Universiti Malaya UM

I had one lecturer who fell asleep during the lecture (imagine that). There was only one lecturer in the entire faculty who could teach Quantum Mechanics I effectively, and everyone (except me and this one other guy) in the class failed the subject. The students collectively lodged a complaint and he was replaced by another lecturer the following semester. She was less effective but more sympathetic, and she gave everyone an A. Imagine the quality of the graduates produced by this system…. Most lecturers in UM live by one golden rule: go lecture however you want, whether or not the students understand is not your problem. UM takes in sub-par academics. Professors from tier-3 or tier-4 universities are recruited to staff the faculty, to provide an international impression to prospective students. These academics come from god-knows-what kind of universities and some can barely speak English. Some lecturers have stellar publishing records but teach poorly. Most have poor publishing records plus poor teaching. Only a handful that can teach effectively. The university is ranked 87th in the world. But the improvement in ranking is due to the large number of publications published by postgraduate students. The university places a clause which requires master’s degree students to publish at least 1 research paper (2 papers for PhD students) in ISI-cited journals in order to graduate. So yeah, the ranking is not a reflection of the teaching quality of the university, more like the amount of sweat and tears poured out by the poor postgraduate students.

Anonymous student · October 08, 2024

1- UM is tough, this is a fact however don’t make this fact intimidates you. Doesn’t matter how tough is UM, how stupid is their system, how many problems you’re ganna face during registration, add and drop subjects, exams, U still can pass through and graduate with good pointer. If I did survive through and thousands of people did, then you can. 2- Join clubs and students associations, just not the racial or political ones. U will get to know a lot of great people, making friends ; a real friends is one of the most essential survival requirements. 3- Be brave, don’t fear asking the lecturers whatever u think u need to ask. Don’t feel shy. Most of the lecturers don’t mind asking any questions or even asking to postpone assignment’s deadline ,midterms or even change class time. Just be brave and ask in the right time with the right way. 4-Again, be brave. As I mentioned before you will face tons of problems. Don’t stand still. If you have problem with registering a subject or dropping it, if the time table is not convenient or whatever you think it’s wrong. Go and ask, ask at the dean’s office, ask the seniors and whomever might help. 5-Letters are the magic spell that solve your problems. Whenever you feel you are unfairly treated write a letter to the person in charge, if they can’t write to their superiors and even to the VC you will get your problem solved eventually. 6- Enjoy your life as much as human being can enjoy. don’t let university destroy ur social life and vice versa, try to balance both. Have a great life in there buddy

Anonymous student · October 08, 2024

I did my M.Ed in UM and got lucky with fairly quick completion of studies. In my 4 semesters there, I had two lecturers who did nothing for the course. One was almost always late for class, I am convinced he doesn’t actually check our work and give us random grades, talks basically of the same theories for all three courses that he taught. The other one, gave us topics in the syllabus and ask the students to present; for the whole 14-week lecture all she did was sit back and watch the students teach each other. I thought it was just part of the assessment, but from what I hear, it’s her style of teaching. Fast forward a year and half later, I enrolled for a Ph.D programme at UM. I lasted 3 semester and had now withdrawn. It is due to the very poor communication with the supervisors and even poorer administrative system. Before I enrolled, I have done my reading and prepared a proposal. I approached this supervisor and she said she’s willing to supervise. I assume, she’s okay with my proposal as there was no feedback. So I enrolled, and boy was I wrong. She asked me to change my research twice. Very fickle minded and by the third semester, I was exhausted with the tug-o-war. I am now enrolled in a private college, in a different field. My supervisor is very helpful. For the first time in my doctorate journey, I actually feel like I am getting quality supervision.

Anonymous student · October 08, 2024

Which part of studying are you referring to? Do you mean the language? The lecturers? The students' life? I guess it really depends on the faculty and where you are coming from. But if you are doing postgrad, the medium language should be in English. The lecturers in my faculty are nice and helpful. But in my case, all the lecturers are visiting professors, so it is difficult to catch up with them after the subject ends to discuss about your performance. But I guess that' not the case in other faculties. There are many international students in University of Malaya. But most are coming from across Asia or Middle East. It's very rare for the Westerners to study in University of Malaya. but there are some. Your take about studyin in University of Malaya also depends on your country of origin. For example, because I come from Indonesia, it's really easy for me to adjust because of language and (sometimes) cultural similarity. There are some international friends of mine who actually had a hard time adjusting. However, for all international students, you will undergo a mandatory Bahasa Melayu class. For me, it was really boring because it was very similar to Bahasa Indonesia. But for the non-Bahasa speakers, they find it helpful to get some words for daily interaction. Mind you, if you want to learn more of the language, go ahead take extra Bahasa Melayu course outside UM.

