST21 e-News
No.114, April-June 2021
ABEST21 International
THE ALLIANCE ON BUSINESS EDUCATION AND SCHOLARSHIP FOR TOMORROW,
a 21st century organization

TEL. +81-3-3498-6220

FAX. +81-3-3498-6221

Editor: ITOH Fumio“Due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have conducted all meetings online for avoiding
the so-called “Three Cs” -- Closed places with poor ventilation, Crowded places and conversationsin Close proximity.”eNews No.114 : Contents＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝I.

ABEST21 Office Report (p.2)
・Business activities during the period from April to June 2021

II.

ABEST21 Note for Tomorrow-No.47 (p.3)
・“Improving the Quality of Online Lectures”

III. General Information(p.5)

・Obituary - Professor Dr. AAhad M. Osman-Gani
・Holding of PRT Training Seminar

IV.

Membership (p.7)
・Introduction of the new member representatives

V.

Quality Assurance-“Assessing Today for Tomorrow” (p.10)
・Holding of Online ABEST21 Accreditation Seminar
・Holding of Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony

VI.

Quality Improvement -“KAIZEN for Tomorrow” (p.22)
・Holding of Online KAIZEN Award-granting Ceremony
・Holding of Online Workshop for “Assuring the Quality of the Online Lectures”

VII. Quality Enhancement -“Enriching Global Knowledge Network forTomorrow” (p.30)
・Holding of Online International Symposium “Humanizing Management Education for
Sustainable Economic Development in Asia-Pacific”
・Holding of the 38th meeting of Japan Council for Nurturing Global Management Professionals

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I. ABEST21 Office Report＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
April
・21st : Conducting the 6th Online Workshop for Assuring the Quality of the online Education
May・07th : Holding Preparatory Meeting for Japan Seminar with JICA
・13th : Holding the 38th meeting of The Council for Human Resource Development：Conducting Online QIS Seminarth: Conducting Online QIS Seminar
・17
th
・18
: Conducting Online KZR Seminarth: Holding the preliminary meeting with Panelists of Panel Discussion of the Online
・19
International Symposiumth: Conducting the 7th Online Workshop for Assuring the Quality of the online Education
・20
・25th : Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for GSM-Kyoto
University, Japan: Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for FEB-Universitas
Airlangga, Indonesia
・26th : Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for SEB-Universitas
Telkom, Indonesia: Conducting the Online KAIZEN Award-granting Ceremony for FBS-Universitas Surabaya,
Indonesia: Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for FEB-Universitas
Jenderal Soedirman, Indonesia: Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for FE-Universitas Islam
Sultan Agung, Indonesia
th・27: Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for PPM School ofManagement, Indonesia: Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for FEB-Universitas
Bengkulu, Indonesiath: Conducting Online QIS Seminar
・28
st
・31
: Conducting Online KZR SeminarJune
・01st ：Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for SB-IPB University,
Indonesia：Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for FEB-Universitas
Udayana, Indonesia：Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for FBE-Universitas
Isalam Indonesia, Indonesiand：Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for FBMPS-Management・02& Science University, Malaysia：Conducting the Online KAIZEN Award-granting Ceremony for SBI Graduate School, Japan2

・08th ：Conducting the Online KAIZEN Award-granting Ceremony for FEB-Universitas Indonesia,
Indonesia：Conducting the Online KAIZEN Award-granting Ceremony for SBM-Insitut Teknologi
Bandung, Indonesia
th・09 ：Conducting the Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony for FAM/FBF-Universiti
Tubku Abdul Rahman, Malaysiath・10 ：Holding the Online International Symposium “Humanizing Management Education for
Sustainable Economic Development in Asia-Pacific”
th・17 ：Conducting the 8th Online Workshop for Assuring the Quality of the online Education
・18th ：Holding the ABEST21Management Committee meeting・23rd ：Holding Preparatory Meeting for Japan Seminar - ”Gaining new Powers to create Japan for
Tomorrow”
th
・25 ：Holding Preparatory Meeting for Japan Seminar - ”Gaining new Powers to create Japan for
Tomorrow”

II. ABEST21 Note for Tomorrow-No.47＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝“Improving the Quality of Online Lectures”
ABEST21 President, ITOH Fumio
With the news of the outbreak of “pneumonia of unknown cause” in January, 2020, COVID-19
spread throughout the world. Under this COVID-19 disaster, universities became exposed to a seriesof social changes in the same way as the companies. It became difficult or impossible to teachstudents face-to-face, and schools were forced to introduce online classes. This is a drastic changethat undermines the traditional approach to nurturing human resources as stated in the “Mission
Statement”. The universities must make effort to demonstrate to the stakeholders that they provide
quality education.
As we all know, the relationship between a university and a student is like a buyer (student) and aseller (university) who enter into a bargaining transaction concerning educational services. The
student as a buyer of the educational services pays to the university the total costs that consist of
the monetary cost of tuition, energy cost for commuting, time cost for study, and the psychic cost for
expecting good education. The university on the other hand provides expertise and skills, etc., to thestudent, as a seller of educational services. Since the student entering the university expects toreceive educational services that add value that exceeds the total cost, the university must respondto such expectation.
Regarding this issue, in order to understand how the universities are working on assuring thequality of online education, ABEST21 has been holding the Online Workshop for Assuring the Qualityof the Online Lectures on a monthly basis since November 2020, on every third Thursday.
Participants include 20 ABEST21 member universities from 7 countries – Australia, Indonesia, Japan,
Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, and Thailand. Each school presented their practices, which aresummarized below.
・Since the university was shut down, we were not able to provide the same level of educational3

services as in the traditional face-to-face lectures. Therefore we reduced the tuition fee.
・Hybrid educational system was developed, combining face-to-face and online classes.
・After conducting a thorough student satisfaction survey, we made efforts to meet the needs of thestudents.
・Having reviewed the curricula, we examined the possibility of combining the classes that requireface-to-face interaction and classes which can be delivered online.
・We promoted international exchange and developed a Global Classroom which offers joint online
lectures with overseas universities.
・Mentor system was developed to provide faculty’s support to students who participate in online
lectures.
In general, concerning the issue of assuring the “learning outcome”, the schools plan to review,
through the feedback of the stakeholders, whether the students were able to contribute to thesociety as expected after graduating from the university. Under the changes of educational andresearch environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the key is not merely to recover theface-to-face teaching, but to work on online lectures in an innovative manner so that a multiple
relationship within the curricula will be created. It is not about maintaining a simple additional
relationship of face-to-face and online lectures; as seen in the report, with a well-chosen
combination of the two methods, we can come up with a system which creates an educational effectnever realized in the past. Some lectures are not suitable for online system. It is not appropriate toshift all lectures to online just because of the pandemic.
Actually, back in April 1990 when I was the Dean of School of International Politics, Economics andCommunication of Aoyama Gakuin University, we practiced the Global Classroom with Graduate
School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, U.S.A. using “online, realtime, teleconferencing system”. The lectures “Management Game” and “Financial Trading System”
were successfully conducted because these were practical subjects. If this was an advanced
theoretical subject, the students may not have understood the contents in the same way.
However, there lies another important issue behind this successful Global Classroom. It is the
teamwork among the students, the faculty, and the administrative staff. With the support of theadministrative staff, the problems which students have concerning the lectures were smoothlytransmitted to the faculty members, and were solved appropriately. In the same way, regarding theissues of the quality improvement of “online lectures”, the lecturers and students shall not bestanding opposite to each other. The role of the administrative staff is the key, to understand thestudents’ needs adequately and pass them on to the faculty, and accurately transmit the faculty’s
response to the students. The quality enhancement of online lectures may partially rely on the
teamwork among the faculty, students and administrative staff.

4III. General Information＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

1. Obituary - Professor Dr. AAhad M. Osman-GaniProfessor Dr. AAhad Osman-Gani, the former Dean of Graduate School of Management,International Islamic University, Malaysia, who worked closely with us in the ABEST21 accreditation
review, passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021. We are shocked with grief by this sudden sad news.
We wish to express our esteem to Professor Gani for his achievement in the educational andresearch activities, and extend our condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace.

