Posted by Erlina

I bet that no one is interested in this topic but these courses are getting on the track starting from few years back. Surveying is the science of determining the relative positions of points above, on or beneath the surface of the earth (both land and sea) through the collection and analysis of data. You will need prior study in mathematics and not forgetting evidence of good numerical skills.

Land Surveying

Land surveying concerns the science and art of determining natural and man-made features on the Earth’s surface for different purposes. These include specifying boundaries and ownership of land, determining exact boundaries within which construction should take place, establishing the positions and shapes of a certain area to produce topographical maps and surveying sea areas for port constructions or harbor maintenance.


Surveyor at work with a leveling instrument. Image by Wikipedia.

You will learn to use equipment, techniques, and hardware of profession necessary to measure horizontal and vertical angles and distances including theodolites, compasses, remote sensing equipment, global positioning receivers and so on.


An archaeologist is surveying. Photo by Wessex Archaeology.

Building surveying

If you like the thought of working on projects that range from multi-million ringgit developments to small renovation and conservation schemes, consider building surveying.

This course will train you to scrutinize and assess building plans to see if it is fit for occupancy, estimate damages of a building which has been ravaged by fire, flood or structural failure, and provide survey results to local authorities about any refurbishment work that needs to be done in a building. It contains elements of law related to building and safety, estimation value of property and construction of knowledge.

The degree balances the elements of practical and professional skills necessary for employment, and the academic theory which is required as a foundation of the field. Through the course, you will achieve the intellectual and personal skills necessary to follow a successful career in the areas of building surveying, building control, facilities management, maintenance management and building conservation.

Quantity Surveying

Majority of students choose this course in Malaysia. Quantity surveying involves the technical study of analyzing and measuring the quantities of raw materials required for construction projects. Before a construction project can take off, it needs a quantity surveyor to calculate the quantity and cost of the materials and labor required for the building work.

You will gain balanced instruction between the development of practical skills necessary for employment and academic theory required to support professional practice. Key themes in the programme include principles of quantity surveying and constructions economics. Essential to the course are fieldwork in quantity surveying practice, land surveying and interdisciplinary project work. Information technology (IT) is a tool you won’t be able to do without and is utilized in the most modules.

As a graduate, you may choose to specialize in the building, civil engineering, refurbishment or maintenance sectors of the construction industry.

Property Consultancy and Valuation Surveying

This course prepares you to work as valuers. As a valuer, you will be involved in the valuation of property, property consultancy, estate agency as well as market and feasibility studies, investment advisory and project management. In short, you put a price tag on property.

This course will equip you with knowledge which can be applied to activities such as estimating how much a property(house, shopping mall, hotel, golf course, etc) is worth. You will also learn property law, economics, property investment and ways to enhance the value of property.

The programme will provide you with and education in the financial, legal, planning and construction aspects of property in the context of the general investment market and give you a thorough understanding of the economic functioning of built environment.

As a graduate, you may be employed as a valuer, estate agent, property of consultant or investment advisor, developer and planner. You can gain further professional qualifications to become a Chartered Surveyor.

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Popular Engineering Courses
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Labels: Erlina, Tertiary Education

Posted by Erlina

Why I choose engineering as my post? Well, it’s because I’m not quite expose to it and many girls thought engineering is kinda boring and just working with machines. They are totally wrong! A lot of boys will choose engineering because of their interests and incomes. Malaysia is developing and no doubt that our country needs a lot of engineers in future. Okay, let me intro about some common engineering courses.

If you are good in your maths and science subjects (especially physics), are inquisitive by nature and have a strong interest in invention, engineering is the course you should consider taking up. There are many types of engineering but the basic principle of all engineering disciplines lies in using scientific knowledge to improve quality of life through inventions. Depending on which engineering discipline you choose, you could be inventing new technologies and processes, products and services, or improving existing ones.

Aeronautical Engineering

If you have always been fascinated by how a large craft can become airborne, you might be interested in this field. Aeronautical engineering is all about making things fly. You will plan, design and test aircraft, missiles and spacecraft. With your knowledge, you design everything from wings to cockpit controls to create the safest and most efficient vehicles possible.

