Asia

To see our list of countries in Asia, click here

Why study in Asia?

Asia offers many great opportunities for students to study at university! This page introduces some reasons why Asia is a very attractive place to study and may even be preferred! Read on, and then select a country from the list at the bottom:

High quality, top universities:

Asia offers many high quality universities that are comparable to, or even outpace, some Western universities! Some examples include Thailand’s Asian Institute of Technology, Singapore’s National University of Singapore, the Philippine’s University of the Philippines system, and China’s University of Hong Kong.

As in all regions, Asia has great universities as well as not-so-great universities. This website does not list low quality universities. In fact, the only universities listed are those where Myanmar students are known to have studied or are studying now, OR those universities that grant degrees that are considered equivalent to, or nearly equivalent to Western degrees—this ranking has been made in the Government of Australia’s annual comparison of international universities around the world. So if you are worried about low quality universities, you won’t find them on this website!

Cost effectiveness means better chances for scholarships:

Being cost effective means that you get amazing benefits for the amount of money you spend. In Asia, universities are often very cost effective because they provide high quality like the West but don’t have the high Western prices. Scholarship organizations like to send students to high quality universities but prefer low costs; this is not usually possible in the West because the high quality costs high amounts of money. Asia provides high quality but lower costs which make Asian universities attractive to scholarship organizations.

Many Western universities offer partial scholarships. They can do this because they create high prices first, then offer you a ‘discount’ or partial (not 100%) scholarship to encourage you to attend. This is the same idea as going to the market and the first time you are asked a price, it is high. After another time asking the price at the market, the price gets discounted for you. Don’t be misled by these initial scholarship offers from Western universities: you need to have financial aid (scholarships, loans, or other money) that will pay for 100% of your costs for the year. This is simply more realistic in Asia where you are more likely to get financial aid that covers 100% of your costs.

Great Range of Majors in English:

Throughout Asia, most high quality universities offer at least some degrees taught in English language. Universities in Asia do not usually teach all their degrees in English, but instead often have a section called ‘International College’ which is for international students and has degrees taught in English.

The range of majors across Asia is comparable to the West. You can find majors such as International Relations and Southeast Asian Studies to Natural Resource Management Economics and Public Policy. Nursing, Public Health, Biology, Ecology, Religious Studies, Psychology, Engineering, Computer Science, Education, Communications, and IT are just the beginning! Check out the university profiles in the Asia section to find more exciting majors offered in this region!

Relevance to Myanmar and Asian situations:

Universities in Asia tend to have more information about Asian country specific or Asian regional issues. This means that their lessons are more likely relate to the situation in Myanmar. A variety of issues about the environment, economics, local and international trade, business, and politics in Asia may vary greatly from the West. This is because systems in Asia operate differently, there are different actors involved in planing, there are different stakeholders, and there are different conventions for achieving goals. Asian universities are more capable of understanding these complex relationships and therefore better at applying academic theories to the situations in Asian countries.

Relatively easy to obtain visas:

It is easier for Asian students to get visas to study in Asia than it is to study in the West. Many students have a goal to study in the West, but this dream is often stopped when they are denied visas. If you have been denied a visa for a Western country, you should not stop your idea of studying abroad…instead you should consider Asia.

Countries currently covered in this region:

Click on a country below to learn more and to see a list of universities with international programs in English.

Centre for Academic Advising and University Preparation (CAAUP)

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