Deciding on a postgraduate education


© 2009 Education UK

  


A number of factors influence a decision to continue with postgraduate study or ply a trade out in the big, wide world. For many students, obtaining a first degree is their preferred goal. Then it would be time to hit the job market and make their degrees work for them.

However, the number of people choosing to take their education a step further is increasing. On top of this the number of people heading to British shores for their postgraduate education is increasing. Why not? The UK is at the forefront of academic research and excellence. The recent favourable fluctuations in the value of the pound have also worked to entice many Malaysians to ‘dear old Blighty’.

For fresh graduates, being one step ahead of the competition is no longer sufficient for some people when they look for work. They want to be two, three or four steps ahead – and running.

For people looking at returning to education after some years of employment, it is a chance to obtain a qualification that will help establish them as an expert in their field or provide them with the necessary knowledge to propel them up the corporate ladder.

Added to which, it can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that, at this particular time, the economic outlook isn’t at its best. Reports from around the globe paint a picture far from that of sunshine and flowers. Such times are when people start looking to education to help them. Therefore, when the sun does come out again and the flowers begin to bloom, these people will be ripe for the picking.

With the first decision about choosing the UK as destination out of the way, more difficult decisions still lie ahead. Again, final-year students or fresh graduates may find their choice of higher education institution (HEI) and course pretty much mapped out for them. It is common for final-year students to find their postgraduate course through tutors or academic supervisors. Usually this means staying on at the same HEI but it can occasionally mean transferring.

For those who have not taken that route, making the right choice can be difficult. Similar to making that same choice for a first degree, a number of things need to be considered: location, amenities, fees, academic excellence and living costs.

However, at this stage of the game, the focus will shift. As a teenager, what you wanted from life, your university experience and education would probably have been much different from what you want as a young (and possibly working) adult. With lots of energy and a chance to experience a totally different culture, a social life and other distractions may have played a large part in your decision then.

Now, though, as someone who is set to invest in a postgraduate course, you will likely be more focused on the academic content and maximising that experience, using your qualification to really make your mark. The distractions of a social life and the bright lights of a big city may not hold that much sway anymore.

Prakash Raman Nair, for example, chose to pursue an MBA at Cranfield University because of ‘its reputation, strength of its alumni, strength of its faculty, and location. This was helpful as I had to travel to and from Zurich six times a year.’

Prakash is not alone in his assertion. In fact, numerous Malaysian postgraduate students in the UK have made the same comment: reputation is the crucial factor.

  

© 2009 Education UK

As mentioned earlier, when it comes to academic excellence at postgraduate level, the UK pretty much leads the way. No organisation would espouse this more than the Russell Group, a collaboration of 20 of the top research HEIs in the UK, whose members include Cambridge, Oxford and the University of London.. Approximately two-thirds of British universities’ research grant and contract income (more than RM11bil), plus 68% of UK Research Council funding goes to Russell Group universities every year.


© 2009 Education UK

  

However, it does not mean that the Russell Group is the be-all and end-all of UK research. Far from it – there is any number of HEIs around the UK which, for one reason or another, do not fit into the Russell Group’s elite clique yet still excel in their respective fields.

This is proven through the Research Assessment Exercise (www.rae.ac.uk), an annual appraisal of the UK’s HEIs. This report lists the HEIs and how they are performing in all their areas of research, with grades that range from ‘world-leading’ to ‘recognised nationally’. This report is available to download from the RAE’s website. A more user-friendly version has been compiled by The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk) newspaper.

The HEIs take the RAE report very seriously as it determines the government’s research budget allocation for the following year. They take it so seriously that at least one HEI has moved to axe ‘underperforming’ departments, so that money and effort can be spent elsewhere. Such moves are not without controversy but competition for funding and prestige among UK HEIs is of paramount importance.

Nevertheless, the RAE report for 2008 covered more than 60 subject areas. In many categories, there were no surprises, eg the London Business School was the leader in business and management studies (the Financial Times ranks it as the joint best school in the world), while Cambridge came up trumps in architecture. However, the report also showed that size isn’t everything. For example, Bangor University, the University of Essex and the University of Exeter came out on top for accounting and finance, demonstrating that these smaller HEIs have carved a niche in a particular area.


The credit for a lot of the UK’s engineering research remains with big powerhouse cities born out of the Industrial Revolution, ie London, Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, with civil engineering taking a distinctly Welsh flavour: Cardiff and Swansea each being a destination of choice for this area of study.

The field of medical and scientific research, too, is centred in London, with HEIs such as King’s College London, the Institute of Cancer Research and Imperial College consistently coming high up the rankings in these areas.

When it comes to the world of computers, the geographical spread for top HEIs widens. In ICT, leaders Cambridge and Imperial College London are closely followed by south coast-based University of Southampton and Scotland’s University of Edinburgh.

Malaysians want a world-class education with courses that brim with cutting-edge knowledge. They need to know that their money is being well spent and they will receive a good return on their investment. You can see that when it comes to postgraduate research and education the UK can provide as rich and diverse a spread of courses as any Malaysian could want, in all parts of the country.


 




© 2009 Education UK