Qualifications of this course are wider compare to the other courses. You can apply for this engineering if you have diploma in mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. Not to forget, you must be a good team player too!

A Pratt and Whitney turbofan engine is tested at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, USA. Image by Wikipedia.

Biomedical Engineering

Photo by something.from.nancy.

This is a relatively a new course that aim to find new ways of tackling medical conditions more effectively and efficiently. Not only will you learn engineering aspects in the course, you would also learn about human anatomy and computational modeling. This is because biomedical engineers have to define a medical problem and find a solution that satisfies both engineering and medical requirements. You will basically learn to design and develop tools to solve problems in medicine and life sciences. The course is not limited to just one type of engineering but also integrates theories from various engineering disciplines like mechanical, chemical, computer and materials.

Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering involves the design and operation of processes that turn raw materials like fuel, food and plastics into useful products. Besides chemistry, you’ll be studying a lot of physics and math in the course too! Chemistry studies involve study of changes in the composition and the nature of matter and its properties; while the physics component involves studying the forces that act on matter and the maths component studies the mathematical relationship between matter and its forces.

At the end of the course, you should be competent in developing, designing, operating and controlling processes (both machinery and devices). You also will learn about safety and environment issues because chemical engineers are responsible for designs that are economically viable, safe and not harmful to the environment.

A student makes light-sensitive molecules. Photo by believekevin.

Civil and Structural Engineering

Many Malaysia students are interest in this course. This course is concerned about planning and building of infrastructure such as roads, bridges, buildings, reservoirs and transmission towers. The course will teach you about physical and chemical properties of building materials and how they react under pressure or weight. You will analyze structure systems, including beams, frames and steel elements. Civil engineering is broad discipline so you will usually specialize at the end of the course. Some of the specializations that you can choose from are structure, geotechnical, traffic and highway, environmental, and hydrology and water recourse systems. By the way, you must be practical and creative at the same time!

Langkawi bridge. Photo by peter.macdonald.

Electrical and Electronic Engineering (E & E)

Electronic circuit. Photo by Storm Crypt.

This is one of the top courses when students are applying for engineering. Electronic engineering is closely related to electrical engineering but while electrical engineering deals more with large-power applications, electronic engineering is concerned with lower-powered electrical systems. An electronic engineering course will give you a thorough understanding of analogue and digital electronics and microprocessor hardware and software. Electrical engineering is concerned with different forms of electrical charge, how they behave and how they can adapted for use. You will study about transformers, complex network functions, electrons, magnetic field and electric fields, and basic electrical measurement devices such as ammeters, voltmeters and oscilloscopes.

Materials Science and Engineering

This specialized course is concerned with study of materials that underpins most of the technology we depend on. In this course, you will learn all types of materials such as ceramics, glasses, metals, polymers, semiconductors and biomaterials. The course will also give you the opportunity to study the behavior of materials under different conditions, analyze the selection of appropriate materials for a given application, and develop new materials and methods to process them into useful objects through research and practical experiments, among other things.

You will need a good IT and analytical skills for this course.

Mechanical Engineering

If working with around machines simply fascinates you, you’ll enjoy this course. In the first 2 years of the course, you’ll study core subjects like thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, solid mechanics and dynamics. Besides that, you’ll also study about mechanical behavior of materials, electrical circuits and computer-aided design, computer-controlled systems and mechatronics. The scope of mechanical engineering is very broad, so you can opt to specialize at the end of the course.

Telecommunications Engineering

Telecommunication engineering is quite similar to electrical and electronics engineering. It brings together elements of electrical and electronics, and computer engineering. The course will cover typical signals (speech, audio, video, and data) and their characteristics as well as key techniques in handling transmission system issues (modulation, coding, multiplexing). You will also learn to evaluate system performance. You will develop skills in electrical circuits and electronics (analogue and digital), modeling and simulation of systems, applications of electromagnetism, optical fibers and communication, photonics, data networks and satellite communications.

Menara Kuala Lumpur is the fifth tallest telecommunication tower in the world. Photo by eshare.

Well, these are the common degree courses that are in Malaysia. I hope this is helpful to those who isn’t sure what type of engineering they should take up. Enjoy reading ~ =)

Labels: Erlina, Tertiary Education