Getting to Know: APEL

Dr Ng Yew Loong, 58, had quit as a general manager to focus on his PhD. Even more interesting, he had obtained an MBA earlier without first getting a bachelor’s degree. How could he have done it? The answer is an acronym – APEL.

APEL stands for Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning, which enables one to enrol in university based on previous learning or working experience.

OUM was one of the first universities to be appointed as an APEL Assessment Centre by the MQA. The assessment has three components – an aptitude test, a portfolio to show evidence of previous learning and working experience, and an interview (for Masters programmes only). “You can sit for the test at any of our 35 Learning Centres. We are currently working on developing an online system for the test,” said OUM’s APEL Centre Director, Encik Rohaizak Omar.

APEL could be called a magic wand for people who have plenty of professional knowledge and capabilities but lack academic qualifications. Said Encik Rohaizak, “Just imagine, within 13 years, from 2009 to 2022, more than 33,000 people have come to OUM through APEL. And more than 6,700 have graduated. We could not have achieved these numbers without APEL.”

These learners and alumni comprise a mixture of government and private sector staff, which goes to show that APEL benefits individuals across the board.

There are three types of APEL – APEL.A allows for admission based on knowledge and experience, APEL.C allows for credit transfer to graduate faster, and APEL.Q awards an academic qualification based on years of working experience without going through a conventional learning journey.

The most popular is definitely APEL.A. Most OUM programmes allow APEL.A enrolment, except for PhD programmes and those that have professional board requirements – Master of Psychology, Master of Counselling, Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and Bachelor of Teaching (Primary Education).

“Many learners then go on to apply for APEL.C. In comparison, APEL.Q is relatively recent but it is picking up. The first two APEL.Q learners have just graduated,” Encik Rohaizak informed.

Now that you know this much about APEL, has it tickled your interest? Go here to learn more: https://apel.oum.edu.my/