Anonymous student · October 08, 2024

No idea. Most of my studies were done at home thanks to the pandemic. I tried to join some campus activities (laser tag - managed to join once) but had trouble finding active groups. There were some events at my own faculty: Family Day, which was fun but not really my thing since it was filled with student’s and lecturer’s kids. Other than that… it was pretty routine: taking a Grab daily to campus for lectures and then straight back home after that. There were very few options for food, hanging out, etc. on and around campus. The nearest was Bangsar area.

Anonymous student · October 08, 2024

For international students life can be fun at UM. There is an international students’ organisation and there is usually quite a number of students from overseas, particularly at post-graduate level. The campus is attractive with a lot of greenery. It is hot and humid however, and because it is a large campus you will generally need motorized transport to get around, although taxi/car hire is relatively cheap, and there are available for short-trip hire scooters strategically placed on campus. There is also a bus service on campus, however to enjoy the university and KL more a private car or motorbike is recommended. KL is a big international city with high level shops, services, food and beverage and entertainment available. Although it is a warm climate, the temperature is fairly steady and the environment is culturally rich so that you can expose yourself to diverse people, food and activities.

Anonymous student · October 08, 2024

Hi, thanks again for the A2A. Disclaimer: I could only give you a perspective as an outsider as I did not attend UM. Like other public universities in Malaysia, UM offers a wide array of student clubs and activities from linguistics to sports. I am not sure how active are these clubs but hopefully everyone finds something! In terms of student demographic, you get to meet a more representative (of the nation) student population in a public university. Nevertheless, these students usually come from middle and lower class of the society because tuition fee is REALLY really affordable and one usually has to go through a year of matriculation (hard to get admitted) or a two-year curriculum and standard examination. The latter is similar to A-level but some subjects might be even more challenging! Hence many a student who can afford private or even overseas tertiary education might have opted out of the path to public university in Malaysia. Apart from that, good news is UM is located at the heart of Kuala Lumpur (near KL Sentral interchange station)! So it is also convenient to go around the city with your friends too! Hope my two cents help!

Anonymous student · October 08, 2024

Compared to some other universities, you may have the following: Exclusive invitations/ programme from reputable companies, organisations & corporates. - thanks to the name of “UM”. Familiarize yourself with the life in KL & PJ with the access of public transport and student discount. Meet people - similar and yet different from you. Find who you really are, and know what you really want. There will be people who cross your path and enlighten you in a way - if you’re bright enough to catch the opportunity!

Anonymous student · October 08, 2024

I’ve been studying in UM (University of Malaya) for 3 years. Throughout my study, there are certain things that I’ve noticed on. If to compare UM to other local universities it is by right that UM fees are extremely expensive, the same goes with house rentals and the overall living cost since UM situated in KL which is a highly compact city. This is actually one of the reasons why during students intake for batch 2015, there is a significantly number of students who end up not registering despite the offer from UM. Simply because the admission fees is too expensive, especially with the decreases of subsidy from the government. Despite all that, resources are easy to obtain, more people more shops and you can easily get by with public transportation to majority parts of KL. The traffic is bad during peak hours but aside from that it was fine. There are plenty of interesting places you can find in KL to be honest despite it being a city. You just need to know where to find it. UM is one of the local university that has strong campus politic influences but if you’re not interested (I don’t) you can easily ignore it. UM also famous for the so called cheers during an orientation week (1st week of 1st year students) and it usually happens during convocation day also which is something I find it quite interesting with. Students from different faculties would cheered loudly (too loudly) when the graduated seniors come out from the hall to celebrate them, they often compete with each others, sometimes performing dances, ritual or cheers for the fun of it.

Anonymous student · October 08, 2024

This is a distinguish university

Anonymous student · October 07, 2024

Best university ever

Anonymous student · October 07, 2024

fuhh erform

Anonymous student · October 07, 2024

mantoppppp

Anonymous student · October 07, 2024

Anonymous student · October 07, 2024

Anonymous student · October 07, 2024

Anonymous student · October 07, 2024

duhh

Anonymous student · October 07, 2024

Anonymous student · September 10, 2024

Anonymous student · April 05, 2024

Anonymous student · April 05, 2024

This is a great university

Anonymous student · December 15, 2023

Anonymous student · December 15, 2023

This is a great university with excellent facilities.

Anonymous student · October 27, 2023