KYUEM

I’m 20, so like many other young adults out there, I still get the same typical questions from my friends/uncles/aunts/previous teachers/ or just some strangers who just met me. One of the questions that I get a lot is, “Where are you studying” (Somewhere along the line).  It’s an easy question… IF you’re studying in a popular institution like UiTM, UM, UKM, Taylor’s, Sunway College and etc. You just have to say the name of your uni/college and that’s it. Unfortunately, that is not always the case for me. Usually, the conversation would go like this… “I’m studying in KYUEM”

“What’s KYUEM?”

“Kolej Yayasan UEM” (more like Kolej Yayasan Ulu Entah Mana)

“What does UEM stands for?”

“United Engineers Malaysia”

“So you’re going to become an engineer?”

“No, I’m going to take a degree in Accounting and Finance, I’m just doing A-Level there”

“Where is KYUEM?”

“Lembah Beringin”

“Where is Lembah Beringin?”

“Uhh.. in a jungle somewhere around Selangor.”  

Still have no idea where and what KYUEM is *scratch head* *krik krik*

*Me: smiles awkwardly 🙂 and slowly go away*

I have to explain where KYUEM is, ALL.THE.TIME. I can guarantee you that “Where are you studying?” is a challenging question for most of KYUEM students.

So, for those of you who don’t know where and what KYUEM is, it’s a private premier A Level college, located in Lembah Beringin, Selangor, 1 hour from KL. KYUEM was ranked 3rd in South East Asia for top A Levels school (Reference: Wikipedia) , but really tho, I can’t deny that the students here are smart. Most of the students are sponsored (around 60%), which means they really are creme de la creme.

Most sponsors send their scholars here because KYUEM always has an outstanding A Level results, but I think another reason KYUEM has more sponsored students is because of the fee. The college fee is quite high, for Malaysians it’s 65k for 18 months programme and 87k for 24 months programme. Whereas, for international students, the fee is 88k for 18 months programme and 114k for 24 months programme. *Umm, so any of the Kardashians want to donate their clothes/accessories? That should be enough to cover the college fees*

I know, I know, it’s expensive.. but the college fees cover the lectures, accommodation, laundry service, food, all the facilities and more. (The list is long, it’d take forever to write all of them.. so I’ll just stop there)

If you’re interested to know more about this college or if you’re a prospective student, go ahead and continue reading. (Warning: It’s a really long post!) (p/s: To the prospective students, I was like all of you too in 2015. I searched for blogs of the students of KYUEM to know more about this college. It was my first time being away from home, so, knowing a little bit about this college, the system and what to expect helped me feel a little bit better. So I hope this info will help you get the rough idea of how it’s like to study here.)

ACHIEVEMENTS

Omg guys, you know every year after the SPM results are announced, they’ll announce the national scholars (Top 50 in the whole Malaysia) as well right?? Well.. MOST OF THEM ARE HERE!!! Top 50 weh! *pengsan jap* 

Anyway, most students here aim to study overseas and mostly go to some of the finest and world class universities in the world. Every year, students get offers from the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and London School of Economics *pengsan again*.

Among the most popular choices in the UK are Imperial College and Queen Mary College London, University College London, Warwick, Bristol, Manchester as well as Edinburgh. There are also some students who go to the US and Australia. If you want to know more about the students’ achievements, you can click here. (Source: KYUEM Website)

ACCOMMODATIONS

Villa

Source: KYUEM website

The juniors will stay in the villas (1st and 2nd sem). One villa can accommodate up to 4 people, each will have their own room. There are 2 toilets in every villa, with water heaters. A sofa, a coffee table, cabinets and an air conditioner are provided in the common room. There’s a small round fan, a bed, a wardrobe with no mirrors (unfortunately) and a study table in each room.

Chalet

Chalets are for seniors (3rd and 4th sem). Sometimes, the January intake students will get the chalets too, if there’s no available room in the villas. All chalets have 2 rooms, one person in one room. Each room has a toilet with water heater, a bed, a study table and a chair, wardrobe with a long mirror inside, and a ceiling fan. In the common room, there’s a long study table, 2 chairs, and an air conditioner.

Apartment

Apartments are for the juniors and seniors. Not all seniors will get the chalets, some seniors will have to move from the villa to the apartment when semester 3 starts. It will also be given to the juniors if there’s not enough room in the villas. There are 4 rooms in each apartment, with 2 toilets. Each room has all the things that the room in the villas & chalets has.

ACADEMIC BLOCKS

KYUEM has 2 Academic blocks. One is called the.. well, acad block, another one is the new block. The new block is for art stream classes (economics, accounting and marine science, entah macam mana marine science boleh sesat kat sana). Acad block is for maths, science subjects, IELTS classes, psychology, history and MQA. We have two large lecture halls and normal size classes. Downstairs are where all the labs for science subjects are.