Professor Dr. AAhad Osman-Gani, Ph.D.
The Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre
Adjunct Professor, Kyoto University, Japan
Director, Academy of HRD Foundation Board, USA
Editor, International Journal of T&D (Wiley-Blackwell)

AAhad Osman-Gani, a Professor of the Iclif Leadership andGovernance Center and a former senior Professor of International
Management & HRD at the Faculty of Economics & Management
Sciences of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), obtained
PhD and MA degrees in HRD in International Business from the Ohio
State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA. Prior to this, he obtained MBAwith double majors in Management and Marketing. Before joining theIIUM, he has taught for 17 years at the Nanyang Business School of
NTU, Singapore. He has received the highest global recognition of“Outstanding HRD Scholar” from the Academy of Human Resource
Development at its 2010 Annual conference held at the Knoxville
Marriott Hotel, USA. He was the first Asian scholar representing an Asian University to receive theprestigious Award in recognition of his distinguished records of continuous publications in highquality scholarly journals. In 2011, The Ohio State University Alumni Society selected him as an
Outstanding Alumni to receive the Distinguished Career Advancement Award. He was elected as a
Director of IBSTPI (International Board of Standards in Training Performance & Instructions). In
2009 at Washington DC, he was recognized for his distinguished services to the Asian humanresource development. In 2008, his research paper was included in the prestigious Best Paper
Proceedings of the Academy of Management Conference held in California, USA. He also received
the “Cutting Edge Research Award” presented by the Academy of HRD for authoring the best
research papers in 2005 and 2010. He was conferred the Leadership Award at the 14th Annual
International Conference on Advances in Management (ICAM) held in Niagara, Canada.
During the past 40 years of his professional career, Professor AAhad Osman-Gani worked atseveral universities and organizations including the Ohio State University, University of Chittagong
and Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. He was also a distinguished Guest Professor of East China
Normal University, Shanghai; Visiting Professor of Peking University, China; NIDA of Thailand;
University Technology Malaysia; King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia. He wasExternal Examiner, Reviewer & Assessor for the University of Minnesota, George Washington
University of USA; Liverpool University, UK; UniSIM and NTU, Singapore; UTM, IIUM, and UPM,
Malaysia. Dr. AAhad Osman-Gani had also received the President’s Citation, Charles Mendenhall

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Award from the Ohio State University, and Public Service Award from the Public Utilities Commissionof Ohio in USA, for his distinguished scholarship and professional achievements. He published morethan 150 journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, case studies, and research monographs.
He authored/co-authored several books including: Human Resource Development in Malaysia(Pearson Publishing, 2011); Spirituality in Management from Islamic Perspectives (IIUM Press,2011); Performance Development and Training: Asian Perspectives (McGraw-Hill, 2009); Workplace
Training & Learning: Cases from Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Prentice-Hall/Pearson).
He was the Editor of International Journal of T&D (Wiley-Blackwell), and also acted as a Board
Member of the Human Resource Development Quarterly (ISI Journal from Jossey-Bass), Human
Resource Development International (Routledge/Taylor & Francis), Human Resource Development
Review (Sage publications), and several other international journals published in the USA & UK. He
was the founding Chair of AHRD Asia, and was the Conference CEO of all the International
Conferences on Human Resource Development in Asia (held in India, Thailand, Korea, Taiwan,
Malaysia, China, Bahrain and Turkey).
Professor AAhad Osman-Gani worked as a consultant for various multinational and localorganizations, conducted many executive development programs and made professionalpresentations in more than 20 countries of Asia, Europe, North and South America. He was a
Keynote Speaker at many regional and international conferences held in the USA, Japan, India,
Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bahrain, UAE and Turkey. His research interests span the areasof International Human Resource Development, Cross-Cultural Management, Spirituality inManagement, National Human Capital Development, and Leadership & Talent Development.

2. Online PRT Training Seminar
・PRT Training Seminar for 2021 is scheduled as below.
1) Seminar for PRT to review QIS and SCR: Thursday, July 29, 2021 15:00-16:30 (Tokyo time)2) Seminar for PRT to review KAIZEN Report: Thursday, August 3, 2021 15:00-16:30 (Tokyotime)

3. Online Workshop
・The final workshop, the 10th Online Workshop for “Assuring the Quality of the Online Lectures” will
be held on Thursday, August 19, 2021 from 15:00 (Tokyo Time).
・The 1st Online Editorial Committee will be held on Thursday, September 16, 2021 from 15:00(Tokyo time).

4. Holding of “Field-specificOrganization” Meeting 2021

Accrediting

Institution

Network

・The meeting which acts as a liaison between the areas of management, accounting and law will beheld on July 27, 2021 from 14:00.

5. The 39th meeting for the Japan Council for Nurturing Global
Management Professionals

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・ The meeting will be held online on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 from 13:00 to 14:30.

IV. Membership＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

1. Introduction of new delegates of the ABEST21 members
Dean Dr. Mohd Hanafiah Ahmad
Faculty of Industrial Management, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia
Mohd Hanafiah Ahmad was born at Pontian, Johor, Malaysia on
the 29th of November 1974. He received a Bachelor in Economics(Industrial Economics) with honors from Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia in 1998. Then, he continued his postgraduate studies atUniversiti Teknologi Malaysia and received his Master ofTechnology Management (Human Resource Development) in
2000. In 2018, he completed his doctoral study at Universiti
Malaysia Pahang. The main focus of his research is theinteraction between social and technical systems in Human
Resource Management and Development, Socio-Economic,
Organizational Behavior, and Strategic Planning. He teaches management-related courses such as
Managerial Economics, Organizational Behavior, and Strategic Management at undergraduate andgraduate levels. Prior to his appointment as Dean, he served as Chief Strategic Officer, University
Malaysia Pahang; Deputy Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, Faculty of Industrial Management(2015-2017); Assistant Deputy Dean, Department of Technology Management, Faculty ofTechnology (2014); and Deputy Dean, Department of Technology Management, Faculty of
Manufacturing and Technology Management (2008-2009).

Dean Dr. Abdul Ghofar
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia
Warm Greetings from Faculty of Economics and Business,
Universitas Brawijaya (FEB UB), Indonesia. I am Abdul Ghofar, thenewly appointed Dean of FEB UB for 2021-2025.
I received my Doctor of Business Administration degree from
Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, and I hold several
professional titles such as CPMA (Certified Professional Management
Accountant), Chartered Accountant (CA), and Accredited Supply Chain
Analyst (ASCA).
I am also actively involved as a member of Chartered Accountant
Certification Board of Institute of Indonesia Chartered Accountants(2020-2024), Indonesian Institute of Public Accountant Certification
Board (2013-2017), and Sharia Accounting Standard Board of Institute of Indonesia Chartered
Accountants (2013-2016).

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As the pioneer member and the first institution accredited by ABEST21 in Indonesia, FEB UB is
making incremental improvements to achieve its goals. Bringing up Kaizen spirit and Implementing
Deming (PDCA) cycle are a must to assure the progress and as a way of our never-ending strife for
perfection. As we adjust our education management in line with business-led practices andtechnological progress, we must bear the responsibility of accentuating good practices and values in
preparing future generation. After being accredited by ABEST21, FEB UB attains significant
improvement in terms of university ranking as well as international cooperation and reputation.
I hope I can collaborate with ABEST21 and its members for achieving best practices in higher
education, research, and community service.

