Proton, the Car Manufacturer in turmoil... Linkedin link for those interested

I saw this video today. Proton, the Malaysian Car Manufacturer and owner of Group Lotus is going through a painful period.

Reminds me of British Leyland. Some of which survives and prospers.

(BMW owners of MINI are looking at putting my Italian job script in their MINI museum)

They are expected to get a foreign partner. Historically this has never materialised.

At least they have a financial lifeline while they implement their plan...

I have added a published post on Linkedin.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/proton-car-manufacturer-turmoil-little-out-box-idea-them-mansfield

The update gives a summary of my OUT OF THE BOX idea regarding a Motorsport centric University, and suggesting Proton and Lotus consider this as part of their turnaround...

Good luck. I have worked in Proton's Shah Alam R&D centre. Tough times for all concerned.


BEHIND THE STORY - Saving Proton by theedgetv

DRB Hicom Proton and Lotus whats the plan?

Plans. People love them!

What is Bernie Eccleston going to do in F1?

Joe Saward says he will open shop in Long Beach California.
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/12526/

DRB Hicom have been saying they are working on a business plan for Lotus and Proton.

Not being an insider, I have no idea when this plan will be revealed!

I do know that being a company that has historically been linked with government contracts, DRB Hicom probably felt they would wait and see what happened in the Malaysian elections.

They are now over.

I have a proposal. I sincerely hope they intend to include me and the proposal in their future plan!

Lets move on this sooner rather than later.

Open University in England charge £5000 per academic year

The BBC ran an article on 20th July 2011.
Open University sets £5,000 tuition fees

When I made my presentation at ASLI I used the figure of approx £1000 per student.
Prices for a formal recognised degree are rising.

Interestingly, the article states that the OU is still the cheap alternative!

The Open University has announced tuition fees of £5,000 per year for the equivalent of a full-time place for students in England from next year.
This will mean that the Open University, which provides degree courses by distance learning, will have among the lowest fees in England.

Vice chancellor Martin Bean promised "high-quality, flexible and great value-for-money education for all".

Assuming most people are only doing half an academic year per calender year this comes to £2.5Billion revenue per year for one million global students at English OU prices.

According to the RHB figures for Proton Holdings

Proton revenue for 2010 was RM 8,232.9 million this is about £1.7 billion

Perhaps these figures are just a bit too much for Proton/Lotus to comprehend.

Congratulation to UTM on gaining Research status.Proton (Lotus) to have professorship chair.

UTM a Johor (Iskandar region) based public University has just received Research status.
The Managing Director of Proton makes an interesting comment regarding Lotus.
Tony Fernandes received an honorary Doctorate from UTM in the recent past.
I have copied this quote directly from the UTM site.
Dato’ Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir Managing Director, Proton Holdings Sdn. Bhd.


 “Proton and UTM have initiated a professorship chair to further promote research and collaboration between the private sector and public institutions of higher learning. Jointly, Proton and UTM will conduct research to improve current technologies while developing new areas of research for green technology. This would include the involvement of Lotus.”

I have to assume the MD meant Group Lotus. Lotus F1 already has partnership agreements in place with both Petronas University and UTM.
I'd be interested to know what a "Professorship chair" entails exactly.