LIBRARY

Here, the library is called the resource centre (RC). If you’re planning to not spend a single penny on coursebooks (since the coursebooks are quite expensive, at least RM100 for one), you can just borrow them from the RC. We also have AV Room, for students to use the computers and to print stuff. We have IT lab too, but most students prefer the to use the computers in the AV Room. The RC opens daily (except public holiday & semester break), 8am – 6pm, then 8pm – 10pm on Mon – Fri, and 9am – 12pm, then 2pm, – 6pm on the weekend.

FACILITIES

Sports

The college has an Olympic-size swimming pool (Mon & Wed for boys, Tue & Thu for girls), a football field, a volleyball court, a basketball court, two tennis courts, a netball court and a multipurpose hall, housing two squash courts and two gyms (one for girls, one for boys). The multipurpose hall can also be used as a futsal court, four badminton courts, a netball court or a basketball court, not simultaneously. Usually, it is set up to form 3 badminton courts, with the area of the final badminton court used to set up ping-pong tables. Students can also borrow sports equipment from the store such as bicycles, badminton, tennis and squash racquets, basketballs, footballs, netballs and etc.

Olympic size swimming pool

Food and drinks

Cafe

Food is provided 3 times a day in the dining hall (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). We also have a cafe, just behind the dining hall. The cafe has a mini mall, where you can buy snacks, top up, chocolate, ice cream & etc. It’s like the typical korperasi in asrama. Besides that, there’s a few vending machines and water dispensers around the college.

Wifi

There is wifi connection all over the college, but since the college is in the middle of a jungle, the connection is very very slow. Sometimes the wifi at the dining hall and the cafe is quite fast, though. Oh! & Walkway 3 (My fav because it’s the closest to my chalet hehe). All social medias are blocked during academic hours (8am – 5pm, Mon – Fri).

Health Services

We have a sick bay & 3 matrons in the college. The matrons can only give medicines/treatment for illnesses such as flu, fever, sprained ankle, headache and all the not-so-serious illnesses (and they won’t charge you for it, it’s already included in the fees). For serious illnesses, they’ll bring you to see the doctor in public/private hospitals outside the college. (No transportation fee will be charged, it’s included in the fees as well.)

Transportations

Students are not allowed to bring cars to the college but the college provides transportation services with low fares. The fare to KL/Shah Alam is only RM70, RM21 to Tanjung Malim, RM56 to Rawang/Sungai Buloh, and RM112 to KLIA. The fares are for a return trip and per car. For trips with a larger group, the students can book a van or a bus (Yes, low fare also. Usually 50% cheaper than the private van/bus outside). Cars/Vans/bus must be booked in advance in the admin office.

Sometimes the college arranges a trip on the weekend to Sunway/Mid Valley, RM15 with limited slots.

Transportation to/from the airport: There will be a student (usually one of the SC members) who is in charge of transportation to/from the airport for holidays/sem break & the fare range from RM8 – RM30 only. He/she will put up a list on the notice board and students can write their names if interested.

Laundry

There are no coin washing machines here, not even one. Instead, we have laundry service, the students can send max 6 clothes every Monday and Thursday. More than that, you have to pay, RM0.50 for each extra clothes.

Religious activities

There is a musolla near the New Block. People from Lembah Beringin usually go to the college’s musolla for Friday prayer. As for other religions, the college arranges a weekly trip to the church and the temple.

ATM Machine

This is a good and a bad news (for the prospective students). The good news is, we have an ATM Machine! The bad news is, we only have one ATM Machine, & it’s Bank Rakyat! So, if you don’t wanna get charged every time you withdraw your money, I suggest you open an account in Bank Rakyat.

Entertainment

No TV is provided in the villas/chalets/apartments (Obviously! No one will study if we have a TV in our accommodation) but we do have TV rooms. There’s a music room too, somewhere behind the cafe.

Lounge

The lounge is new here. We only have it early of this year. It’s a really cosy place for the students to hang out or just chilling around.

Pos Laju KY

Since I don’t always go out, I do my shopping online. Thank goodness postage service is provided in this college. Students can easily send/receive parcels/postcards/letters. The “office” is located in the admin office.

HOUSE SYSTEM.

There are four houses in KYUEM. Topaz, Garnet, Sapphire and Diamond. Your accommodation will be according to your houses. For example, the villas, all of the students in each block of the villas belongs to the same house. At the end of semester 2 and semester 4, the winner of the house cup will be announced. Points from various events/competitions/activities are collected throughout the 2 semesters and the house with the most points wins. (The house spirits are quite high among the students. Therefore, we are very “housism” here every time there’s a competition involving points, especially bangsawan *cough* *cough*)

So, yeah. That’s all for now. I’ll upload more pictures some other time. If next time people ask me where I am studying, I’ll just give them the link to this post. (So they’ll know more than they want to hahaha, and it’ll make my life easier since I don’t have to explain it to every single person. *Cross legs, blow nails*) 

You can visit the college website here.

Or… if you have any questions, you can leave a comment below.

Update: Starting a new life in a new place might sound scary. It’s even scarier if you have to do it all alone. Read about my experience here and here.

Adriana ❤