Acting Dean Teguh Dartanto, Ph.D.
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia
Teguh Dartanto, PhD., is currently the Acting Dean as well as
the Vice Dean of Academic Affairs at the Faculty of Economics andBusiness, Universitas Indonesia. Prior to his assignment as Acting
Dean and Vice Dean at the faculty, he served as the Head of
Department of Economics and the Director of Undergraduate
Program in Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business,
Universitas Indonesia.
When he was the Director of the undergraduate program, heintroduced a concept of semi-liberal art education to prepare
students to be more adaptive, resilient, and innovative in the
disruptive era. He is also a co-author of the book “Disruption Era: Opportunities and Challenges forIndonesia’s Higher Education".
Beside his role in the university management, Teguh is actively conducting research in the field ofhealth economics, poverty, social protection, development economics, and micro econometrics. He
has published in the Lancet, Energy Policy, Economic Modelling, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic
Studies, Tobacco Control, World Development Perspectives and Applied Health Economics and
Health Policy. Teguh is a member of the Indonesian Young Academy of Sciences and a 2017
Eisenhower Fellow. Teguh earned his BA in Economics from Universitas Indonesia in 2002; MA in
Economics from Hitotsubashi University, Japan in 2009; and has a Ph.D. in international
development from Nagoya University, Japan in 2012.
Message from Acting Dean Teguh Dartanto, Ph.D.
As the Acting Dean of Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia, and on behalf of
the Faculty of Economics and Business, Magister Management program, we are very grateful toreceive this ABEST21 Kaizen award. Our appreciation to Prof. Fumio Itoh and ABEST21, forconsistency in assessing universities/business schools or study programs, on improving ways todeliver the best education, and creating future leaders, despite the pandemic.
Since March 2020, due to Covid-19, we had to change the way we do things to ensure the safetyof both faculty and students, and all employees of the school. We started to rely on technology,
through virtual teaching and learning, to reach as many students as possible after the school
was closed. It is a challenge for us and our students from all over Indonesia, since not the whole ofIndonesia has a strong internet connection.

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Receiving ABEST21 Kaizen award for excellence in education confirms that we are on the righttrack. Thank you to the PRT Chair, Prof. Azlan, who has done a great job in maintaining the spirit ofexcellence. Also, we thank Deputy Dean Emeritus Ilker Baybars, Ph.D., for your continuous support.
This award is a booster for us to continue delivering the best. We are а part of a system for improving
people’s lives in our societies, through knowledge building, research, and making impact throughcommunity engagement. My appreciation to the team of Magister Management, Faculty of
Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia, for their efforts in maintaining quality in delivering
the program in this difficult period.
With Kaizen spirit, the Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Indonesia strives forcontinuous improvement to become better in delivering our mission: to contribute to knowledge

development in economics and business, and to cultivate future leaders who possess asense of social responsibility to address global challenges.
We look forward to more collaboration and cooperation with universities in the ABEST21 group.

Dean Dr. Sheikh Muhamad Hizam Bin Haji Sheikh Khairuddin
UniKL Business School, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I am Dr. Sheikh Muhamad Hizam Bin Haji Sheikh Khairuddin,
the Dean of the Universiti Kuala Lumpur Business School,
Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My academic qualifications
are Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) from Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia, Master of Business Administration (MBA)from Ohio University, United States of America, and Bachelor of
Agricultural Science (BSc) from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia. I
have been working with the industry and academia for nearly 30
years. Over the years, it has always been the desire of theschool to maintain highest quality standards in delivering ouracademic programs to the students, and that is why we have decided to pursue ABEST21
accreditation. We hope to continuously improve our performance for our Master of Business
Administration (MBA General) and Master of Business Administration (Entrepreneurship) programs.

General Manager Yoshinobu TASHIRO
Crporate Human Resource Devision, Sony People Solutions Inc.

Hello, this is Yoshi (Yoshinobu Tashiro) from Sony. I am now
leading the Talent acquisition team of Sony Corporation. Before
the current assignment, I was in charge of HRBP in Sensor andSensing Solution business domain, and before that, I wasworking as HRBP in Europe for nearly 4 years, in India for 4 years,
and PlayStation for 7 years. I also enjoyed working as Marketinghead of TV in India, so Sony gave me diverse experience, inwhich I could multiply various skills and knowledge, and I am
convinced that these experiences took me to the current
position.
While Sony’s business in Japan accounts for a quarter of the global consolidated sales, the9workforce distribution from Japan is nearly a half of global consolidated employees. Now that thesociety is facing 4th industrial revolution, and AI singularity is in front of us, Sony must diversify itself
in gender as well as cultural background.
Appreciating where Sony stands and where I am, I am delighted that I can be a part of ABEST21
journey, and I am now thrilled to have this opportunity to learn and network with respected
members.

V. Quality Assurance-“Assessing Today for Tomorrow”＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝“There will be no problem if the School exists in a vacuum. However, in the society where the realenvironment is changing, improving the educational and research activities is essential in order for
the School to survive as a “Going Concern.”＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

1. ABEST21 Online Accreditation Seminar II 2021
For supporting preparation for accreditation at the applicant schools in progress, we hold ABEST21
Online Accreditation Seminar II 2021.
1) ABEST21 Online Accreditation Seminar II 2021: “Quality Improvement Strategies”
On Thursday, May 13, ABEST21 Online Accreditation Seminar 2021 on Quality Improvement
Strategies (QIS) was held. After introduction on the ABEST21 Accreditation System by ABEST21
President Fumio ITOH, Ph.D., Dr. Danaipong Chetchotsak, Khon Kaen University, Thailand, explained
the specifics of the QIS, and ABEST21 office informed the participants how to submit the QIS report.
On Monday, May 17, ABEST21 President Fumio ITOH, Ph.D., introduced the ABEST21 Accreditation
System and the QIS. After that ABEST21 office explained how to submit the QIS report.

2) ABEST21 Online Accreditation Seminar II 2021 “the Self-Check/Self-Evaluation
Report”
On Friday, May 28, ABEST21 Online Accreditation
Seminar 2021 on Self-Check/Self-Evaluation Report(SCR) was held.
At first ABEST21 President Fumio ITOH, Ph.D.
introduced the ABEST21 Accreditation System. Then Dr.
Danaipong Chetchotsak, Khon Kaen University,

10

Thailand, explained the specifics of the SCR, and ABEST21 Office explained how to submit the report.
After that, Q&A session was held.
3) ABEST21 Online Accreditation Seminar II 2021 “the KAIZEN Report 2021”
On Tuesday, May 18, ABEST21 Online Accreditation Seminar 2021 on the KAIZEN Report 2021 washeld. After inducing the ABEST21 Accreditation System, Dr. Hen Kai Wah, Universiti Tunku Abdul
Rahman, Malaysia explained the specifics of the KAIZEN Report, and ABEST21 Office explained how
to submit the KAIZEN Report. On Monday, May 31, ABEST21 Online Individual Accreditation
Seminar II on KAIZEN Report was held. ABEST21 President Fumio ITOH, Ph.D. introduced the
ABEST21 Accreditation System, and ABEST21 office explained how to submit the KAIZEN Report.
After that, Q&A session was held. ABEST21 is ready to hold individual online Accreditation Seminars
for the applicant schools. If your school is interested, please send us your request.

2. Online Accreditation Certificate-granting Ceremony
In 2021, the following schools were accredited. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online
ceremonies were conducted for the accredited schools, where they received their Accreditation
Certificates. We congratulate all the schools on their achievements and commend their commitment
to the high quality of education in these difficult times.

