Bachelor degree study options offered by private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in Malaysia

by StudyMalaysia.com on December 24, 2020 | Top Stories, Private Education Routes

Private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in Malaysia provide many bachelor degree options in a variety of fields. As a student planning for higher education, it's useful to know the various study modes offered before making a decision. The modes of acquiring a bachelor degree at PHEIs in Malaysia include:

Acquiring foreign degree qualifications via:

1. Courses offered by foreign university branch campuses located in Malaysia that lead to the award of the foreign university’s degree qualifications
2. Courses conducted by Malaysian PHEIs that lead to foreign degree qualifications:
   • Private colleges or universities that offer twinning degree programmes (such as 2+1 and 3+0 arrangements) that lead to foreign degree qualifications awarded by universities from various countries
   • Private colleges or private universities that offer credit transfer programmes (such as the American degree programme, or UK and Australia credit transfer programmes) that lead to foreign degree qualifications awarded by universities from various countries
   • Private colleges that offer external degree programmes that lead to the award of a bachelor degree from foreign universities

Acquiring Malaysian home-grown degree qualifications via:

1. Internal qualifications: Malaysian home-grown private universities and university colleges that award homegrown degree qualifications
2. Joint degree and dual-award undergraduate degree qualifications via home-grown degree qualifications: Some Malaysian universities collaborate with partner foreign universities to award joint degree qualifications and dual-award undergraduate degree certification to its graduates. This means that students graduate with two degrees, one from each university.

Acquiring a foreign degree qualification via the ‘Advanced Standing’ pathway:

1. Foreign degree qualification via a diploma pathway (vertical credit transfer)
2. Foreign degree qualification via a degree pathway (horizontal credit transfer)
   Private colleges or private universities that offer homegrown diplomas or bachelor degrees with ‘advanced standing’ status that is recognised by foreign universities for credit transfer to these foreign universities for their bachelor degree programmes.

Acquiring a bachelor degree via the distance learning mode

Some universities in Malaysia offer distance learning mode for students to acquire a bachelor degree qualification without physically present in the campus

Collectively, PHEIs in Malaysia offer you many choices of bachelor degree programmes that suit your interest, budget, academic needs and career aspiration.

The various study modes that lead to a bachelor degree

Besides the variety of programmes available, students like you have many options when it comes to how you’d like to earn your bachelor degree.

Diagram: An overview of the study modes that lead to a bachelor degree

When you begin exploring different courses offered in Malaysia, you may come across terms like ‘twinning programme’, ‘internal or home-grown award’, ‘dual award’ and others. These are names of different study mode options. Let us explore these study modes so that you can understand them better.

In general, the study modes can be grouped into three categories:

• route to acquiring a foreign degree qualification (more on this in Chapter 5)
• route to acquiring a Malaysian home-grown degree qualification
• route to acquiring a foreign degree qualification via the ‘Advanced Standing’ pathway
• route to acquiring a bachelor degree via the distance learning mode

Acquiring a Malaysian home-grown degree qualification

The following are types of qualifications that are offered by home-grown universities:

1. Internal degree qualification
2. Joint award degree qualification
3. Dual-award degree programme

Internal degree qualifications are qualifications awarded by Malaysian home-grown private universities and university colleges.

Table: Examples of public universities in Malaysia that offer quality home-grown bachelor degree programmes

Table: Examples of reputable private universities and university-colleges in Malaysia that offer quality homegrown bachelor degree programmes

In joint degree undergraduate programmes, private HEIs and their partner universities jointly award one higher education qualification to students who successfully complete the programme. The joint degree programmes offered through the following collaborations are among the many examples.

1. Sunway University and UK’s Lancaster University
2. Asia Pacific University of Technology and UK’s Staffordshire University
3. HELP University and Australia’s Flinders University jointly offer Bachelor of Psychological Science (Hons)

In a dual-award degree programme, a student can pursue one degree programme and graduate with two degree qualifications (one degree certificate from the Malaysian university and the other from the overseas university-partner) at the cost of one degree, without leaving Malaysia.

