Tunku Abdul Rahman College

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Tunku Abdul Rahman College (English)
Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malay)
拉曼学院 (Simplified Chinese)
Motto: Quality & Affordable Education
Established: 1969
Type: Public
Students: 30 000
Location: Kuala Lumpur (Main campus), Malaysia
Website: www.tarc.edu.my

Tunku Abdul Rahman College, sometimes known as TARC or KTAR, is a public institution of higher learning and is operating with 50% subsidy from the Malaysian Government for all its recurrent and capital expenditure. The other 50% is borne by the Trustees. It has six campuses located in six states across Malaysia. While having close links to Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), the college and the university are separate entities. Being an institution founded by the Malaysian Chinese Association, a majority of the students in the college are of Chinese descent. However, as there are no admission quotas, there are a significant proportion of students from other ethnic backgrounds as well.

Contents

[edit] History

Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC) was established on the 24th of February 1969 with the support of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA). The College was named after the late YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, the founding Prime Minister of then newly independent Malaysia.

The College started with the commencement of classes in the School of Pre-University Studies in 1969 and then followed by the School of Business Studies in 1971. In 1972, School of Technology, School of Arts and Science and Extra-Mural Studies Department were established. The School of Social Science and Humanities was established in 1999.

The earlier classes were conducted in the Technical Institute, Cheras and Day Training College, Jalan Kuantan. Due to its rapid expansion, new centres were set up in six secondary schools. One of them were Catholic High School, Petaling Jaya. On 19 July 1976, with the completion of the first phase of the college's main campus in Kuala Lumpur, classes were moved to its permanent premises in Jalan Genting Kelang, Setapak. The Kuala Lumpur Main Campus occupying an area of 186 acres of land.

From an initial intake of 764 students in 1969, the College is one of the country’s major tertiary education institutions with modern teaching and support facilities. It has a strong tradition of professional and sub-professional education. Today, there are approximately 30,000 students in Tunku Abdul Rahman College.

[edit] College Branches

[edit] Faculties

[edit] School of Business Studies (SBS)

Being the most famous school in the College, SBS is known to have the most students. Located at Block R in the Main Campus, this school is particularly famous for its accounting course, which is available in all campuses at diploma level. It is known that TARC's SBS produced over 75% of Malaysia's accountants. This school is also noted for producing top ACCA scorers besides hosting ACCA examinations for Malaysia's accounting students.

Besides accounting, SBS also offers various other courses such as the following, although accounting course has most of SBS's students.

  • Financial Accounting
  • Business Management
  • Management Accounting
  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Banking and Finance
  • Human Resource Management
  • Finance and Investment
  • E-Commerce and Marketing
  • Business Economics
  • Management Information Systems
  • International Business
  • Logistics & Supply Chain Management
  • Retail Management

[edit] School of Technology (SOT)

The School of Technology, more commonly known to Tarcians as SOT, has its offices and classrooms at Block M in TARC's Kuala Lumpur Main Campus. Although engineers from TARC are not as famous as accountants, SOT's engineering syllabus includes relatively high level Mathematics, in order to prepare its students to take UK's Engineering Council examinations. This school is known for holding classes on Saturday mornings, in contrast to other TARC schools.

To date, there are 9 courses available in TARC under SOT.

  • Building
  • Property Management
  • Quantity Surveying
  • Electronic Engineering
  • Telecommunications
  • Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
  • Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
  • Mechatronics
  • Apparel Manufacturing

[edit] School of Arts and Science (SAS)

The School of Arts and Science of TARC offers courses, as its name implies, based on natural and computer sciences. It currently shares its office space with the administration department in Block A at the Main Campus.

The courses offered under this school are

  • Chemistry and Biology
  • Information Systems Engineering
  • Business Information Systems
  • Computer Science and Statistics
  • Computer Science and Management Mathematics
  • Microelectronics and Physics
  • Microelectronics with Computer Communication
  • Microelectronics with Automatic Control
  • Internet Technology
  • Sport and Exercise Science
  • Interactive Software Technology

[edit] School of Social Science and Humanities (SSSH)

The School of Social Science and Humanities, sometimes abbreviated SSSH or SSH, is the newest faculty in TARC. Located at Block W together with TARC's Centre for Continuing Professional Education (CPE), it offers various Mass Communication,Social Science and Hospitality Management Courses, such as

  • Advertising
  • Broadcast Communication
  • Graphic Design
  • Journalism
  • Media Studies
  • Public Relations
  • Psychology
  • Counselling
  • Fashion Design
  • Multimedia Design
  • Hotel Management
  • Tourism
  • Food Service

[edit] School of Pre-University Studies (SPUS)

TARC's School of Pre-University Studies offer two courses, namely STPM and Cambridge A levels. These courses are only available in the Kuala Lumpur Main Campus and last for two years.