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ABEST21 Accreditation 2021
A: Accreditation
1. Professional Graduate School of Business in Japan
1) Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University, Japan
B: International Accreditation
1: APAS (ABEST21 Program-based Accreditation System)(Master of Management)
1) School of Economics and Business, Universitas Telkom, Indonesia2) PPM School of Management, Indonesia
3) Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Bengkulu, Indonesia
4) Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Indonesia
5) Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Udayana, Indonesia
6) Faculty of Business and Economics, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Indonesia
7) MBA-Faculty of Accountancy and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
8) MBA-Corporate Governance, Faculty of Accountancy and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul
Rahman, Malaysia
9) MBA-Corporate Management, Faculty of Business and Finance, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman,
Malaysia(Master of Human Resource Management)
10) Postgraduate School, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia(Bachelor of Management)11) Faculty of Economics, Universitas Islam Sultan Agung, Indonesia12) Faculty of Business and Economics, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Indonesia(Bachelor of Accounting)13) Faculty of Economics, Universitas Islam Sultan Agung, Indonesia
2. AAAS (ABEST21 Academic Unit-based Accreditation System)
1) School of Business, Institut Perutanian Bogor University, Indonesia
2) Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies, Management and Science University,
Malaysia

1) Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
Leader, Professor Dr. Sudarso Kaderi Wiryono
Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia
・Reply Speeches
Dean Professor Dr. TODA Keiichi
Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University, Japan
Director Associate Professor Dr. MURAKAMI Keiji

12

Int’l Accreditation and Comms Office, GSM-Kyoto University, Japan・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Deputy Dean Emeritus Ilker Baybars, Ph.D.
Carnegie Mellon University, USA

2) Postgraduate School, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia
Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
Leader, Professor Dr. Ming Yu Cheng
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
・Reply Speech
Director Professor Badri Munir Sukoco, Ph.D.
Postgraduate School, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Deputy Dean Emeritus Ilker Baybars, Ph.D.
Carnegie Mellon University, USA

133) School of Economics and Business, Universitas Telkom, Bandung, Indonesia
Date: Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
Leader, Professor TAKAMORI Hiroshi, Ph.D.
LEC Graduate University, Japan
・Reply Speech
Dean Dr. Ratri Wahyuningtyas
School of Economics and Business, Universitas Telkom, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Professor Robert S. Sullivan, Ph.D.
University of California San Diego, USA

4) Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman,
Purwokerto, Indonesia
Date: Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
Leader, Deputy Dean Associate Professor Dr. Salmi Mohd Isa
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
・Reply Speech
Dean Professor Dr. Suliyanto
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Indonesia

14

・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Senior Vice President Dean Professor Dr. Ali Khatibi
Graduate School of Management, Management & Science University, Malaysia

5) Faculty of Economics, Universitas Islam Sultan Agung, Semarang, Indonesia
Date: Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
・Leader-BM, Deputy Dean Associate Professor Dr. Siti Zaleha Sahak
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
・Leader-BA, Associate Professor Dr. Mohd Ridzuan Darun
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia
・Reply Speeches
・Rector Associate Professor Bedjo Santoso, Ph.D.
Universitas Islam Sultan Agung, Indonesia
・Dean Professor Dr. Olivia Fachrunnisa
Faculty of Economics, Universitas Islam Sultan Agung, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Senior Vice President Professor Dr. Ali Khatibi
Management & Science University, Malaysia

156) PPM School of Management, Jakarta, Indonesia
Date: Thursday, May 27, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
Leader, Professor Dr. Jaafar Pyeman
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
・Reply Speech
Dean Professor Bramantyo Djohanputro, Ph.D.
PPM School of Management, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 PRC Vice Chair, Dean Professor Dr. TODA Keiichi
Kyoto University, Japan16

7) Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Bengkulu, Bengkulu,

Indonesia
Date: Thursday, May 27, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
Leader, Deputy Dean Assistant Professor Dr. Hen Kai Wah
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
・Reply Speeches
・Rector Professor Dr. Ridwan Nurazi
Universitas Bengkulu, Indonesia
・Dean Retno Agustina Ekaputri, Ph.D.
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Bengkulu, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 PRC Vice Chair, Dean Professor Dr. TODA Keiichi
Kyoto University, Japan

8) School of Business, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia
Date: Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director, Visiting Professor Dr. KAWANO Hirotaka
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・CongratulationsFirst Secretary (Education Attaché) Yusuke TAKAHASHI

17

Embassy of Japan in Indonesia
・PRT Comments
Leader, Assistant Professor Dr. Zabeda Bt. Abdul Hamid Kenms
International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia
・Reply Speech・Rector Professor Dr. Arif Satria, S.P, M.Si.
IPB University, Indonesia
・Dean Professor Dr. Ir. Noer Azam Achsani
School of Business, IPB University, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Deputy Dean Emeritus Ilker Baybars, Ph.D.
Carnegie Mellon University, USA

9) Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Udayana, Denpasar,Indonesia
Date and time: Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director, Visiting Professor Dr. KAWANO Hirotaka
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・Congratulations
・First Secretary (Education Attaché) Yusuke TAKAHASHI
Embassy of Japan in Indonesia
・Dean Dr. Putu Anom Mahadwartha
Universitas Surabaya, Indonesia
・PRT Comments
Leader, Associate Professor Dr. Yudi Fernando
Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia

18

・Reply Speech
Dean Agoes Ganesha Rahyuda, Ph.D.
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Udayana, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Deputy Dean Emeritus Ilker Baybars, Ph.D.
Carnegie Mellon University, USA

10) Faculty of Business and Economics, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Yogyakarta,
Indonesia
Date: Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
・MM-Leader, Dr. Fathyah Hashim
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
・UM-Leader, Professor Dr. Noryati Ahmad
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
・Reply Speech
Head of Management Department Dr. Arif Hartono
Faculty of Business and Economics, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Dean Professor Dr. Oleg Vikhanskiy
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia

1911) Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies, Management &Science University, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・CongratulationsFirst Secretary (Education Attaché) Yukiyoshi SAITO
Embassy of Japan in Malaysia
・PRT Comments
Coordinator, Professor Dr. Candra Fajri Ananda
Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia
・Reply Speech・President Professor Dato’ Wira Dr. Mohd Shukri Ab Yajid
Management & Science University, Malaysia
・Senior Vice President Dean Professor Dr. Ali Khatibi
Graduate School of Management, Management & Science University, Malaysia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 PRC Chair, Dean Professor Dr. Azlan Amran
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

2012) Faculty of Accountancy and Management and Faculty of Business andFinance Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
Date: Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・CongratulationsFirst Secretary (Education Attaché) Yukiyoshi SAITO
Embassy of Japan in Malaysia
・PRT Comments
・MBA-Leader, Professor Dr. Sudarso Kaderi Wiryono
Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia
・MBA(CG)-Leader, Professor SHIGETA Takao
SBI Graduate School, Japan・MBA(CM)-Leader, Dr. Ida Yasin
Putra Business School, Malaysia
・Reply Speech・President Ir. Professor Dr. Ewe Hong Tat
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
・Dean Dr. Sia Bee Chuan
Faculty of Accountancy and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
・Dean Dr. Au Yong Hui Nee
Faculty of Business and Finance, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia

21

・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Professor Robert S. Sullivan, Ph.D.
University of California San Diego, USA

VI. Quality Improvement -“KAIZEN for Tomorrow”＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝“In the age of increasing globalization, it is a great challenge for the schools to create and maintainfirst-class educational programs in management. But no single institution can maintain all therequired and ever-changing resources at hand nor continually keep those resources updated. It is
important for us to work together to leverage our complementary resources on a global scale.”＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝

1. Holding of Online KAIZEN Award-granting Ceremony
In 2021, the following schools received KAIZEN Awards in the online ceremonies. We applaud theaward-winning schools for their efforts and achievements on the way to continuous quality
improvement.

