Barkavi Senthilkumar

Management Development Institute of Singapore

The Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), founded in 1956, is Singapore's oldest not-for-profit professional institute for lifelong learning. MDIS has two main subsidiaries: Management Development Institute of Singapore Pte Ltd (MDIS Pte Ltd) to oversee its Singapore academic operations, and MDIS International Pte Ltd to further its globalisation strategy. MDIS offers well-accredited courses in Business and Management, Engineering, Fashion Design, Information Technology, Health and Life Sciences, Mass Communications, Psychology and Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Management. Designed to provide individuals with opportunities to develop professionally, these programmes are offered in collaboration with highly acclaimed universities in Australia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. In September 2008, MDIS set up its first overseas campus in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan in Central Asia, to offer world-class tertiary education to students from the Central Asia region. A landmark deal was also achieved with EduCity@Iskandar in Johor, marking the first time a private Singaporean tertiary institution has made a foray into Malaysia. This will be the second of MDIS' overseas campuses and will open its doors to 2,000 students around 2016. Upon completion of third phase construction in 2023, the campus looks set to cater to more than 10,000 students. MDIS has representative offices in China, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as agents throughout Southeast Asia.