Expanding research knowledge and opportunities
DR VIVEK Thuppil of the University of Nottingham Malaysia studies animal behaviour and its impact on human-wildlife conflicts.
During his lectures, he shares his research knowledge with students, particularly in his third-year elective modules. However, the exposure to research experience does not end here for his students.
Undergraduate students can take advantage of research internships during the term breaks, where they can get involved in designing experiments and collecting data to get a feel of being a researcher.
“If there’s a publication resulting from the research, the students involved are usually named as authors, so they have opportunities to be published before they even finish their undergraduate degree. I think that’s something that really sets our opportunities apart,” says Dr Vivek.
“I usually write letters of recommendation for my students on why they’re appropriate candidates based on the coursework and research they’ve done. If they’re applying for postgraduate opportunities abroad, having this experience under their belt makes them very competitive.”
According to Dr Vivek, psychology is a broad-based field that incorporates both the arts and sciences.
“There is a very strong scientific basis in the psychology programmes offered at Nottingham, so you’ll learn critical thinking, data analysis skills and the scientific method. It allows you to do a wide variety of things.”
The University of Nottingham Malaysia offers a range of programmes at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has won many local and international accolades.
Last November, the university was awarded Tier 5: Excellent status in the Rating for Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia (Setara) by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) under the Higher Education Ministry.
The University of Nottingham Malaysia has also garnered a five-star rating in the Malaysian Research Assessment (MyRA) exercise, making it the highest-rated international university in Malaysia in terms of the quality of its research and innovation.
The objective of Setara is to enhance the quality of higher education in Malaysia and its rating exercise involves a rigorous assessment conducted by MQA.
Public and private universities are assessed under four criteria – institutional profiles, teaching and learning, research capacity, and services and income generation.
“We are proud that we are continually rated highly in exercises such as MyRA and Setara, in addition to achieving in many other areas of student and staff activity,” says University of Nottingham Malaysia’s chief executive officer and provost Prof Graham Kendall.
“As a UK university that has been in Malaysia for almost 20 years, we feel that we are now an established part of the country’s higher education landscape and make recognisable contributions to the sector.
“Ratings such as Setara and MyRA validate what we are doing, but we are conscious that this is just a snapshot of our performance at a given point in time and that we have to continually develop and improve.”
University awards
Since 2010, the University of Nottingham Malaysia has held the Excellent status from Setara and self-accreditation status from Higher Education Ministry.
The university’s research excellence has also been recognised with a five-star rating in MyRA since 2014.
Globally, the University of Nottingham is ranked among the top 100 in the QS World University Rankings 2017/18 and 8th in the UK for research power, according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014.
According to the The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017, the University of Nottingham is the best university in the UK for graduate employment.
For more information, e-mail study@nottingham.edu.my