UK university qualifications are well-recognized in Singapore, Hong Kong and South-East Asia because of historical ties.

In the UK, there are around 110 universities (87 in England, 13 in Scotland, 8 in Wales and 2 in Northern Ireland)

The UK education system is broadly similar to Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

Many senior government leaders and business leaders in Singapore graduated from UK universities. In fact, many top government scholars go to Cambridge University each year for their first degree.

According to statistics, around 2300 Singaporeans go to UK universities each year.
Comparatively, Hong Kong sends 6700 students each year and Malaysia sends 7000 students each year. The country which sends the most number of students is China, with 17,000 students each year.

The United Kingdom (UK) comprises of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The top UK universities are known for their academic excellence and tradition.
The history of UK higher education spans a few centuries, a period of time longer than the history of United States.

To get admission into a UK university, students need to apply through UCAS, the UK central organization that processes applications for full-time undergraduate programs at UK universities and colleges. UCAS stands for Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. For non-European Union countries like Singapore, the application process starts on 1 September each year and will end formally on 30 June the following year. In the month of July, all late applications will go into the UCAS clearing scheme where students are matched to universities with vacancies.

The UCAS works on a tariff system where numerical score is allocated to a range of academic qualifications and attainments and establishing a comparable value between them and allowing the aggregation of scores from many different qualifications.
To get full information on the UCAS tariffs, visit www.ucas.com. For example, you may want to know the tariff value of your academic qualifications for admission to a certain UK university.

Unlike the United States, UK universities do not usually require America-originated tests like SAT, GRE, TOEFL or GMAT. Therefore the admission process is less onerous.

However, for some programs like law, medicine, biomedical sciences, an admission test is usually administered by the respective universities.

Estimated Annual Tuition Expenses

Average living costs are around £800 per month in London and £600 per month elsewhere. Living costs include accommodation, food, recreation, books, transport, etc.

Students can work part-time to earn an income. However they are subject to Codes of Practice which regulate such things as minimum wages and maximum hours worked in a term, usually 15 hours a week. In the UK, there is growing evidence to suggest that part-time work beyond 15 hours a week will affect a student’s academic performance.

In the UK, university terms and semesters usually follow this format, with variations from university to university.

Autumn Term : September / October to mid-December

Spring Term :    Mid-January to mid-March

Summer Term : April/ May to June/July