AIM Contributes 144 More Leaders to the World

Blog contribution by Nonette Climaco and Monina Montepiedra

On 13 December 2009, the Asian Institute of Management, Asia's premiere graduate school of business and management, conferred 107 Master in Business Administration (MBA), 35 Executive MBA (EMBA), and two Master in Entrepreneurship (ME) degrees to the graduating class of 2009. In a message to the graduates, AIM President Edilberto de Jesus said that "the world changed during the months that you were here." Nevertheless, he was optimistic that "regardless of how the industries that the graduates will eventually join have changed, the lessons and rigor they learned from AIM will help the graduates cope with change."

Messages from MBA Cohort 3 Graduates:

There is mixed feeling about graduation. On the one hand, I would miss AIM classes and AIM life, but on the other hand there is also excitement to take on the real unfair world and apply what we learnt.

In general, in the last 16 months, MBA has honed my analytical abilities. My thinking is quite a lot structured and logical and thanks to CP day in and day out, I can express my thoughts in a logical, succinct and brief manner.

I will miss most the CP everyday— the absolute freedom to critique the best companies of the world and their leaders.

-Sumukh Guruprasad, India

I felt that all the hard work we did in the first 2 terms all paid off and it's like a dream come true. For the learning part, I would say I learned "A LOT" since AIM taught us real cases, it actually is, applicable directly to what we will do at work. Recently, I went for a job interview and they actually asked me a real case and I have to cite my answer in just a few minutes. With the case study learning from AIM, where it went well for me. It helped me a lot.

I will miss reading cases, the poolside party, CAN group discussions. I will miss every single thing that has happened for the last 16months. :)

-Shirleen Iskandar, Indonesia

I feel an immense amount of satisfaction having accomplished the rigorous 16-month MBA program. I feel good about myself on being able to surmount the mental, physical and emotional challenges that are inherent with the MBA program.

I learned that I cannot accomplish much on my own. If I want to achieve much in both my professional and personal life, I have to also rely on the talents, skills and friendships of others. I cannot learn everything through classroom discussions. There are things that I will only learn through everyday interaction with fellow alumni, professors, AIM staff and others.

I will miss most the daily interaction with my close friends since most of us will now take different professional directions and some will be based in other cities or countries. Our friendship is strong and unique having been together with the toughest 4 months yet and it would be an adjustment not interacting with them on a daily basis.

-Enrique Jose V. Mendoza, Philippines

I am speechless to tell you the truth. On one end, I am happy to be finally graduating after 16 months of hard work. On the other end, I find it difficult to accept that I have to move on and once again face the realities that the world has to shower upon me. I, however, do thank AIM for preparing me for all of the harsh realities in life and am sure that I am leaving the institute a more confident and strong person than when I got in.

At initial thought it was the class participation that I was going to miss, but as I have learnt from my internship and experience outside of campus, its the CP that translates to good discussion points in corporate meetings. So eventually what I'm going to miss would be the friends I've made here and also the frequent and uncalled for discussions that we have during our poolside endeavors!

-Kumaran Mahendran, India