Choose a reputable varsity
A PERSONAL transformation should occur as youth strive to earn their bachelor’s degree: they should transition from being children to adults capable of transforming their lives and become change agents in society.
Given that a university-level education is a significant event, choosing the right college or university becomes a crucial family decision.
KDU Penang University College deputy vice-chancellor Dr Brian Imrie stated how parents go to extraordinary lengths as they wrestle with this pivotal decision on their children’s future, from scrutinising fees and assessing physical facilities to examining study abroad opportunities.
However, he has seen how parents, primarily, rely upon word-of-mouth from their community in making their final decision.
“They become taken with certain institutions when a particular friend’s child lands a solid career after graduating,” he said.
But Dr Imrie, an academician for over 20 years who has served in Monash University, University Malaya, Taylor’s and Sunway universities before heading academic and research in KDU Penang, advised that not all degrees are born equal.
“It is important that parents do their due diligence in selecting an internationally recognised university level education that transforms their child. University graduates should possess the confidence to be able to adapt the technical knowledge they have learned at university to create innovative solutions to both business and societal problems. This requires a commitment to applied learning at university, something for which KDU Penang is renowned,” he said.
There are over 500 tertiary institutions in Malaysia, stringently overseen by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency.
It examines the teaching standard of each institution and the Higher Education Ministry audits each one and rates the education quality through the Malaysian Quality Evaluation Scheme (MyQuest) by awarding stars.
“Most institutions succeed in getting five-star ratings in the MyQuest or Setara rating systems for colleges and universities respectively.
“For a select few that pull out all the stops to be the best, though, we are conferred six stars,” he said.
In 2015, KDU Penang earned the prestigious six-star MyQuest college based rating, becoming then the only private college in Penang to achieve this quality recognition.
Dr Imrie said independent assessments of tertiary institutions are vital for parents to decide on which university/ college they should send their children to.
“The noise created by university marketing activity often distracts them from the reality that this is a long-term family investment. All universities are not made equal, so for parents and their children to decide which one is ideal, they have to rely on independent assessments,” he stressed.
Aside from MyQuest, parents now have another yardstick to rely on – the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) from Britain.
“It reflects the excellence of their teaching, learning environment, graduate employment or further study outcomes for UK degree programmes, including those dual award programmes delivered here in Malaysia.
This is an alternative to research-dominant university rankings and a valuable quality benchmark for undergraduate education,” he said.
Though TEF assesses only British universities, it carries a global impact, such as KDU Penang’s partnership with the University of Lincoln, UK.
Last year, Lincoln UK earned a TEF gold rating, making it into the top 20% of British universities along with Oxford, Cambridge and a handful of others.
“KDU Penang benefits from the standards set by Lincoln UK. They collaborate very closely with academic staff at KDU Penang in ensuring that students on our suite of dual award degree programmes experience an identical learning environment.
This helps us to further enhance our reputation as a leading university college in Penang,” Dr Imrie said.
He added that it is a highly engaged collaboration through which KDU Penang undergraduates receive the gold level experience, including the possibility of studying abroad. Ratings such as MyQuest and TEF allow parents to filter out often-biased marketing hype and word-of-mouth claims to see which university will help to consolidate their children’s future.
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