In the Main Campus, SPUS is located at Block H, where most of the SPUS students' tutorials are held.

[edit] Extra-Mural Studies Department (EMSD)

The Extra-Mural Studies Department, unlike the five schools, does not offer courses for SPM or STPM leavers. Instead, they provide language and history subjects to students of all other schools.

[edit] Courses and Examinations

Courses from all schools (except SPUS) are carried out in semesters, and are divided into three levels, mainly Certificate, Diploma, and Advanced Diploma. Note that all above courses are available at Diploma level, but not necessarily at the other two levels.

There are three semesters per year, in contrast to most universities' standard of 2 semesters per year. This has resulted in a lower amount of holidays for Tarcians (9 weeks per year). The allocation of study, examinations and holiday weeks are as follows.

Semester Activity Duration
1 Classes 14
1 Study 1
1 Exams 2
1 Break 3
2 Classes 14
2 Study 1
2 Exams 2
2 Break 3
3 Classes 7
3 Exams 2
3 Break 3
Total 52
  • Classes - all lectures and tutorials as usual. Exception at the week before study/exam week, when only lectures are held.
  • Study - all lectures and tutorials are cancelled, to provide time for students to do revisions before the exams.
  • Exams - all lectures and tutorials are cancelled - College Hall, Sports Complex, and tutorial blocks are used to hold examinations.
  • Break - holidays.
  • The 9 weeks of holidays may not be spread out evenly into 3 breaks of 3 weeks each. However, the total amount of holidays between semesters usually stays constant as 9 weeks.
  • Examinations may start during the last two or three days of the study (revision) weeks.

Semester three is only half as long as the other two semesters. During this semester, only half the amount of subject is taught.

Examination rules are strict. In the examination venues, known commonly as examination halls despite the fact that they may be classrooms, candidates are required to fill an attendance slip. No electronic communication devices are allowed into the hall, as well as pencil cases and bag. TARC has expelled students in violation of these rules.

Results of exams are usually given to candidates few weeks after the commencement of the exams, and are graded according to the table below.

Score range Grade GPA Description
80 to 100 A 4.00 High Distinction
75 to 79 A- 3.75 Distinction
70 to 74 B+ 3.50 Merit
65 to 69 B 3.00 Merit
60 to 64 B- 2.75 Merit
55 to 59 C+ 2.50 Pass
50 to 54 C 2.00 Pass
45 to 49 C- 1.75 Fail, Redeemable
40 to 44 D 1.00 Fail, Redeemable
0 to 39 F 0.00 Fail

[edit] Facilities at Main Campus

[edit] Sports Facilities

TARC Main Campus has well-equipped sports facilities, including an air-conditioned Sports Complex. Netted tennis courts are available at the rooftop of the complex, and the interior is used as indoor badminton courts or basketball courts, should no other activities (such as exhibitions, performances and examinations) are not held at the venue.

Beside the sports complex lie the Olympic size swimming pool and a learner's pool. The pools have undergone renovations at late 2007 and minor faults (such as missing tiles) have been repaired. A fee of RM1.50 is charged upon entering the pool, and locker services are given. On weekdays, the pools are open from 9am to 11.15am and 4pm to 8.45pm.

Few months before the renovation of the pool, a second gymnasium was built. Located next to the clubhouse (where the first gym and pools are), the current way for students to access this air-conditioned gym is to select "gym workout" as their co-curriculum activity. Other students may only use the old gym. A charge of RM1.20 is in order to use the gym. On weekdays, the gym is open from 10am to 12pm, 1pm to 3pm, 3.30pm to 5.30pm, and 6pm to 8pm.

Tickets to the pools and the gyms are to be purchased from the Bursary.

Other outdoor fields available are football field, basketball courts, futsal courts, and volleyball courts.

