Two Aussie Students Spend a Semester in Malaysia

Two students who blended right in at Sunway University College and who could not get enough of our Malaysian culture were Victoria University, Melbourne students Tristan Knowles and Nikolai Popov. They elected to be exchange students to spend a semester of their final year at the twin VU Bachelor of Business degree programme at Sunway University College. The course has a student exchange programme that allows its students to spend one semester in any VU campus worldwide during the course of their studies.

Before Malaysia, Tristan had already spent a semester in Beijing, China. He shared, “As a student at Sunway it was very similar to studying in Australia, so in that way it was not a huge change or learning process. Everyone spoke English and being run by Victoria University, course content and teaching was the same in Australia. However it made me develop as an individual through my experiences settling into a new country and meeting new people”.

Tristan liked the closer relationships with fellow students and even lecturers here, “Because of the smaller class size and the degree structure, most people knew each other and the lecturers knew the students well. I liked the diversity of study at Sunway too with students from many different programmes studying many different specialisations”.

“Being at Sunway was an invaluable experience as I was able to meet many bright students from all over the world and learnt a lot about the many different cultures” said Nikolay. He added, “The level of teaching is very high and the academic staff extremely helpful and friendly. The same applies to my fellow students who helped me in my adaptation process in a new environment”. He recalled that he had many memorable moments with good friends he met at Sunway.

What Tristan found very different was the lively cafeteria with students being busy everywhere and lots of different activities. This was a new experience for him coming from the Melbourne campus where it is much quieter. Both agreed they liked all the socializing after class at the nearby ‘mamak’ stalls.

The Victoria University (VU), Melbourne, Bachelor of Business was first introduced in Sunway University College in 1994. 1+2, 2+1 and 3+0 arrangements are available at Sunway University College. Students may transfer to VU Australia at any designated time as the programme in Sunway is identical to that in VU in Australia.

In its quest for world class education, Sunway has a two-month internship programme for its high achieving second or third year students for internship into one of the following prestigious accounting firms; KPMG, Deloitte KassimChan, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and BDO Binder. Top students, particularly graduates who majored in accounting are also assisted with job placements into the “Big Four” accounting firms.