1) Faculty of Business and Economics, Universitas Surabaya, Indonesia
Date: Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time)Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
Leader, Deputy Dean Associate Professor Dr. Siti Zaleha Sahak
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
・Reply Speech
Dean Associate Professor Dr. Putu Anom Mahadwartha

22

Faculty of Business and Economics, Universitas Surabaya, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Professor Robert S. Sullivan, Ph.D.
University of California San Diego, USA

2) Graduate School of Business Administration, SBI Graduate School, Japan
Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Time: 16:10 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・PRT Comments
Leader, Dean Professor Dr. Ali Khatibi
Management & Science University, Malaysia
・Reply Speech
Dean Professor KOBAYASHI Hideyuki
Graduate School of Business Administration, SBI Graduate School, Japan・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Auditor, Professor Dr. Gagaring Pagalung
Universitas Hasanuddin, Indonesia

233) Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Time: 10:00 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・CongratulationsFirst Secretary (Education Attaché) Yusuke TAKAHASHI
Embassy of Japan in Indonesia
・PRT Comments
Leader, Dean Professor Dr. Azlan Amran
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
・Reply Speech
Acting Dean Dr. Teguh Dartanto
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Deputy Dean Emeritus Ilker Baybars, Ph.D.
Carnegie Mellon University, USA

4) School of Business and Management, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung,Indonesia
Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Time: 10:40 (Tokyo time) Chair: ABEST21 Managing Director NAKAGAWA Yuka, MBA
・Opening Remarks/Congratulations
ABEST21 President and CEO, Professor Emeritus Dr. ITOH Fumio
・Congratulations

24

First Secretary (Education Attaché) Yusuke TAKAHASHI
Embassy of Japan in Indonesia
・PRT Comments
Leader, Associate Professor Danaipong Chetchotsak, Ph.D.
Khon Kaen University, Thailand
・Reply Speech・Dean Professor Dr. Ir. Utomo Sarjono Putro
School of Business and Management, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia
・Head of Academic Senate Ir. Gatot Yudoko, Ph.D.
School of Business and Management, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia
・Congratulations/Closing Remarks
ABEST21 Vice President, Deputy Dean Emeritus Ilker Baybars, Ph.D.
Carnegie Mellon University, USA

2. ABEST21 Online Workshop “Assuring the Quality of the Online
Lectures”
1) The 6th Online Workshop
On Thursday, April 22, 2021 the 6th ABEST21 online workshop “Assuring the Quality of Online
Lectures” was held with Adjunct Associate Professor Catherine Sibala, School of International
Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University, Japan, and Senior Lecturer Dr. Jayne Bye, School ofBusiness, Western Sydney University Australia as the speakers.
Moderator:
Associate Professor Dr. Salmi Mohd Isa
Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia

25

Speakers:
・Adjunct Associate Professor Catherine Sibala
School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University
・Senior Lecturer Dr. Jayne Bye
School of Business, Western Sydney University
Attendees:
・Senior Lecturer Dr. Jayne Bye, Western Sydney University, Australia
・Senior Lecturer Dr. Gancar C. Premananto, Universitas Airlannga, Indonesia
・Manager Ersa Tri Wahyuni, Ph.D., Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia
・Senior Lecturer Dr. Idqan Fahmi, IPB University, Indonesia
・Senior Lecturer Dr. Werner R. Murhadi, Universitas Surabya, Indonesia
・Adjunct Associate Prof. Catherine Sibala, Hitotsubashi University, Japan・Assistant Prof. Dr. Zabeda Bt. Abdul Hamid, International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia
・Prof. Dr. Huam Hon Tat, Putra Business School, Malaysia
・Associate Prof. Dr. Salmi Mohd Isa, University Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
・Associate Prof. Dr. Siti Zaleha Sahak, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
・Assistant Prof. Dr. Hen Kai Wah, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
・Lecturer Dr. Suthasinee Susiva, Burapha University, Thailand

Meeting Memo:
Adjunct Associate Professor Catherine Sibala explained how
they assure their quality of online education under the pandemic
situation. She said that Hitotsubashi ICS took technologicalmeasures to improve the quality of online education. For example,
they installed high-quality cameras, moderate amount of HUB and

26

LAN Cable to assure the internet connection and so on. Also, they introduced online communication
tools such as Zoom and Miro to push online discussion in online class. Through these approaches,
she told us that her school needs to enhance online education with increasing the share of
asynchronous learning and discussion classes. After her presentation, workshop members discussed
how to improve behaviors of students and teaching staff in the pandemic situation. Also, they shared
their knowledge and experience in order to develop hybrid classes.
Dr. Jayne Bye explained the pandemic situation in Western
Sydney University in Australia and how they acted for students.
After they turned to emergency remote teaching, they combined
real time teaching with Zoom and asynchronous learning withpre-recoded video to maintain the quality of online education. In
these measures, they found that internet facilities in students’houses are the key to improve the quality of online education. At
the same time, she told us that her school needs to provide
teaching staff with new ways of working in online education. As future challenges, she pointed out
invigilating examinations and organizing hybrid class system. After her presentation, workshop
members shared their issues to be improved on invigilating online examination, developing hybridclasses and so on.

2) The 7th Online Workshop
On Thursday, May 20, 2021 the 7th ABEST21 online workshop “Assuring the Quality of Online
Lectures” was held with Assistant Professor Zebada binti Abdul Hamid, Ph.D., Kulliyyah of Economics
and Management Science, International Islamic University, Malaysia, and Professor Dr. Huam Hon
Tat, Putra Business School, Malaysia as the speakers.
Moderator:
Senior Lecture Dr. Gancar C. Premananto
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia
Speaker:・Assistant Professor Zabeda binti Abdul Hamid, Ph.D.
Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia
・Professor Dr. Huam Hon Tat
Putra Business School, Malaysia
Attendees:
・Senior Lecturer Dr. Gancar C. Premananto, Universitas Airlannga, Indonesia
・Senior Lecturer Dr. Idqan Fahmi, IPB University, Indonesia
・Senior Lecturer Dr. Werner R. Murhadi, Universitas Surabya, Indonesia
・Adjunct Associate Prof. Catherine Sibala, Hitotsubashi University, Japan・Assistant Prof. Dr. Zabeda Bt. Abdul Hamid, International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia
・Prof. Dr. Huam Hon Tat, Putra Business School, Malaysia
・Associate Prof. Dr. Siti Zaleha Sahak, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
・Assistant Prof. Dr. Hen Kai Wah, Universiti Tunk Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
・Director Nalinee Mohprasit, Ph.D., Naresuan University, Thailand

27

Meeting Memo:
Assistant Professor Zabeda binti Abdul Hamid explained thestructural transition from pre-2015 to current situation under
COVID-19 pandemic period. IIUM recognized that theirchallenges is to strengthen their manpower and technologicaldevelopment before COVID-19 pandemic. However, in the
pandemic situation, she pointed that IIUM needs to restructure
their class content to be more business-oriented, efficient andeffective, and to invest in the technology for hybrid class and online education in order to maintainthe quality of online education. Also, IIUM is going to communicate with their students and schoolstaff for their technological and mental support in the online environment. After her presentation,
workshop members discussed monetary support for their students, the students’ feedback to IIUM
measures and so on.
Professor Huam Hon Tat introduced various measures takenby the Putra Business School in the difficult situation caused by
COVID-19 and the responses from their students. PBS strictly
defined class forms in order to build effective educational
system. For example, only two online platforms for online
classes can be used, Zoom and Google Meet, and PBS has
required teaching staff to check students’ attendance by calling
their name and ticking the name lists. In addition, PBS carried out the survey to collect feedback onthese measures. They found that over 80% students overall are satisfied with the online
environment. This means that PBS teaching staff utilized the technology for online education well.
Also, the survey showed that over 75% students agreed that the online education should remain as
the part of PBS educational system. After his presentation, workshop members discussed the
difficulty of teaching theoretical things through online education.

