When Malaysian national Weng Yee Chong realized she would not meet all the requirements for admittance to the University of Southampton in the U.K., she considered her options, including the school’s one-year foundation programs.
“I chose the foundation program because I think it would help me cope with my degree and it is an easier route to admission into the university,” says Chong.
Foundation programs, also known as pathway programs, are preparatory courses designed to provide students with the skills, knowledge and qualifications they need to enter a bachelor’s or master’s program. They typically last one academic year and do not end with a degree. Although these are common in the U.K. and Australia, a number of global universities offer the programs.
Cambodian national Panhanon No says he also didn’t meet the admissions requirements for the University of Queensland in Australia and enrolled in the school’s foundation program.
“This program provided me a chance to be enrolled at the University of Queensland and insights of how to be prepared for university assignments and examinations,” says No.
[Discover the 10 Best Global Universities in Australia and New Zealand.]
For international students considering their options for securing admission to global universities, here are some things to know about foundation programs.
— Foundation programs vary in focus. Some foundation programs focus on general areas of study, while others emphasize certain disciplines. Tina Buschmann, foundation year coordinator at Jacobs University Bremen in Germany, says the university’s foundation year “is not geared to a specific degree.” Instead it allows students to tailor the curriculum — which consists of preparatory courses in areas such as English and math, as well as orientation classes in different academic fields — to meet their needs.
The University of Southampton, though, offers three different foundation programs at its U.K. campus focused on specific fields of study, such as engineering and natural sciences, says Anna Barney, professor and associate dean of education within the university’s engineering and the environment department.
She says they teach “a combination of discipline-specific material to enhance the students’ knowledge of their subject area in preparation for degree-level study” as well as academic skills to help them in learning “swiftly and efficiently to the required depth for a degree,” such as time management, speed reading and note taking.
— Foundation programs help lay the academic groundwork. Pathway programs are “designed to provide international students with all the tools they need to succeed in their degree course,” says Emily Williams Knight, managing director of Study Group North America, a global education provider.
She says they help students adjust to new ways of learning and studying, including those that are more common to Western education systems. They also help students better satisfy English and math proficiency admissions standards for degree programs abroad.
[Read these reasons to earn a bachelor’s degree overseas.]
Barney says the University of Southampton’s foundation program teaches “language skills with a particular emphasis on academic and specialist language” for those whose first language isn’t English. This training helps students understand technical material, she says, as well as learn academic writing. She says many of the university’s international students who began with a foundation year “have progressed right through their bachelor degree and are now studying for a Ph.D. with us.”
— Foundation programs give students time to decide on a major. Buschmann, from Jacobs University Bremen, says foundation programs allow students “the chance to take one year for themselves to try different study courses.” She says students have “time to orientate, see how much workload they are able to cope with and be involved fully in student life.”
University of Queensland student No originally planned to pursue a bachelor’s degree in commerce. After his foundation program, he went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in international hotel and tourism management in 2015.
No says the foundation program staff helped “guide and provide constructive advice on my decision in enrolling on my major.” He’s now working in the hospitality industry in Australia.
[See global universities where tuition is low or free.]
— Foundation programs provide direct or increased chances for undergraduate admission. Some universities, like Jacobs University Bremen, guarantee admission to their undergraduate programs to students who pass a pathway program. University of Southampton’s Barney says students who successfully complete the foundation year “are guaranteed a place on their chosen degree course. They don’t need to re-apply — it’s automatic.”
Students should check with institutions to confirm the admissions policy for those who complete a foundation program, since not all guarantee admission. For example, the University of California– Berkeley Extension College Foundations Program does not guarantee admission or any advantage when applying to UC–Berkeley or any other UC campus. However, students receive personal college admissions advising.
In her foundation year program, Chong says she “learned the importance of academic integrity.” She says for the first time she also learned computer programming skills as well as gained a better grasp of different subjects.
“I would recommend foundation programs to other international students,” says Chong, who is now pursuing a Bachelor of Science in acoustics with music at the University of Southampton. “It is a more secured pathway into their dream universities, yet giving an extra year for them to adapt to a whole new environment away from home.”
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Foundation Programs Prepare International Students for Undergraduate Studies originally appeared on usnews.com