Examples of some reputable home-grown universities that offer dual-award degree programmes

• SEGi University collaborates with University of Abertay Dundee, a British university, for the dual-award undergraduate degree programmes for accounting, business management, IT, and environmental technology
• SEGi University collaborates with University of Sunderland, UK, for the dual-award undergraduate degree programmes for electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, hospitality management and business
• SEGi University collaborates with University of St Mark and St John, UK for the dual-award undergraduate degree programmes for education, mass communication, English & PR
• SEGi University collaborates with University of Greenwich, UK for the dual-award undergraduate degree programme for civil engineering
• Sunway University collaborates with Lancaster University, UK for the dual-award undergraduate degree programmes for accounting and finance, business and medical biotechnology

The ‘Advanced Standing’ pathway for a foreign university degree qualification

Malaysia’s private colleges has had a well-developed transnational education or ‘advanced standing’ structure since the early 1980s. This has enabled students who are unable to study abroad in countries like the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, China and Taiwan for a full 3-year duration (due to financial constraints) to have an option of doing part of their degree in Malaysia.

‘Advanced standing’ means that recognition (full or part) is given by a foreign university for a particular course pursued at a Malaysian PHEI (such as a diploma or Year 1 or Year 2 of a bachelor degree) that allows a student advanced entry into the foreign university’s degree programme.

If you’re looking for an overseas learning experience but have a limited budget, choosing a course that has a credit transfer or advanced standing arrangement with foreign universities can be the solution.

The features of this programme are:

• Local PHEIs cooperate with one or a consortium of overseas universities
• The course curriculum of local PHEIs is recognised with either full or part exemption for a foreign degree programme
• Students of local PHEIs have a choice of many overseas universities (within the consortium) to choose from to complete their degree programme
• The degree qualification is awarded by the overseas university, subject to the student completing the course and meeting graduation requirements

There are two pathways to advanced entry into a foreign university’s degree programme:

Foreign degree qualification via a diploma pathway

Many internally-developed diploma level programmes offered by PHEIs are recognised and granted ‘advanced standing’ status by foreign universities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, France, China, Taiwan and the US for their bachelor degree programmes. Students who have completed the ‘advanced standing’ status diploma are accepted at the second or third year of the degree programme overseas, subject to the articulation agreements.

Table: Some examples of advanced standing arrangements that lead to a foreign university bachelor degree (horizontal credit transfer pathway)

Foreign degree qualification via a degree pathway

Many Malaysian private university degree programmes (Year 1 and Year 2 curriculum) are recognised by partner universities overseas with ‘advanced standing’ entry status. Therefore students who have completed Year 1 or Year 2 of a degree programme in PHEIs are accepted as the second or final year students of the degree programmes of respective partner universities overseas. This arrangement allows undergraduate students of local private universities to have the option of graduating with a foreign degree qualification from a university overseas.

Table: Examples of advanced standing arrangement that lead to a bachelor degree via a diploma qualification (vertical credit transfer pathway)

Acquiring a bachelor degree via the distance learning mode

Earning a bachelor’degree through distance learning is possible in Malaysia through distance learning universities, open universities or e-mode universities. Malaysia’s homegrown higher educational institutions such as Open University of Malaysia, Wawasan Open University and Asia e-University conduct distance learning programmes with the approval and quality assurance from the national quality assurance agency, MQA.

Students learn at their own pace through online tutorials and course materials from the institution. However, students may be required to attend a number of face-to-face tutorials at the institution’s premises.

The advantage of a distance learning programme is that it provides the flexibility of acquiring a degree at your own pace and at a reduced cost. Read more about studying part-time in the next section of this chapter.

Read more: Private Education Route for Bachelor's Degree Programmes and Professional Qualifications

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