[edit] Library

TARC Library is a 3-storey-building, and houses mainly English books, although Malay and Chinese sections are also available. Infoweb system helps students locate books, and terminals lined up near the entrance, allowing the access of the service. Internet-surfing computers are set up beside the terminals, allowing students to do online research, as well as access to Microsoft Office applications. However, several sites such as Friendster and YouTube are blocked, probably to control internet traffic.

Study and discussion rooms are also present, the latter requiring booking, and any other parts of the library other than these rooms are individual study areas, meaning that discussions and noise are strictly not allowed.

Copies of past year examinations questions can be found here, although they cannot be borrowed out. Photocopy machines are situated beside the past year paper section and students are allowed to use them using a certain prepaid card.

Wi-Fi signal can be detected throughout the library, although it is considerably weaker at the top floor. Like the internet-surfing computers, several addresses are blocked, albeit slightly lesser. For instance, surfing of Friendster is possible using privately-owned notebook computers connected to the internet via library Wi-Fi. Many people, however, find it insufficient as the signal is unstable and disconnects every so often, not to mention the lack of liberty to download a wide variety of files.

[edit] Accommodation

A path beside the Sports Complex leads to TARC Hostel. This path can only be taken by residents of the hostel. Ten blocks of five-storey-buildings house the residents, with 20 rooms in each floor and 2 students to a room, making the capacity of the hostel to approximately 2000 students. 7 out of the 10 blocks are female blocks, while the other 3 furthest from the entrance are male blocks.

Two canteens make up the remaining two buildings at the hostel. Canteen 1 focuses on Chinese food, and the Hostel Office can also be found here. Canteen 2 focuses on Malay food, and several air-conditioned rooms are available here too, although only for female residents. Study rooms can be found at each canteen.

Rooms are shared among two students. The furniture available includes a bed (with mattress), table, cupboard, and book rack. A ceiling fan and a Fluorescent lamp is found on the ceiling of each room, and smaller fluorescent lamps are located above the default table location. One electric socket is also provided for each resident.

Internet facility is provided by Tres as Wi-Fi connections, as these hostel blocks lack telephone wire connection.

[edit] Transportation

The College offers bus services to areas in the vicinity. Students taking the bus are required to purchase tickets from the Bursary, and the fare to all destinations are RM0.60, except the journey from the college to hostel, which is free of charge. Most hostel residents prefer to walk rather than take bus.

[edit] Canteens

There are two canteens at TARC (excluding those at the hostel), named simply Canteen 1 and Canteen 2. A cafeteria can be found at the clubhouse, but it attracts a far smaller crowd compared to the two canteens.

The canteens serve a wide variety of low cost food. However, some people find the canteens somewhat unhygienic, especially before 2007. Traces of food remnants can be found among the utensils from time to time, and many are tempted to dine outside instead.

Wi-Fi services are available at both canteens. Canteen 2 also features an empty lot for light activities, as well as two ATMs and a photocopy corner.

[edit] Online Facilities

Besides the internet-surfing computers found in the library, more can be found in the Communication and Information Technology Centre (CITC).

Wi-Fi hotspots are also spread all across the college, with popular spots being the library, canteens, and certain school blocks.

[edit] Miscellaneous

  • The 186-acre KL Main Campus is the largest college in the city of Kuala Lumpur. It consists of 22 lecture halls, 18 blocks for tutorial classes with/or admistration offices, 10 blocks of college hostel, 3 blocks of workshops and 1 block for guest accommodation, a childcare centre, an examination building, a sport complex with roof-top tennis courts, a 3-storey library and a 22000-square feet college hall. It also offers various facilities including laboratories, computer laboratories, Olympic-size swimming pool, 2 Gymnasiums, football field, basketball courts, tennis courts, volleyball court, badminton courts, and shuttle bus services.
  • The college is currently under renovation and is going to have a three-storey building which will house the Centre of Communication and Information Technology, plus a multi-storey administrative building.
  • TARC is well-known for its quality tertiary education, most of their graduates, especially from the School of Business Studies (SBS), are highly-sought in the private sector.
  • The Advanced Diploma in Science, Advanced Diploma in Business Studies and Advanced Diploma in Commerce are recognized as suitable for progression to a Sheffield Hallam University UK Honours Degree with prior credit. This is known as the TARC Summer Top-up Degree Programme. The UK universities in partnership with TARC are Sheffield Hallam University and Liverpool John Moores University.
  • Current and ex-students of TAR College are informally known as Tarcians.

[edit] External links

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