Study Opportunities at Private Higher Educational Institutions in Malaysia

Quality Assured Tertiary Programmes With Many Options
Local and international students in the pursuit of higher education are spoilt for choice by the wide range of study options and choices of both local and foreign universities, all at highly affordable costs. Underlying this is the current trend of setting up branch campuses in Malaysia by reputable universities from the UK and Australia. Furthermore, various universities from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and New Zealand are offering twinning, franchised and external degree programmes in partnership with Malaysian higher educational institutions.

Local private universities also offer competitively priced and excellent quality degree programmes as an added alternative.

Poised as the centre of educational excellence in the Asia- Pacific region, Malaysia’s educational programmes offered by private higher educational institutions (PHEIs) are of excellent quality. These institutions of higher learning are governed by various acts such as the Education Act 1996, the Universities and University Colleges (Amendment) Act 1996, Private Higher Education Institutions Act 1996 and the Malaysian Qualifications Agency Act 2007. English, an international lingua franca, is the medium of instruction making this a plus factor for students who aspire to succeed in their career.

Categories of Private Higher Educational Institutions (PHEIs)
There are 2 categories of PHEIs in Malaysia:

• Non-university Status
  • Private Colleges
  • Private Institutions
• University Status
  • Private Universities
  • Private University Colleges
  • Foreign Branch Campus Universities

Types of Qualifications Awarded
By Private Colleges

• Awarding internal or self-made certificate and diploma qualifications
• Conducting foreign university collaboration degree programmes
• Preparing students for external professional examinations

By Private Universities and University Colleges
- Awarding their own degree qualifications
By Foreign Branch Campus Universities
- Awarding identical degree qualifications as the host university overseas

Study Options at Private Colleges
A. Internal Awards at Diploma Level
Private colleges have been developing and awarding their own diploma level qualifications to students since the early 1980s. They use English as the medium of instruction. The greatest strength of the internallydeveloped programmes is that they are recognised and granted with ‘advance standing’ entry status by many foreign universities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Germany and the USA, allowing entry into these universities’ second year or final year bachelor degree programmes.

B. Preparing Students for External Professional Examinations
These colleges undertake to provide classes with tutorial support for students and prepare them for external examinations set by the local or foreign examination boards. Qualifications offered include those from the following globally recognised institutions :

• Professional Associations (ACCA-UK, CIMA-UK, ICSA-UK)
• Semi-Professional Examination Bodies (IBBM, LCCIEB-UK, NCC-UK)
• External Academic Programmes at postsecondary level (GCE ‘A’ Level - UK, SAM Australia, Canadian Pre-U)
• External English Programmes (University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate)

C. Bachelor Degree Programmes from Universities in the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany and France
Students can complete their foreign bachelor degree programmes at colleges in Malaysia which have an interinstitutional collaborative arrangement with host-universities from overseas. The most common collaborative arrangements that these colleges have with the host universities offering foreign degrees are the Split Degree or 3+0 Entire Degree arrangement.

(i) Split Degree Arrangement
This comes under the Twinning Degree, Credit Transfer Degree or Advanced Standing (Validated) Programmes.

• Twinning Degree Programmes allow students to partially complete the first or second year of their degree at a local college, with the remaining years to be completed at the specified foreign partner university, which will then award the degree upon graduation.

• Credit Transfer Programmes are also offered by colleges that have links with foreign universities. Stdents who have met the required credit hours of the subject studied locally can transfer the credit hours to the foreign university of their choice. This flexible arrangement is most popular among the US universities.

• Advanced Standing Programmes are the private colleges’ internal diploma programmes validated and moderated with ‘Advanced Standing’ entry status by a group of overseas universities for direct entry into the second or third year of their degree programmes. Upon completion of the ‘recognised’ diploma course in Malaysia, students will be awarded the foreign degree after successfully completing the remaining portion of the degree programme in the host university overseas.

(ii) 3+0 Entire Degree Arrangement
This arrangement allows the entire foreign bachelor degree programme to be completed in a Malaysian college. There are two possibilities for students:

• ‘3+0’ Foreign University Degree Programme
• External Programme for Degree Qualification

3+0’ Foreign University Degree Programme
Under this arrangement, some colleges are permitted by the foreign partner universities from the UK, Australia, US and France to conduct the entire degree programme in Malaysia on their behalf. The overseas universities will then award the degree. This novel study option, in operation since 1998, has made Malaysia a popular education destination for those who want to save costs.

External Programme for Degree Qualification
For external programmes, students register at a college which functions as a tutorial centre preparing the student for the final external examination. The degree obtained is equal to that obtained by internal students of the foreign university.

D. Master’s Degree and Post-Graduate Programmes

In collaboration with foreign universities, many colleges offer students a wide range of foreign master’s degrees and postgraduate studies of international standard at relatively low cost.

“In Malaysia, we offer quality and value-for-money education with many choices of international qualifications for your selection.”

Study Options at Malaysian Private Universities
Students can study at these Malaysian home-grown universities to earn their qualifications at both bachelor degree and postgraduate degree levels. In both cases, English is the medium of instruction. The relatively cheap course fees combined with worldwide recognise qualification make these campuses much sought after by local and international students. The areas of study offered include business, computer science, engineering, IT, medicine, services and languages.

Study Options at Foreign University Branch Campuses
Degrees offered by a branch campus of a foreign university in Malaysia is identical in every aspect with that of the parent campus in the country of origin. The first foreign university branch campus, Monash University Malaysia was set up in Malaysia in 1998.

Students registered in the Malaysian branch campus of an overseas university are automatically students of the parent campus. Such students have opportunity to spend one or more semesters at the overseas parent campus (but not the final year) with no disruption to their studies. The cost of studying for a degree in a branch campus in Malaysia is substantially lower than that in the parent campus overseas.