Second chances

THE Diploma in Higher Education Studies ( DHES) programme offers students the unique opportunity of a second chance at tertiary study at Monash Malaysia.

Melissa Wong, assistant lecturer and coordinator of the Diploma in Higher Education Studies at Monash, provides insight into the programme.

The programme is for students who are keen to be a part of Monash, but missed the cut. The DHES programme is a direct pathway programme to selected undergraduate degrees offered at Monash Malaysia.

It is designed for students who are looking at entering tertiary programmes in arts, business, computer science or science.

The year- long programme sees students completing eight units – six compulsory units in the student’s elected stream and two first- year core units in the academic literacies development.

Students will undertake units in their chosen discipline, equivalent to Year 1 of a corresponding undergraduate degree.

This allows them direct entry into the second year of their selected degree programme upon completion of the DHES.

The teaching and learning of the academic literacies development enables students to read and write competently at university levels.

The two compulsory units – learning in higher education and academic literacies – introduce students to the world of research and how they can participate in it.

Students learn to locate the most reliable and reputable sources of information, a lot of which are available through the Monash Library, and to distinguish between trustworthy and dubious information off the Internet.

Academic reading in higher education is more complex as students must be able to skim and scan academic texts quickly to gain the information needed as well as read comprehensively to understand the text completely.

Students are also taught to think critically about any reading text and to question the nature of the information contained in them.

Academic writing is a complex skill that requires students to recognise different academic genres as well as write texts that mimic scholarly academic texts.

First- year students need to orient themselves to writing using the academic register, structure and formats as it is the tone often employed in academic writing in higher education.

This is so that students can eventually transition easily into their second year of a bachelor’s programme. The ability to think, read and write critically are also skills prized in many workplaces and are valuable lifelong learning skills.

A unique aspect of the DHES programme is the mentoring service available to students. Students meet with academic staff who would assist in identifying learning hurdles and develop strategies to overcome the recognised learning difficulties.

The mentor checks in on them periodically to ensure that they are coping well with the rigours of university learning.

A graduate of the programme shared his experience of missing out on an opportunity to enter university after his preuniversity scores fell just below Monash’s entry requirement for a computer science degree. However, he undertook the DHES programme and has since completed it and is now thriving as a degree- completing student.

Young people, in particular, should be given the message that failure is a part of life and that it is important to become resilient in the face of setbacks. When it comes to learning, there are never dead ends.

For more information, visit www. monash. edu. my.