STUDENT enrolment has fluctuated since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, but students have not dropped out, said private higher education institutions.

But they have seen potential students hesitate over enrolment in these uncertain times.

Daniel Abishegam, academic director and senior lecturer at Advance Tertiary College (ATC), said that enrolment into the college has been affected due to high school students not graduating in time for intake, and also due to concerns surrounding the pandemic.

“We do feel that the number of student enrolments could have been higher but it has been affected by the delay in the school examinations (SPM and STPM) and a general concern about Covid-19.

“Existing students have not dropped out, but we definitely saw potential students hesitating to enrol at the beginning of the pandemic, hoping to wait it out.

“However, in 2021, we believe these students have come to accept the new normal and have been registering for our programmes,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

ATC, which was previously on Jalan Petaling in Kuala Lumpur, recently moved to a new campus in the city centre near KLCC.

Daniel said that the move could have also contributed to a slight increase in students enrolling with them.

“Further, ATC has always provided an affordable option to obtain a UK education and in these times this has been very appealing,” he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Monash University Malaysia said they have seen some fluctuation in student enrolment since the pandemic due to various reasons.

“Many reasons contributed to the fluctuations, such as uncertainty in adopting the hybrid education, parents’ financial status, travel restrictions and so on. Some have delayed their studies, but many have not,” its spokesperson said.

Adapting to online learning

Both ATC and Monash said they have spent the better part of last year optimising their online learning platforms to provide a seamless experience for their students.

“We have moved into an online delivery mode that is comprehensive and that has enabled our lecturers to provide their lessons well and this has managed to appeal to our students in this pandemic,” Daniel said.

Monash, on the other hand used its teachers’ expertise to come up with an online learning platform. It also turned to students to share their online learning experience with others.

“Years of investment and innovation have led to an expansive network of education experts and academic staff that work closely to build a learning environment that is optimised for learning online.

“We have students sharing their online learning experiences on how there is no barrier to achieving academic goals.

“Our reputation for excellence has helped us build up a strong student base and provides students and their families with confidence that, even in challenging circumstances, we can provide a world-class educational experience,” its spokesperson said.

To encourage more students to enrol, Daniel said ATC provided scholarships for students who have been impacted by the pandemic.

“We have offered many scholarships for students who have been hit hard by the pandemic. An example would be the ATC Cares 2020 scholarship we offered last year for students from the B40 group that was well received.”

Monash turned to providing more course options in order to lure more students to enrol.

“We recruited up to 20 early career researchers focusing on eight research priority areas; catalysts and energy; intelligent technologies; ageing; infectious diseases; non-communicable diseases; environmental and genome biodiversity; social and cultural transformations; and policy and industrial transformations.

“These are areas where Monash University Malaysia is making a world-class contribution providing emerging scholars with the perfect environment to launch their careers,” it said.

Studying overseas

Michelle Lim, the director of university placement service for Taylor’s University, said the pandemic has not stopped students from pursuing an overseas education and that the university was still facilitating students who wished to go abroad.

“Students who opted to further their degree in the UK, US and Canada were still able to go overseas to study, but students who were accepted into Australian and New Zealand universities started their degrees online in Malaysia, while waiting for those countries’ borders to open.

“Many of those universities enabled online learning for their international students as a response to border closures,” she said.

Lim said Taylor’s offers twinning programmes through 1 + 2 years, 2 + 1 year or even 1.5 + 1.5 year pathways, depending on the programme and partner university the student chooses.

ATC, which is known for its bachelor of laws programme with the University of London, gives its students an option to transfer to a UK-based university upon the completion of the first or second year of study in Malaysia.

This option, Daniel said, has seen a dip since the start of the pandemic.

“The number of students choosing this option has decreased dramatically due to the pandemic and also with the realisation that they are able to obtain a UK law degree by studying with us here in ATC entirely.”

Meanwhile, Monash said its students still have the option to study at its Melbourne campus or any other of its partner universities globally during the pandemic. – June 5, 2021.