BACKGROUND AND EVOLUTION
The roots of the Graduate School of Business (GSB) can be traced back to 1998 when the School of Management (SOM) at USM started offering the Bachelor of Management programme and subsequently the Bachelor of Accountancy and Doctorate in Philosophy
(PhD) programmes.
In 1992, SOM introduced the Master of Business Administration(MBA) programme and later Doctor of Business Administration(DBA) in 1998. Realizing the needs of the industrial community and the growing enthusiasm for borderless education, SOM introduced an online study mode by offering its Master of Business Administration in 2006 and Master of Business Administration [International Business] in 2007.
The establishment of the Advanced Management Centre (AMC) operating under the Faculty of Management marked a new milestone in the history of GSB. Formed as a bridge to the set up of the GSB, the AMC managed the operations of all coursework modes, master level programmes and also doctorate degrees.
On August 9, 2007, the Senate started a Studies Committee to evaluate the idea of establishing a graduate school in order to align the clear policies and objectives with the University’s mission as a University of Research and Development.
Approved by the Higher Education Ministry in November 2008, the Graduate School of Business was officially launched and has since been acting as the catalyst to bridge the gap between academia and industry.
The GSB was established to fulfil the needs of industry and to promote and nurture business sustainability in Malaysia specifically in the Northern Region. GSB is also inspired to be a Top Business School in the neighbouring ASIA region. It is an International level Top Business School (TBS) that provides post-graduate business programmes on par with those offered by World-renowned universities.
The development of GSB is also in line with USM’s aim to emerge as a Sustainable University. The ability of GSB to combine business administration studies with various cluster disciplines research will produce the change agents for academic specialists in the business management field. This, in future, will cater for the national education hub as planned by the Ministry of Higher Education.