PETALING JAYA, Feb 29 — Recognised by Harvard University as an independent entity to address public needs and problems in Asia, the new Centre for Asia Leadership (CAL) regional headquarters is set to groom Asia’s emerging leaders.
Speaking to Bernama after a book launching ceremony at Sunway University here, its president Samuel Kim said the aim of establishing the regional headquarters was to channel and connect the best practices that world-renowned institutions had developed and practised to Asia.
“The reason for setting up the regional headquarters is so that we can open up more schools in the region to make them affordable and accessible.
“For example, we are starting a Stanford (University) programme in summer and we plan to partner with University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School (of Business),” he said.
Supported in part by the Harvard University Asia Centre, the regional headquarters was established on Oct 8, 2015, in collaboration with the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation and Sunway Education Group at Sunway University.
The South-Korean born Kim said the vision was not only to reach out to all Asian countries within two years, but also to develop a programme that catered to the biggest need in Asia and that was the lack of creative capacity (in entrepreneurship and business) and education.
“That’s why we wanted to bring in a programme that trains teachers and educators to teach in a way that can help students pick up the skills because there’s a huge gap in the type of talents, the types of people that the schools cultivate as opposed to what the corporate world wants.
“Of course, we are doing things here but we are not just looking at Malaysia. We want to embrace the whole continent,” Kim said, noting that the regional headquarters here was the first and only centre in Asia.
Earlier founding trustee of the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation (JCF), Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah launched three books published by the Centre for Asia Leadership Initiative Press (CALI Press), titled ‘Entrepreneurship and Economic Development in Asia’, ‘Finding the Leaders in Us: New Goal for Success’ and ‘Redefining Success: Learning to Lead for Change’. — Bernama
