MANY Malaysian students today are taking advantage of the exchange rate and pursuing their education in the UK. The typical route is to take either a two-year A-Levels course or the one-year foundation course – both pathways will lead a place at a UK university, but Malaysian students need to aware of the differences in each course.
A-Levels is considered the “gold standard” in secondary education qualifications. For a student wishing to enter one of the top five universities in the UK such as Oxford, Cambridge of the London School of Economics, the A-Levels is vital.
One of the leading schools in the UK for A-Levels is Bellerbys College which has four campuses in Oxford and Cambridge as well as London and Brighton.
The foundation course is being taught over just three terms. Though students may not be able to enter the most competitive universities or courses as an A-Levels student might, nearly all other UK universities recognize the Bellerbys foundation qualification. Instead of choosing four or five A-Levels subjects, a foundation student will choose a subject stream such as business and finance, law and international relations, or engineering, depending on which course they wish to pursue at the undergraduate level.
Since most UK courses begin in September every year, Malaysian students would have to wait several months before their course starts.
But there is a way to take advantage of this time.
Bellerbys offers the A-Levels April intake which allows students to complete the course in one-and-a-half years. This is a five-term course instead of the usual six and requires the students to work to cover the same content as the regular six-term course. Students will start the A-Levels course in April and graduate in June 2012, ready to enter university in September of that year.
Students opting for the foundation pathway can also start in April, through the course will end in December. Some UK universities offer January start dates for business-related courses which they could then join, or a student could take diploma programme which is equivalent to the first year of university study. This means that a student can start the Bellerbys diploma programme in January 2012, and then enter the second year of a partner university in September 2012.
To encourage high-achievers, Bellerbys is happy to offer two tiers of scholarships worth up to 40% of the fees. Awards are given to students based on their SPM results.
For details, contact JM Education Counseling Centre at 03-5633 4732 or 017-349 6584 (Subang Jaya-Irene), 012-581 5509 (Penang-Amanda), 012-436 8982 (Ipoh-Katherine), 013-371 7099 (Johor-Yoke Yin), 016-840 9388 (Kota Kinabalu-Kee Aun), 012-896 6738 (Kuching-Sabrina) or e-mail inquirydata@jmecc.com
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