283) The 8th Online Workshop
On Thursday, June 17, 2021 the 8th ABEST21 online workshop “Assuring the Quality of Online
Lectures” was held with Dr. Rosly Othman, Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia,
Malaysia and Professor. Dr. Chiaki IWAI, Graduate School of Management, Aoyama Gakuin University,
Japan as the speakers.
Moderator:
Associate Prof. Dr. Veena Jadhav
SP Jain School of Global Management, Singapore
Speakers:
・Project manager Dr. Rosly Othman
Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
・Professor. Dr. Chiaki IWAI
Graduate School of Management, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
Participants:
・Senior Lecturer Dr. Jayne Bye, Western Sydney University, Australia
・Prof. Dr. Chiaki IWAI, Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
・Associate Prof. Dr. Yudi Fernando, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia
・Dr. Rosly Othman, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
・Assistant Prof. Dr. Hen Kai Wah, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
・Associate Prof. Dr. Veena Jadhav, SP Jain School of Global Management, Singapore
・Director Nalinee Mohprasit, Ph.D., Naresuan University, Thailand

Meeting Memo:Manager Dr. Rosly Othman introduced the online class stylethat USM uses in its eMBA program. The school had an online
MBA course before the pandemic, so many tools have alreadybeen in place, such as e-library, online platform where students
can register their attendance or check the class information,29

WebEx for Online class and so forth. The School prepared not only the software for online education
for students, but also the technical way to conduct online class. For example, they decided how theyevaluate students throughout online class, and how they conduct online examination. Still, they areannoyed with the issues of bad internet connection, and they recognize it as one of the specificproblems of online transition in the COVID-19 pandemic. After his presentation, workshop members
discussed further obstacles for online education in the pandemic situation.
Professor Dr. Chiaki IWAI gave a presentation about how GSM,
Aoyama Gakuin University tried to improve the quality of theireducation in the difficult situation caused by COVID-19
pandemic. The School has learned that their students have notbeen satisfied with the online education that equals delivering
lectures through tele-conference system. In order to solve theproblem, they have implemented two solutions. One is
introducing “Mentor system” for their students. Through the “Mentor System”, the students can havemore frequent communications with faculty members. The second is introducing more online
lectures from the business schools in other countries. At the end of his presentation, he introduced abackup system as the measure to cope with heavy user access. After his presentation, workshop
members discussed how they quantify the outcome of student satisfaction of online education.

VII. Quality Enhancement -“Enriching Global Knowledge
Network for Tomorrow”＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝“In the age of increasing globalization, it is a great challenge for the schools to create and maintainfirst-class educational programs in management. But no single institution can maintain all therequired and ever-changing resources at hand nor continually keep those resources updated. It is
important for us to work together to leverage our complementary resources on a global scale.”

1. The 38th meeting of Japan Council for Nurturing Global
Management Professionals
The Council meeting was held online on Thursday,
May 13, 2021. The meeting started with ABEST21
President Itoh’s explanation on the activities of theCouncil since its foundation. Mr. WATANABE Tomonori,
Unit Chief of the Office for Professional Graduate
School, Technical Education Division, Higher
Education Bureau, MEXT, talked about the pending
issues at the Subcommittee of the Central Council for
Education, followed by Q&A on the standards for
credit certification. Dean Professor Hitoshi Takehara of Waseda Business School introduced the“Features and commitment of Waseda Business School program portfolio” followed by Q&A on
assuring the diversity of the same segment. The next 39th Council meeting is scheduled on

30

September 15, 2021.

2. ABEST21 International online International Symposium 2021
“Humanizing Management Education for Sustainable Economic
Development in Asia-Pacific”
ABEST21
International
onlineInternational
Symposium 2021 entitled “Humanizing Management
Education for Sustainable Economic Development in
Asia-Pacific” was held on June 10, 2021 to celebrate the15th Anniversary of ABEST21.
At first, the international symposium was going to beheld in March, 2020. However, it was postponed due tounprecedented difficult situation caused by COVID-19
pandemic until this year. The online International
Symposium 2021 was sponsored by ABEST21 andsupported by UNU Institute for Advanced Study of
Sustainability, United Nations University, Japan. About
27 delegations from 21 ABEST21 member institutionsin 5 different countries participated in the symposium.
Program of the symposium is as follows:
Chair:
Associate Professor Danaipong Chetchotsak, Ph.D.
Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University, Thailand

31

Opening Remarks:

ABETST21 President Professor Emeritus Dr. Fumio ITOH
Director Professor Shinobu Yume YAMAGUCHI, Ph.D.
UNU Institute for Advanced Study of Sustainability, United
Nations University, Japan
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Participants, Ladies andGentlemen,
Good afternoon and greetings to all.
First and foremost, on behalf of the ABEST21, I would liketo express my deepest appreciation to Director Professor
Shinobu Yume YAMAGUCHI, Ph.D. for joining us in the online ABEST21 International Symposium.
At first, we planned to hold the symposium on March 12, 2021 at Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo.
Unfortunately, due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to postpone the symposium
and now have to conduct it online, in real time and using a teleconferencing system. So, I greatly
appreciate your understanding and support for conducting the symposium online.
Fifteen full years have passed since the foundation of ABEST21 on July 1, 2005. During the past 15
years we have acquired the spirit of “broad-mindedness” and “living in harmony” which welcomes
the diversity of Asian values. We learned that in the business school education, a good balance
between “Globalizing Management Education” and “Humanizing Management Education” isimportant, as in the lights and shadows of economic and business phenomena. We are confident
that our mission is to develop a unique education quality assurance system to support the nurturingof management professionals for a “Sustainable Development” of Asia.
In this globalized world, what we need to do is to nurture management professionals who havemoral qualities enabling them to live in harmony with various cultures, and advanced intellectual
knowledge to understand different cultures and backgrounds. Samuel P. Huntington said in his book(1996) “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order,” “・・・In the post-Cold War
world, the most significant disparities among different ethnic groups are no longer those ofideologies, politics or economies, but those of cultures. People began to identify themselves throughethnicity, language, history, values, customs, and systems. No one expects that all people on theearth have universal values.” So, we have to learn to nurture human resources with good moral
character who can harmonize cultural differences, and who have advanced intellectual knowledge tounderstand different cultures and backgrounds.
We are confident that this symposium will contribute to the enrichment of people who, having an
unshakable faith in symbiotic relationships and working in harmony with environment, are capable ofserving society and contributing to the sustainable development of the economic communities in
Asia. To think seriously about the global future is to think seriously about Asia. We further intend tocommunicate the importance of these issues to the world in general.
Finally, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the late Professor Dr. Arfah Salleh whogave us invaluable advices on development of the Joint Research Project No. 8.

