After close to a year of challenging coursework at PSB Academy, my younger brother is all set to graduate with a Diploma in Business Administration in September 2013. Looking back at how much he has grown and matured through the programme, I must say that I have never regretted recommending him to choose PSB Academy over Institute of Technical Education (ITE) after his N’ Levels. Else he would have to spend an additional 3 to 4 years of his life going through MOE ‘recommended’ route from ITE to the local Polytechnics. My recommendation has saved 3 years of his life and helped him obtain a diploma.
You can never imagine how thrilled I was when he expressed his interest to further his studies after his diploma. He has finally realised the value of education and is willing to commit for a degree programme! Of course, my first recommendation to him would be to choose a suitable degree program from PSB Academy as it’s a direct route of advancement.
Call me ‘Kiasu,’ but I actually thought it would be pretty beneficial for him to take on a part-time degree programme where he can work to gain corporate experience while embarking on his degree program. Surprisingly, he was open to the idea when I suggested it to him. He did a quick research on the part-time degree programmes offered at PSB Academy and Loughborough University Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Business Studies caught his eyes!
Well that’s a start. A quick check on Loughborough University revealed that it is one of UK’s leading universities and commands an international reputation for excellence in teaching and research. The university is also a member of the esteemed 1994 Group which is a set of internationally recognised, research-intensive universities and is well known for the relevance of its work.
Most importantly, the university’s degree programmes are highly regarded by professional institutions and businesses. In fact, The Graduate Market Research 2013 saw Loughborough University improving their ranking to 13th in 2013 from 14th place in 2012 as one of the top 15 universities targeted by the largest number of top employers. Not bad, seems like its graduates are pretty highly sought after; even beating the popular London School of Economics.
Besides employability, the university has consistently been ranked as one of United Kingdom’s Top-20 universities and is the only university to win The Times Higher Education ‘Best Student Experience’ poll six times from 2006 to 2011. That says quite a lot about their lecturers’ commitment.
Furthermore, I like the fact that all subject materials delivered are related to real-world management issues, which my brother would probably find it relevant during his course of work. He will also gain insights from global and local perspective since he will be taught by both the University faculty and local lecturers.
The entire programme consists of 18 modules that will be covered over 3 trimesters within a year. If my brother enrols for the programme, he will be taking around 2 modules per trimester. Overall, the time taken to complete this degree programme is similar to some of the full-time programmes offered by our local universities.
The friendly PSB Academy’s consultants were really helpful to introduce Miss Tok Siu Zhi, a current student of PSB Academy who is pursuing the Bachelor of Science (Honours) Business Studies from Loughborough University to share her experience.
She shared with us that she had a Diploma in Media and Communications from Singapore Polytechnic and her main motivations for embarking on the part-time degree programme was for career advancement. She hopes to be considered for a managerial or supervisory position after graduation.
On juggling her time between work and studies, she is grateful that exam dates are known way beforehand together with a detailed schedule of the classes. That allows her to make arrangements with her company for examination leave. She also highlights that family support is critical. As a single mother of a 5 years old child, she would never have been able to manage without her family helping to look after her daughter.
She also stressed the importance of effective time management and to be mentally prepared for occasional overtime at work on some days to make up for lost time at work. Last but not least, always remember to set aside quality time for your loved ones.
With all the information gathered, I shall leave it to my brother to make the call. He still has around 3 more months to make up his mind.
If you are keen on the Loughborough University’s degree programme at PSB Academy, here are some information I would like to share with you:
– PSB Academy Diploma with average B-grade OR
– PSB Academy Advanced Diploma with average B/C-grade OR
– Diploma from a local Polytechnic or Professional Institution with average B/C-grade OR
– GCE A-Levels with average B/C-grade
Fret not if you do not meet the admission requirement, the University will access each applicant on a case-by-case basis.
If you are interested to apply, please click here. First 10 to quote “AspirantSG” in their enquiry will also receive a special edition notebook from PSB Academy*.
*Terms and conditions apply. While stocks last.
