Engineering - the most popular qualification among Malaysia's top 50 CEOs

Results of a survey of Malaysia's 50 largest companies show that the most popular qualification of  CEOs is engineering, with 15 (30 per cent) of them possessing a basic engineering degree. Fourteen per cent majored in business, 12 per cent majored in accounting, and 8 per cent majored in economics.

According to Reza Ghazali, managing director of Korn Ferry Malaysia, an executive recruitment firm, engineers and technical-minded individuals tend to have a certain advantage.

"Nowadays you can't just think of business from a finance perspective. Growth through innovation is in play which is why engineers and technical-minded individuals tend to have the edge as they are very structured and very solutions-based. It boils down to how they are trained to be logical, methodical and to think out of the box."

The survey also revealed that 25 of the chiefs are from science stream while 22 come from arts stream. Moreover, results show that 16 per cent (32) of the top 50 CEOs have an MBA.

Here's a snapshot of some of the country's CEOs qualifications (click image to view full size):