Senior Lecturer and Legal Advisor at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu Dr. Fahirah Syaliza shared a quick graduation strategy with doctoral and master students at SBM ITB in the Masters of Management Science and Doctor of Management Science Lounge on Wednesday (21/12). This seminar was open to the public, especially postgraduate students.

Dr. Syaliza said that aside from being a lecturer, she is also a practitioner. She wants to ensure that the knowledge students have is aligned with current industry needs.

According to Dr. Syaliza, two things must be considered if you want to graduate early: plan well and find the right supervisor. 

Plan properly. Most master’s and doctoral program students already have several roles other than being a student.

Among them are employees, business owners, a husband or wives, and many more, and we need to plan it well. The plan should be achievable, not stressful, and balance every role in life.

She shared her experience of experiencing burnout while working on her thesis because she pushed herself too hard in planning. She reminds students to plan well, make it as comfortable as possible, and fit in the time they have. We need to prevent burnout instead of living through it and trying to get out of it.

“Your brain shuts down, so make a relaxed plan,” She explained what happens to the brain when fatigue sets in.

She recommended creating a timeline to visualize the plan. The timeline must be as specific as possible, for example, the first month to do research, three months later, the first chapter is finished, and so on. She showed the timeline she usually did for her students, so it can be a good example for the audience to better understand.

The second thing is to find the right supervisor. Supervisors are crucial.

Remember that this is your first time going through a master’s and doctoral program. You need an expert to give you advice, keep you on track, and help you with your work.

Not all supervisors are great or compatible with you. So, you need to look for the right one.

Choose the one that can give you advice, motivates you to work harder, cares about your plans to graduate faster, and helps you do your job better because they are experienced and remember that you are a beginner.

“We don’t know anything, so we need the right supervisor to supervise us,” said Syaliza.

The seminar ended with a question-and-answer session. One viewer asked how we manage so many roles in our life because it’s not easy.

“I use a method called ‘compartmentalize’ to plan it,” she explained further.

Written by Student Reporter (Anggi Nurdiani, Management 2024)