School of The Arts (SOTA), USM – Malaysia

Education has been evolving since the birth of civilization. It is a university that has kept very powerful impact to bring about a revolution in the field of knowledge and arts. Human beings made it the holly place for exploring the branches of universal knowledge to deep dive into the ocean of creativities, discovery, and innovation. In the history of university education, the influence of Muslims was very much noticeable. Even the first university in world history was established by a renowned Muslim woman.

Nowadays, among all the Asian countries Malaysia has proven again the importance of Muslim history and culture in the higher education system in the world. Students from around the world are making their destination to Malaysia to achieve their tertiary level education to prepare them for the demand of the market at a very low budget. Malaysia is the best choice for Bangladesh students because it costs an equal price as Bangladeshi private universities but with providing quality education with precise certificate values same as the UK, Australia, and Canada.

Malaysian government/public universities have proven outstanding success among all other universities in their own land. School of The Arts (SOTA), USM known also as Pusat Pengajian Seni (SOTA), USM is one of the top-quality universities in Malaysia. Once upon a time, part of the School of Humanities in 1999 gained its complete independence with the full setup of USM.

The location of this renowned university is 11800 USM, 11800, Penang, a beautiful island of Malaysia famous for festivals year long.

Available Programs and Courses

This beautiful university has been working with students to build up creative mindsets with enriched experiences gathered from the world’s culture and diversified student communities. It provides 2 programmes for the students-

1. Undergraduate programme
2. Postgraduate programme

Undergraduate programme

Students who have completed HSC can participate in the undergraduate programme at this art university. Basically, the degrees under this programme are of 3 to 4 years duration.

The degrees are:

Postgraduate programme

For doing postgraduate degree students need to have a bachelor degree completed. Under postgraduate degree programme students enroll themselves in master’s programmes. Students take this degree as a part of a professional programme to enrich their both knowledge and skills in the area they intend to work in. This university has so many courses to provide to the students to help them pursue their master’s degrees.

The list of the degree has been given below:

1. Fine Arts
2. Graphic Communication Design
3. Drama and Theatre
4. Music
5. New Media Design & Technology
6. Product Design
7. Master of Design in Creative Industry
8. International Creative Arts and Design Programme

Costing

We already know how cheap these degrees can be. So having a world-class degree from this university at a very affordable price can be the finest achievement for any student from anywhere in the world.

For a bachelor/undergraduate programme in arts, this university costs about 12,000$ to 16,000$, and for the post-graduate degree, it costs 3,000$ to 7,000$.

Requirements

To be able to be admitted into this university a student needs to meet some requirements.

These are divided into 2 parts:

1) Academic

For a bachelor’s degree student needs to have an HSC (Higher Secondary School Certificate Examination) certificate or A-Level or International Baccalaureate. If a student has a diploma in the relevant field he/she can apply for this programme.

A student just having SSC certification or a Dakhil (from Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board) certification can also apply for a bachelor programme here but the student needs to participate in a Foundation programme in Malaysia. Even if a student is from vocational (SSC) he/she will be able to do a bachelor’s degree but before that he/she has to have a foundation programme from Malaysia.

For a Master’s degree, a student needs to have a 2.75 minimum CGPA out of 4, 1-year research experience or professional experience of 1 year or 1 academic publication in a related field or a Grade B for the major course or if having a grade of B+ in the final projects

2) English language proficiency

The requirement for language proficiency has been given below:

If a student does not have any IELTS or TOEFL, he/she can also apply for this university if the medium of the language is English. If a student has one of the following tests, the minimum requirement for

1. IELTS is Band 5.0,
2. TOEFL iBT score is 40,
3. TOEFL Essentials Online is 7.5,
4. Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) is 154,
5. Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) is 154

How to apply

For applying to the university a student needs to prepare all required documents.

The list of these documents are:

1. all academic transcripts
2. English language proficiency test certificate
3. a valid passport photocopy
4. passport size picture
5. Medical examination report
6. Financial solvency proof

Students will have to choose the appropriate degree and courses. They then can apply online. After applying students will have to wait for an offer letter. The student will have to pay some fees for EMGS.

Though the process seems very easy, students always mess up everything which is the main reason for them being rejected for visa or admission applications.

In this case, taking the help of professionals is very necessary. Because they can give a good direction to the student for securing admission and the visa 100 percent.

Career paths (102 Park Rd, Mohakhali DOHS, Dhaka) is a consultancy firm in this industry to assist the student to gain their dream to be true. It is an official partner of EMGS (Education Malaysia Global Services). It has a team of professional counselors and experts who are well-versed in showing the right direction for studying abroad.

Intake

This university has 2 intakes in a year. Students having the required qualifications can apply within the intake period.

1. October Intake, the deadline is 31 July
2. March intake, the deadline is 31 January

International student facilities

This university has a good arrangement for accommodation for its students. It has a hostel arrangement that facilitates all kinds of necessary things required for an International student. There are single rooms, twin-sharing rooms, common bathrooms, cafeteria, sport facility, a study room, and groceries stores. The cost of the hostel will be 30 to 70 USD per month (not including meals).

There are also off-campus accommodation facilities within the walking distance. If a student wants to rent an apartment there it may cost about 75 – USD125 per month.

Scholarship

If a student can prove his/her excellency in academic background, extraordinary co-curricular background, above 3.5 CGPA, good score in IELTS or TOEFL, and high character value, he will be eligible for the scholarship. There are many scholarships available for the students, which they can apply for. Some of the scholarships have been given below-

1. Student Scholarship from Unplag
2. MALAYSIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP (MIS)

University world ranking

Due to the quality education, well-planned curriculum, international research, and multicultural academic environment with 5,618 international students this university has been able to place itself in the world university ranking. According to the QS world university ranking it falls in #= 143rd position. In Asia, it is in the 35th position.

Potential collaborative partners

To improve the quality of education, facilitate the opportunity for the students, and for capacity building, universities have to chain up with collaborative partners. School of The Arts (SOTA), USM has been able to show proper success in this area. This university made partnerships with many universities around the world-

• The University of Adelaide
• University of Western Australia
• University of Queensland
• University of New South Wales
• University of Hong Kong
• Hokkaido University
• Kyoto University
• Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
• Hiroshima University
• University of Tsukuba
• Doshisha University
• Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
• National University of Singapore
• Nanyang Technological University
• National Taiwan University
• National Chiao Tung University

FAQ

Do I need IELTS for studying at this university?
If the medium of instruction of the student’s degree is English he/she will not have to have IELTS. In other cases, Students can sit for the USM English placement test when they arrive in Malaysia. In case of failure, he/she will have to take a compulsory English course along with the university courses. This university also approves TOEFL, CAE, CEP.

How much will it cost to study here?
For the undergraduate programme it will cost about 12,000$, and for the postgraduate programme it will cost about 3,000$ to 7,000$.

Can I work there besides study?
During semester breaks and holidays of more than 7 days, international students are allowed to work 20 hours per week,

Conclusion

School of The Arts (SOTA), USM is a very popular university for international students due to its quality of education. For students from Bangladesh who are very creative and want to build careers centering on arts, direction, and design this university will be the most appropriate destination for them.