The Best of British Education for SPM, UEC and O-Level Students

Britain is home to some of the world’s most prominent institutions of higher learning which rank among the top universities in the world. Institutions such as the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Imperial College London and University College London consistently rank among the world’s top ten universities.

Academic rigour and quality accounts largely for this high reputation. The quality of content has its foundation in the intellectual leadership assumed by British thinkers and scholars in the sciences, technology and the humanities.

HELP University has had a long and successful association with British higher education since its founding in 1986.

HELP currently offers three UK programmes: two at A-Level (Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Level and Cambridge Advanced International Education), and two at undergraduate level (University of London and University of Derby).

By being the only institution in Malaysia to offer both the Pearson Edexcel and the Cambridge A-Level programmes, HELP caters to the different learning styles of students. The Edexcel A-Level is a modular system that allows students to re-sit a subject to improve the grade without having to re-sit the whole exam, while the opposite is true for the Cambridge option.

Both options are popular with students – a reflection of the effective pedagogy employed by the lecturers. Among the excellent results they achieve are successful admission to top universities like Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College London, University College London, King’s College London, Princeton, Harvard, MIT and the Australian National University.

Admissions are especially strong in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) courses which nurture students in key skills like Problem Solving, Critical Analysis, Creativity, Independent Thinking and Digital Literacy.

Two A-Level students who have benefited from the STEM approach are Aaron Low and Emily Ng.

Aaron Low, who scored 4 As in the A-Levels, gained admission to Imperial College London and graduated with First Class Honours in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He is now working on Machine Learning and Computer Vision at Imperial College for his PhD.

Emily Ng, who also attained 4 As in the A-Levels, was accepted into Trinity College, Oxford University, for Biochemistry. The subject suits her enquiring mind, as “I have always been intrigued by how things work, and Biochemistry is the study of how living organisms function at the molecular level. I was instantly hooked when I was first introduced to it”, Emily revealed. She intends to pursue her interest in Biochemistry up to the PhD level.

The other UK programme which HELP has excelled in delivering is the University of London (UOL) BSc degree.

The University of London is renowned for its role in enabling people in the UK and worldwide with neither the means nor the time to pursue higher education and acquire a degree through self-study. It has graduated over 100,000 UOL alumni all over the world, including Nobel Prize winners, presidents or prime ministers, government ministers and renowned academicians. Currently, over 52,000 students in more than 180 countries (including Antarctica) are registered with the UOL as students.

UOL graduates are the first choice of discerning employers who value the pedigree of the qualification. Further adding to its renown is the fact that the academic direction and syllabus for the degree is provided by the renowned London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) whose lecturers are responsible for creating the course content and setting and grading the exams. Graduates’ degree certificates carry the same name and stamp of the University of London and London School of Economics and Political Science as those conferred on students studying and graduating in the UK.

HELP University pioneered tutorial support to prepare full-time students and working adults to sit for the UOL exams. This practice has since been widely adopted all over the world, but HELP has maintained the lead in coaching UOL students to obtain world-topping results (in terms of the number of First Class Honours degrees and the world’s highest scores in individual subjects) by adherence to high standards of teaching and academic practice.

HELP offers full tutorial support for the UOL programme in four pathways: Accounting and Finance, Banking and Finance, Economics and Management, and Economics. The LSE provides full support to students in the form of academic study guides and access to its virtual learning environment. There are past year examination papers to refer to and examiners’ reports to guide students in their studies.

“In this unique programme, you study in KL but graduate from the University of London. You can actually travel to London to receive your degree scroll at the convocation. The programme is rigorous and challenging, but the supportive ecosystem helps the students to do well. In recent years our students have attained so many First Class Honours degrees that the University wrote to praise us in glowing terms”, said Baldev Sidhu, head of the Department of University of London Programmes at HELP.

“We don’t usually blow our trumpets, but our graduates find themselves working for the movers and shakers of the corporate world. They also go on to other prestigious universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Chicago, LSE, SOAS and Wharton for postgraduate studies”, added Baldev.

The second UK university programme offered by HELP is the University of Derby (UOD), which is highly ranked for its teaching quality.

UOD is rated among the top 30 UK universities by The Guardian University Guide in 2019. It won a Gold rating under the UK government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF); this rating is awarded to institutions that consistently deliver outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for their students. In specific subject areas, it is among the Top 10 for Management, Business and Marketing (source: Guardian University Guide 2019).

HELP offers three popular UOD subject pathways: BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance, BA (Hons) Business Management and BA (Hons) Business (International Business). All three pathways are ranked in the Top 10 courses among UK Universities, according to The Guardian League Table 2019/2020.

Moreover, the Accounting and Finance pathway is granted generous exemptions by professional accounting bodies (9 exemptions by ACCA) for graduates to quickly acquire full professional qualifications.

In the case of the Business Management and Business (International Business) pathways, both are accredited by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) UK, an institution dedicated to the professional advancement of managers. On graduating, students are awarded the CMI’s Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership, which is a recognition of the graduates’ competency as middle managers and is the benchmark qualification for full CMI membership, taking them a step nearer to acquiring Chartered Manager status. Acquiring 2 qualifications in a single course of study makes these two UOD pathways an excellent proposition.