32

Session I: Keynote Speech:“Education for Sustainable Development in Business and Management Schools”
Director Professor Shinobu Yume YAMAGUCHI, Ph.D.
UNU Institute for Advanced Study of Sustainability, United Nations University,
Japan
Thank you Mr. Chairman and thank you very much President Itoh.
I am happy to be here representing United Nations
University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability.
ABEST21 International Conference goes back already to
2019. I understand that President Itoh has been wanting toorganize the meeting face to face two years before. Now,
because of pandemic, we really must mobilize our wisdom
to organize the meeting in a different and highlysophisticated modernity. But I think it is important thatonline we can have more participants from different parts of world by mobilizing technologies. Thankyou for providing me with this opportunity to be with you today.
My presentation today is about “Education for sustainable development in business andmanagement schools”. Particularly our institution has four major areas of thematic research, and one
is Governance, particularly localizing SDGs. The second thematic area is biodiversity and sustainable
society. We are trying to connect nature and human relationship. The third is water resource
management. We are trying to decentralize water resource management system because water
resource system can be more capable to manage water usage in each community. The fourth isinnovation and education. That is where our expertise of sustainability, of innovation and education
development comes out. Today I really want to focus on the four major areas, one is Beyond
Business as usual to achieve SDGs, the second is Business Sector and Agenda 2030, the third isteaching and business and management for the Sustainable Development Goals, and the last, about
learning to adapt the global goals to institutional goals.
Let me start my presentation with Beyond Business as usual. Even before COVID-19 pandemic,
the world faced massive economic, social and environmental challenges which include Climatechange, Biodiversity loss, Increased inequality, and Growing uncertainty in investments. To cope withsuch a complicated situation, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched by theUnited Nations in 2015. In fact, international community is aiming to achieve these 17 goals by theend of 2030. How many of you today in this conference are aware how many days are left before theend of 2030? Can anybody guess how many days we must end before 2030? About 3,500 days areleft for us. If we remove weekends, it is less than 3,000 days.
We have 17 goals including poverty reduction, quality of education, responsible consumption,
gender equity, peace partnership. The business sector is an important agent to achieve these SDGs.
Do you know how long ago the term “Sustainable Development Goals” was created? I clearly
remember the day because it was my graduation day from Aoyama Gakuin University. In 1987, theterm “Sustainable Development Goals” was a modification from the Brundtland Report.
In 2013, for the business enterprise, sustainable development means adopting business strategies
and activities that meet the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders today while protecting,sustaining and enhancing human and natural resources that will be needed in the future. This is33really responds to core message by President Itoh in the opening remarks today.
We have these 17 goals and 169 targets. Which of the 17 goals are related with business sector?
Anybody can answer? “All”. Thank you very much. Yes, all 17 goals are related with the businesssectors. We do understand that the business sector needs to develop young generation who
understands these 17 goals to better contribute to the sustainable society.
Now, let me introduce a quote from famous president, Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever. He said that
“The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the fundamental cornerstone of secure futures andbusiness growth… it is not possible to have a strong, functioning business in a world of increasing
inequality, poverty, and climate change”.
The core message conveyed by the SDGs is closely related with business sectors and economic
sectors. The business sector is one of the principal actors in Agenda 2030. The examples include
Business Communication for the Sustainable Development Goals, World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (CEOs), UN SDG Fund – Private Sector Advisory, and Private Sector
Partners in Green Climate Fund. Just for your information, at the United Nations University Institutefor the Advanced Study of Sustainability, we have launched just this week an intensive core course ofsustainable finance. We are collaborating with business sector to connect with young professionals
to cohost classes on sustainable development and sustainable finance. Sustainable finance is thevery core of sustainable society. Sustainable finance is the very core of sustainable development.
This is another example called “SDG Compass” The SDG Compass is one online platform thatprovides guidance on how businesses can align their strategies with the realization of the SDGs.
There are five steps for private sector to maximize their contribution, including Understanding theSDGs, Defining Priorities, Setting Goals, Integrating, and Reporting.
However, there is a difficulty. Business that incorporates CDGs is a new type of business. Soteaching for sustainability means teaching a whole new type of business, especially for young
generations. However, not only the business sector, but also most forms of education, business andmanagement education have remained static in a 20th century model of how the world works. And by
facing the pandemic situation, we must have a better way, we must have modernity to make things
happen. So, therefore, to create a new way of teaching, a new modernity, we should change
business education, including curriculum, pedagogy, and the need for life-long learning. This will be
critical for the next generation of leaders and workers in the private sector. Particularly, businesses
and business schools are constantly changing regarding sustainable development. Teachingapproaches are departing from the pedagogical practices of the past, and shift to innovation as
opposed to 20th century convention.
I would like to discuss some points about the curriculum development. We must develop new
curriculum by incorporating the idea of SDGs. Business schools can support SDGs through theirteaching by embedding education for sustainable development (ESD) into the curriculum. ESD canbe incorporated into any curriculum, including business and management courses. The defining
characteristic of ESD are the five competencies a given curriculum builds in students in relation tosustainability for the topic at hand (Wiek et al., 2011): Systems Thinking Competence, Anticipatory
Competence, Normative Competence, Interpersonal Competence, and Strategic Competence. Off
course, you are experts in business and management, you might be aware of these competences, so
I will go over the basic definitions of these competencies very quickly. Most important competence
we believe is Systems Thinking. It is the ability to think of sustainability in terms of complex systems

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cutting across deferent domains including society, environment, economy and so on, and acrossdifferent scales, which is local and global. The second competence, Anticipatory Competence, is anability to create and craft a picture of sustainable future, and apply problem-solving frameworks tosustainability issues. The term “picture” is similar to story or image; it includes quantitative andqualitative information and narrative as well as imaginary statements. Normative Competence is anability to map, specify, apply, reconcile, and negotiate sustainability values, principles, goals, andtopics. This capacity enables to assess sustainability or unsustainability of the claim and/or futurestates, particularly of the social and ecological system. The fourth competence is Interpersonal
Competence – an ability to motivate, enable and facilitate collaborative sustainability research andproblem solving. This capacity includes advanced communication and negotiation skills, collaborative
leadership and transformative thinking, and most important – sense of empathy. Last of all is
Strategic Competence, the capability is to collectively design and implement interventions,transitions, and transformative of governance strategies. These five competencies are important,particularly in developing curricula and for promoting sustainability.
I have quickly created a matrix. We have five competencies that we believe are important on theleft side corner. On the top, there are different teaching modalities, from Lecturing to Critical
Emancipatory pedagogy. This is not criticized. This shows which teaching modality can promotethese competencies. For example, it shows that the Problem Based Learning and Community Service
Learning can nurture all five competencies. And you can refer to journal articles on the relationshipbetween different types of modalities and competencies.
Let us go on to Integrating ESD into business and management curriculum. This comes with its
own set of challenges, because we, faculty, in our generation, were trained to develop our own
courses that we teach. This approach did not build system thinking competence into the curriculum.
Salmen (2018) found considerable fragmentation in how business and management schools
incorporate sustainability into their curriculum. This work showcases how challenging it can be forthe faculty with business expertise to build up their capacity to teach about social and environmental
systems during their teaching careers. Capacity-building for faculty that was desired by instructors
was not facilitated by the structure of the higher education institutions. Although we are facing thosechallenges, we should break though and transfer from traditional curriculum to newcompetency-based curriculum. I would like to share some examples from the book named “The
Future MBA: 100 ideas for Making Sustainability the Business of Business Education. Weybrecht(2017) showcases successful shifts in conventional MBA curriculums and pedagogy. Have you heardof the University Impact Rankings by Times Higher Education since 2019? The Times Higher
Education Impact Rankings are the global performance tables that assess universities against theUnited Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The impact ranking is different from any
university’s ranking. The university’s ranking is some combination between research, education, andsocial contribution. The impact ranking is focused on how the university, through education andresearch & community development, can make a positive impact on the society. Some examples are:
Griff University in Australia, where MBA students are required to take a system-thinking course toincorporate social and environmental systems into their decision making; Rotterdam School ofManagement in the Netherlands, where students are required to take a Climate Change Course tounderstand how climate change will impact their business sector; HEC Montreal in Canada wherestudents take a business history course that involves a 12-day, 500-km cycling trip to expose them to35how politics, culture and environment shape the economic development of a region. The last
example is Wharton School in the USA. They have created a joint initiative with the World Bank
Group called Ideas for Action, that invites students from around the world to devise strategies tofinance the SDGs. Winners get the opportunity to receive project incubator support for their ideas. I
think many new initiatives are taking place in different parts of the world. I would like to see
examples that come out from Asia-Pacific countries soon. United Nations University has a network
called Cross-planet. We have 15 members in 15 different countries. We would like to promote yourcollaboration for your endeavors. These slides show how business schools in the USA, Europe andOceania has been connecting students to local communities or regional communities.
Now, let me say that program design is quite important, but teacher training is also important.
While ESD competencies can be incorporated into faculty training programs in business andmanagement schools, a challenge remains that in many business and management schools,
especially in the MBA programs, lecturers come directly from the private sector. These people areexperts in their areas of business, but the higher education institution they teach at has no
mechanism to train or upskill them as they do not have the same incentive structure as researchfaculty. So it is important to connect academia and experts from business sectors.
Lastly, I would like to talk about learning to adapt global goals to institutional goals. I would like toshow the data on Women in Parliament. While the SDGs were created with national governments in
mind, it will be important for all sectors – including business – to learn how scale-down global goals
to look at sustainable development in their own enterprises. For example, Target 16.7 states “Ensure
responsive, inclusive participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. When we talkabout sustainable development of society, the key point is – no one will be left behind. That is genderissues, generation issues, and regional issues. If we look at the chart, Proportion of female CEOs ishugely overestimated. Next let’s look at the visualized Gender pay gap in the developed nations.
There is still pay gap between men and women. Asian countries including Japan and South Korea still
have big gaps, while USA, European countries, and Oceania – lesser gaps.
This is my last slide. Private sector is moving faster on discrimination in the workplace protections.
Only 27% of countries are covered by civil rights protections nationwide. So, you can be initiators.
You can make a difference on many of the SDGs, you can impact the society.
This is the end of my talk today, but I really hope my talk about competencies, which are closelyaligned with planning and achieving SDGs, can promote these ideas to the private sector.
Thank you very much for your attention.

