A Semester Abroad For The Price Of A Semester In Malaysia

SPENDING a semester abroad when pursuing your first bachelor's degree changes you.

It gives you the chance for learning and insight in a global university with students from creeds and ethnicities you will likely never meet in your home country.

And what if you can spend one semester abroad while still paying the same tuition fee for that semester as if you were still in Malaysia?

This is the latest enriching advantage of studying at UOW Malaysia.

UOW Malaysia bachelor's degree students pursuing any of about 30 courses at its Selangor or Penang campuses have the option of choosing to spend one semester at University of Wollongong (UOW), in a city of the same name at the southwestern corner of Australia.

And they do not have to pay any extra tuition fee.

For comparison, an international student studying at UOW pays about AUS$16,000 (RM47,800) per semester in tuition fees while pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration.

At UOW Malaysia, a Malaysian pays about RM11,000 per semester while pursuing a Bachelor of Business (Hons).

The privilege accorded by UOW Malaysia, for example, will allow its Bachelor of Business (Hons) undergraduates to spend a semester at UOW in Wollongong while paying that same RM11,000.

There will be, of course, other extra incidentals such as the flight tickets, accommodation and living expenses, but being exempted from the standard semester tuition fees removes a huge chunk of the education cost.

Aptly named Semester Abroad, this recently created privilege is available to UOW Malaysia students in the second year of eligible degree programmes.

It is available also to students who joined UOW Malaysia previously.

"It is not just about from whom and where you are learning from. A lot of learning comes from who you are learning with.

"It truly is a borderless world now, so as a university student, you will gain so much from spending even just a few months in a world-class university abroad," said UOW Malaysia Head of Marketing Mitchell Liong.

UOW Australia traces its roots back to 1951 and is found in the city of Wollongong, at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, 80km south of Sydney.

Wollongong has a population of about 300,000. UOW Australia's campus has a standing population of about 33,000 students who have come from 199 countries.

The sheer diversity of UOW's students turns Wollongong into a university city on a cosmopolitan scale.

"You might feel some culture shock at first and realise that almost everything you thought you knew is not absolute when applied to the world at large.

"But after one semester, studying and doing assignments with people of countless differences will change your view of your relation to the world," Liong said.

He said this was an exclusive privilege for UOW Malaysia students because UOW was a public university in Australia with campuses in Malaysia, Dubai and Hong Kong.

"You become a part of a global alumni after you study in UOW Malaysia, with almost 200,000 members from 199 countries," Liong added.

Available twice a year for eligible UOW Malaysia students in their second year, the semester abroad at UOW typically includes an orientation week. Thereafter, classes and assignments begin for three solid months.

Then come the exams, which can stretch for two weeks.

In short, it is like any other semester that UOW Malaysia students will face in their home country, except they will be living beside the Pacific Ocean on a campus with seven coffee shops, over 16 food outlets, two banks, a supermarket, hairdressing salon, travel agent, post office, medical centre, dentist and physiotherapist.

They can choose to involve themselves in any of the 130 clubs and societies on the campus.

When it is time for a break from the books, they can walk on any of the city's 17 patrolled beaches, or hike into the Illawarra region in search of waterfalls and breathtaking panoramas of hills.

Or they can grab a bite at food markets offering cuisine from corners of the world they have never heard of.

Throughout this adventure, UOW Malaysia students will be supported by the UOW student welfare and care by just paying the tuition fee of a semester spent in Malaysia.

For a better understanding of this privilege, visit www.uow.edu.my to fix an appointment with UOW Malaysia's education advisers.

This content is provided by UOW Malaysia