The UOD programme also offers convenient admission pathways into its degree programmes for SPM, UEC and STPM and O-Level students via HELP’s Certificate and Diploma or equivalent courses.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the UOD programme is the 10-day international study visit to the university’s campus in the UK for academic activities and seminars, networking with Derby students and faculty members, and visiting Derby’s industry partners (airfare and accommodation are provided). Many students also plan visits to other parts of the UK and to Europe, taking advantage of the airfare provided.

HELP currently offers special packages for SPM, STPM, UEC and O-Level students to enter the A-Level, UOD and UOL programmes of HELP University.

For enquiries, please call or whatsapp: 012-3088708 (Ong Lea Kuan) / 016-2393000 (Jennifer) at your convenience.

Graduate Studies at HELP University

Graduate studies have burgeoned beyond recognition in tandem with the growth of education and training opportunities throughout the world.

Where graduate studies used to be predominant in the sciences, humanities and the social sciences, now they are common in the spheres of business, finance and management.

And where theoretical research used to be the norm, aimed at contributing pure knowledge in a discipline, graduate level studies now routinely focus on applied research to elucidate and contribute insights to improve practice and performance in a profession or a practitioner’s field of endeavour.

Therefore, it is a commonplace to see DBA or PhD degrees awarded in fields like management, IT management, organisational behaviour, finance, accounting, data analytics, etc.

At HELP University, graduate studies take pride of place in the academic programmes.

Graduate programmes are offered under the aegis of the ELM Graduate School.

‘ELM’ deserves a special mention. It stands for Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Management. It is a framework denoting the three elements functioning in tandem to generate productivity and performance in organisations and businesses.

Ideas like those behind the formulation of the ELM framework are a prominent feature of the educational philosophy of HELP University, as they drive its success towards attaining a leadership position in the Malaysian private education sector.

This also explains why HELP University has built its main strengths in management and business-related courses.

The ELM Graduate School offers 13 master’s and 4 doctoral programmes; these include special fields like Economic Crime Management, Project Management, Corporate Governance, and the MPhil and PhD degrees in Psychology.

The HELP Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) stands out for popularity, relevance and appeal.

The HELP DBA, with an emphasis on applied research, has gained a reputation for offering working professionals with an interest in management research a new intellectual challenge: to take up doctoral studies.

Typically, candidates would have a practical research question in mind; eg a specific problem from their work environment that they will formally investigate and eventually present in a dissertation, with findings and insights that will benefit their companies.

They also benefit from the collective experience of peers who may bring their significant experience in business in roles with leadership and other strategic responsibilities into the classroom to be studied, shared, critiqued and refined.

They acquire intellectual discipline, higher order thinking and enhance their conceptual capabilities. Selecting a research topic or investigating a research problem that is directly related to their area of work will also benefit their careers as it enables them to dissect and understand the problems and issues with enhanced clarity and depth, and view them from the appropriate perspectives and prescribe accurate solutions.

The DBA usually appeals to professionals who have more than 15 years’ experience; they hold good positions and are highly ambitious and motivated.

The DBA is the highest academic qualification in the field of business and management. Unlike the PhD, it focuses on practical oriented research that aims to fulfil the needs of industry and the economy. Although the DBA is more suited to working professionals who plan to advance to higher management positions or be management consultants, the rigour of the DBA qualifies the DBA graduate to be competent researchers and academics.

The experience of a distinguished recent graduate illustrates the value of the HELP DBA.

Dr Grace Lee, CEO of Astro Go Shop, was heading the Finance and Risk Management portfolios at Astro when she joined the HELP DBA programme. For her dissertation, she chose to do a pioneering study of Corporate Risk Governance in 100 Malaysian listed companies. The study provided new insights on risk governance practices and has the potential to help regulators gain a greater awareness of their value. It also helps them to formulate training and development programmes for board directors to enhance their oversight of corporate risk governance.

Although her subsequent promotion as CEO of Astro Go Shop took her away from the risk management repsonsibility at Astro, the significant findings of the study (eg, increasing the role of independent directors or increasing the number of independent directors doesn’t necessarily improve risk governance) served to enhance her awareness of the dynamics of corporate governance and consequently strengthen her role as a CEO.

As Grace is also an independent director and Chairman of the Audit Committee at MaGIC (Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre), the benefits of her insights into corporate risk governance gleaned from her DBA research extend to multiple sectors.

Grace also admits to the benefits of the programme’s rigour:

“It demands a lot of discipline: first, there are the extensive readings, and then you have to complete the assignments which requires case principle application of the readings. I think the discipline that comes with it is good even in the corporate world”.

Further testimony of the value of the HELP DBA is provided by Dr Wendy Liow, Dean of the ELM Graduate School of HELP University:

“The DBA is one of our most popular programmes. People recognise its value and the opportunities it offers for upskilling and career advancement. Business leaders and entrepreneurs welcome the challenge to re-think their ideas and experience with the help of rigorous academic tools and investigative methodologies to offer a different perspective. New dimensions are created to help develop their enterprises, strategies and management styles.

“We normally admit people in the 30-50 age group, many of whom are entrepreneurs and senior level management. In such a diverse environment, they have so much to learn and to share”.

Enquiries

Ms Emily Chin 03-2716 2220 / emily.chin@help.edu.my