Session II: Panel Discussion:“Humanizing Management Education for Sustainable Economic Development in
Asia-Pacific”
Moderator:
・Professor Dr. Ming-Yu Cheng (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia)
Panelists:
・Professor Dr. Qinhai Ma (Northeastern University, China)
・Dean Assistant Professor Dr. Rapeeporn Srijumpa (Burapha University, Thailand)・Assistant Professor Dr. Riani Rachmawati (Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia)

36Moderator:
Professor Dr. Ming-Yu Cheng (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia)“Abstract on ABEST21 Joint Research Project 8”
Nurturing business leaders in this changing environment
requires business schools to continuously review and relook
into the delivery of business management education. This is toensure the relevance of the business schools for creating a
positive impact on society. Humanizing management
education is becoming the focus of business management
education in the effort to nurture responsible and ethicalbusiness leaders to improve human well-being. The occurrence of the past financial crisis and theoutbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had reminded us of the urgency for business schools toadvance business and management education with “human values” and “human nature” as the corevalue of the business curricula, to create meaningful engagement with the society and nature.
This study examines the development of humanizing management education among ABEST21
member schools. The findings which integrate information, opinions and suggestions from various
sources indicate that key stakeholders, particularly business schools, companies, students, andalumni, are concerned about humanizing management education. Although no standard definition
can be derived for humanizing management education, there is a general agreement that businessactivities should be focusing more on the human aspect rather than profit as the ultimate goal toensure sustainable economic development. Incorporating ethics-related courses is a common way tointegrate the humanizing aspect into business management programs, and some schools areworking closely with the industry to bring in humanizing management practices from the industry
perspective.
The major challenge in promoting humanizing management education is the lack of expertise andguidance, information as well as materials for the business schools to integrate humanizing element
into business curricula. Hence more efforts should be devoted to exploring good practices anddeveloping the guiding principles, expertise, and materials to fill the gaps to promote humanizing
management education in business schools.

Panelist:
Professor Dr. Ma Qinhai (Northeastern University, China)“Establishing the concept and understanding of Humanizing Management
Education”
In this project, we collect and review the perspectives of key
stakeholders of business schools on Humanizing Management andHumanizing Management Education. Although there aredifferences in their expressions and foci, the core topics are
Management is about People, encompassing human dignity,
wellbeing, equal rights, freedom, fairness, respect andcollaboration, and Management Education for Students to become better persons for the benefit ofthemselves and others, to be able to conduct business along with humanitarian principles and good
morals, to understand human culture and human management, to be responsible for sustainable37

working word.
We also did literature review and consider two similar viewpoints, responsible management
education and humanistic leadership education. We suggest Humanizing Management be atransformative business management that shifts from profit-oriented to humanity-oriented
perspective. It should be the fundamental insights of the humanities and wisdom along with theaspiring business sciences that ask questions such as what it means to be human and what it takes
to achieve such goals. Humanizing Management Education is an influential driver of humanizing
management practices. It should become a transformative business management education, notjust a patch for the existing one. Students who are well-educated in humanizing management should
become effective prime movers in management transformation towards humanizing management inorganizations. Humanizing Management Education serves to educate professionals towards
sustainable economic development, "a global economy that protects human dignity and promotes
human wellbeing in an economic system in which all stakeholders are equally respected so thatmarket mechanisms are applied to maximize societal benefits rather than individual profits; aneconomy in which economic rationality is applied as a means rather than an end in itself.”

Panelist:
Assistant Professor Dr. Rapeeporn Srijumpa
Dean, Graduate School of Commerce, Burapha University, Thailand“Stakeholders' viewpoints on the importance of Humanizing Management
Education”
One of the research objectives was to investigate key
stakeholders’ viewpoints on the importance of humanizing
management education (HME). The respondents were industry
leaders, management executives, alumni and students of business
management programs. The findings indicate that key stakeholders,
particularly CEOs, students, and alumni, are concerned about HME.
Online interviews were conducted with selected respondents from
Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, and China. HME is becoming the focus of business
management education in the effort to nurture responsible and ethical business leaders to improve
human well-being. Even in the digital economy, one CEO respondent mentioned that “it is still
important for the educational institutions to cultivate the spirit of humanity, because during thisperiod the society is less inclined to nurture humanization than in the past”. Thus, business schools
need to develop humanizing management (HM) courses in the curriculum, understand theworldwide practices of HM, for instance people management, emotional management, cultural
management, talent management. “Fostering HM in an educational institution will bring benefits toboth business organizations and the society broadly,” said one alumni, while the student respondents
expressed that “The assessment methods for MBA program should change, evaluate different
aspects of management, to increase the human aspect, interaction, flexibility, communication,
teamwork”. However, CEOs pointed out that “humanizing education is the only hope – and education
is a lifelong journey”, so “Business schools must provide self-improvement courses to make suregraduates are well-equipped, both physically and emotionally, to work professionally.” In summary,it is not just the students who should be focusing on HM but all stakeholders, including staff and38

professors of the educational institutions, as well as management executives and CEOs of thebusiness organizations. They all should develop a clear understanding of humanizing management
to promote the principles of humanitarianism towards all stakeholders for sustainable development.

Panelist:
Assistant Professor Dr. Riani Rachmawati
FEB-Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia“Summary of Research Methods employed in Project 8”
Phase one of data collection for project 8 was a survey of theschool members. 35 respondents participated in the survey(Indonesia 51%, Malaysia 23%, Japan 14%, Thailand 6%,
China 3% and Singapore 3%). The survey showed that theschool members consider globalising research and education
as their first priority, although they are also very much aware of
the importance of humanizing education. However, the biggest
challenge they face is the lack of guidelines to develop humanising management education. Whenthe school members were asked about the qualities/attributes which are important for humanising
management education, they made a similar list for the top 15 qualities. The top three importantqualities were passion to work with others, spirit of service, and good interpersonal relations. The
top three qualities for performance were good interpersonal relations, responsibility, and confidence.
In terms of activities that they consider among the best to humanise management education,organizing relevant courses/workshops/seminars and incorporating ethics in business courses are in
the top list.
In the phase two of data collection we used Self-Check Reports (SCRs) submitted by the school
members. There were 50 reports from 2016-2020. The analysis of SCRs indicated five main themes
in explaining humanising management education. These five main themes are: (1) Vision andmission; (2) Expected values; (3) Expected Skills; (4) Curriculum; and (5) Research and Publications.
These themes emphasise on the necessary elements of humanising such as ‘ethical’, ‘morality’,‘professional’, ‘global and culture sensitivity’ and ‘student-centred learning’.

Closing Remarks:
President and CEO Professor Dr. Zulkornain Yusop
Putra Business School, Malaysia
In the closing remarks, President and CEO Professor Dr.
Zulkornain Yusop shared a deep memory of the late Professor Dr.
Arfah Salleh, former President and CEO of Putra Business School,
Malaysia, and Founder and Principal Director of Human
Governance Institute INC., who promoted Human Governanceand Humanizing at the Business School. Professor Dr. Arfah
Salleh passed away on 19 December 2020.
Professor Dr. Zulkornain Yusop said that she will be
remembered for her hard work and dedication during the Joint Research Project No.8 “Humanizing
Management Education for Sustainable Economic Development in Asia-Pacific,” for her collegiality,

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for her forward-looking thinking, and her keen ability to engage and collaborate with international
members of ABEST21.

40