Swinburne University

Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus is an international branch campus of Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
Established in 1908, Swinburne has a strong reputation in Australia and overseas as a provider of career orientated education and as a university with a commitment to research.
In a 2005 survey by the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training, Swinburne was ranked No. 4 in Australia for its learning and teaching quality.
The Sarawak campus was set up in Kuching, the capital city of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, in 2000 and operates in partnership with the Sarawak Foundation and the Sarawak Higher Education Foundation. Its establishment is part of a long-term strategy by Swinburne Australia to globalize its operations and to provide its students with international living, working and learning opportunities.
Swinburne Sarawak maintains a strong technology base and important links with industry. It aspires to be a research intensive university and it is developing its research capability with a focus on areas relevant to industry.
The campus is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and currently conducts research on information security, mechatronics engineering, software engineering, business as well as education and e-learning.
Located just 15 minutes from the city centre and in the vicinity of commercial areas, the 16.5 acre campus offers undergraduate degrees in engineering, business, IT and multimedia. Also offered are postgraduate research programs at PhD and masters levels in these disciplines as well as coursework masters programs in accounting and multimedia.
Other courses include one-year foundation programs in business/IT and engineering/science as well as diploma programs in business and information systems, and electronic engineering which articulate into degrees. A range of English language proficiency programs are also available.
Students have the option of completing their degrees entirely in Kuching or transferring to one of its six campuses in Melbourne to complete them.
These programs, offered at a fraction of the Australian costs, are identical to those offered by Swinburne's home campus in Melbourne and the parchments are awarded by Swinburne Australia.
All degree programs offered by Swinburne Sarawak are recognized by the Malaysian Public Service Department (JPA).
Applied vocational emphasis and direct placements in industry are a feature of many of its undergraduate courses. The focus on practical training is an integral part of the course structure and the university is well known for producing graduates that are employment-ready.
Current student population at Swinburne Sarawak is about 1,300 and this is expected to reach 5,000 by 2010. International students come from 21 countries including Bangladesh, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Swinburne Sarawak is currently undergoing construction to expand the campus. Construction work started in late 2005 and when completed in 2007, the campus will feature a complex of buildings to accommodate new courses and the increasing student population.