Southampton, the engineer’s choice
The University of Southampton has a reputation for quality engineering education.
Its graduates are highly sought after by multinational companies and most of them are usually employed within months after graduation.
According to the latest Destination of Leavers of Higher Education survey, 94% of Southampton graduates entered employment or furthered their studies within six months of leaving the university.
Ranked among the top 1% of global universities according to the QS World University Rankings 2016/17, the Guardian University Guide 2018 ranked Southampton at number two for electrical and electronic engineering and in the top 15 for mechanical engineering.
Its aeronautics and astronautics programmes are also ranked fifth in The Complete University Guide, 2018.
The University of Southampton Malaysia Campus (USMC) in EduCity is its first international campus and it offers students its special split campus (UK and Malaysia) degree programmes.
Students stand to gain a unique Southampton education for the first two years in Malaysia followed by the final two years in the UK.
What USMC offers are integrated master’s programmes where student will graduate with a master’s degree after four years.
For students who do not see a need for a master’s degree, there is also an option for them to exit after obtaining their Bachelor of Engineering degree.
The courses currently offered in USMC are MEng Mechanical Engineering, MEng Aeronautics and Astronautics and MEng Electrical and and Electronic Engineering.
A foundation programme in engineering is also available.
It is a one-year integrated preparatory course custom-designed and delivered to prepare students for entry into engineering degree programmes.
Students are guaranteed the same quality education as that provided in the UK.
Some 40% of the teaching staff in USMC are from the UK while local lecturers were sent for training in the UK for at least six months.
Lecturers from the UK would also fly in to Malaysia to deliver certain modules.
Students at USMC will get to enjoy a very high staff to student ratio and graduate with a highly reputable master’s degree from the UK.
There are currently some 220 students in USMC.
USMC’s first batch of students graduated last year and out of 22 of them, 10 obtained first class MEng degrees while eight graduated with upper second class MEng.
Five of them secured jobs in the UK while several of them decided to pursue postgraduate studies.
Among them were MEng Mechanical Engineering graduate Jeremy Fong who is now a controls engineer with RollsRoyce, based in Birmingham.
Some of the graduates were also employed by multinational companies in Malaysia and Singapore.
Those who opt to kickstart their engineering path at USMC will get to benefit from savings of around RM220,000 compared to obtaining a similar degree solely in the UK.
The cost of studying for two years in Malaysia and two years in the UK is around 65% of the cost if one were to study for the whole four years in the UK.
Students who start their first and second years at USMC are also entitled to the special 20% transfer bursaries for the third and fourth years in the UK.
This brings the grand total of savings to RM414,000 as compared to spending RM635,000 for four years in the UK.
USMC is also quite stringent on its entry requirements.
Those who plan do the engineering foundation year need to have a minimum of 5As in SPM/O Level or its equivalent in the science stream including Mathematics and Physics.
Scholarships are also available for high achievers.
Those who score 9A+ and above in SPM including Physics and Mathematics will receive a 100% tuition fee waiver for the foundation year.
Those who score between 5As to 11As will receive a fee deduction of between 10% to 35%.
Meanwhile for undergraduate scholarships, high achievers with 3A* in their A levels, which must include Mathematics and Physics, will receive a 100% tuition fee waiver for their first year.
Scholarships are also available through external sponsorship bodies such as Khazanah Watan, Yayasan Telekom Malaysia, Yayasan Tenaga Nasional, Kumpulan Yayasan Sabah and Mara.
For more information about USMC, its entry requirements and scholarships available, log on to www.southampton.ac.uk/my.
Those interested can also visit their Facebook page at fb.com/ MalaysiaCampusSoton.
The university can also be contacted at 07-5602560 or via email at marketing.malaysia@ southampton.ac.uk.