Multiple career options with a psychology degree

State-of-the-art: The campus is located in Educity Iskandar Puteri.

A DEGREE in psychology at the University of Reading Malaysia (UoRM) provides an excellent starting point for a career in both science and the arts.

It equips you with a fundamental and flexible IR4.0-ready skill set, which opens up opportunities to a wide variety of professions.

Although psychology is typically associated with clinical work and psychotherapy, the field is rich and diverse, and offers numerous career options that involve aspects of the human mind and behaviour.

While some psychology graduates pursue further study and training to become professional psychologists, many successfully find employment in related disciplines.

Major employers of psychology graduates include, but are not limited to hospital settings or mental health clinics; educational institutions, including special-needs centres; human resources departments; marketing and sales companies; social services; market research and consultancy firms; advertising and media agencies; user experience (UX) design agencies; government and policy makers; and the pharmaceutical industry.

It is the number of transferable skills and range of expert knowledge that you will gain that makes psychology distinctive. You will be explicitly trained in critical thinking, advanced research methods, psychological testing and assessment, complex data handling, and higher-order analytical skills.

Broadening horizons: Students undertake research projects as part of their studies.

You will be able to impart valuable insights into human behaviour, and understand large data sets, which is very valuable in almost any career.

The nature of psychology work can vary tremendously; you can pursue a job that fits your interests, strengths, and salary requirements. For example, a clinical or counselling psychologist works to improve psychological well being; a marriage and family therapist helps address issues affecting the functioning of a family; or an industrial and organisational psychologist applies psychological principles to increase employee engagement and workplace productivity.

While a user experience (UX) research analyst, akin to a data scientist, seeks to understand the needs of consumers and product users in the digital world.

The University of Reading Department of Psychology was formed in 1921, making it one of the oldest of its kind in the UK.

The School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences has a long-standing reputation for excellence in psychology teaching, research, and training.

The same BSc Psychology programme is offered at the University of Reading campus in the UK and at UoRM.

Throughout this BSc Psychology programme, you will gain a solid grounding in all core areas of psychology, including biological psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, individual differences, social psychology, conceptual and historical issues in psychology, and research methods.

In your final year, you will carry out a project that encourages you to think about how psychological research impacts the world we live in.

The BSc Psychology programme is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), which provides UoRM graduates the eligibility for Graduate Basis for Chartered (GBC) Membership.

The membership grants access to postgraduate training courses in the UK and elsewhere.Furthermore, under the mobility and transfer programme, students at the Malaysia campus also have the opportunity of experiencing life in the UK campus, which is situated within a 22-minute train ride from London.

For more on the programme, visit www.reading.edu.my/psychology.UoRM undergraduate intakes are in April, July and September and you can apply for direct entry with STPM, A-Levels, UEC or equivalent qualifications.

SPM, IGCSE and equivalent holders can enrol on the International Foundation Programme (IFP), which allows direct progression to the degree. Those with excellent academic results are eligible for a High-Achievers Scholarship valued at up to 30% off programme fees.

This article was contributed by University of Reading Malaysia’s head of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, Assoc Prof Dr Rachel Pye. For details or to arrange a campus tour, call or WhatsApp Nishen at 016-218 4012, email [e-mail] or visit www.reading.edu.my. The Malaysian campus situated within the Educity, in Iskandar Puteri Johor is open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm and on Saturday, 10am-4pm.