A student’s journey through the academic and learning environment of TMC Academy is a dynamic, multi-faceted process shaped by the interaction between the student and the academic environment.
As each student is unique, their journey is shaped by their goals, interests, and circumstances and how they respond to the challenges and opportunities the academic environment provides. This interaction between the challenges and opportunities and the student's individuality results in a process of growth, discovery, and transformation that goes beyond the learning environment and helps prepare the student for the complexities of life.
This article considers some of the stages along a student’s path.
Insights into the academic growth and learning journey
Starting the learning journey begins with two thing essential things.
• Curiosity; and
• The ability to adapt to different situations.
The importance of curiosity in the learning journey
Academic growth and learning journeys begin with a spark of curiosity and a desire to discover more in a particular subject area. While students may be curious about many areas of learning, in higher education, these areas get narrowed down by two factors.
Firstly, the student's strengths. These are the subject areas a student finds easier to study. When a student has a particular subject they enjoy and are strong in, they understand the framework in which a subject sits and find researching and learning the subject matter easier.
The second factor is the student’s career goals. What area does the person want to work in, and at what level? For example, do they want to have a management role, or do they enjoy the challenge of working hands-on to develop practical solutions for problems?
Curiosity is essential not only at the beginning of the learning journey but is a crucial quality in all of life. In the academic world, curiosity will be tempered by the student’s strengths and career goals.
The importance of being able to adapt in the learning journey
Adapting to new environments and different situations is essential for success. Throughout a person’s working career, they will have to adapt to new working environments, new team members and new challenges.
Learning how to adapt to new environments successfully begins with entry into higher education colleges like TMC Academy.
For many students, commencing studying at TMC Academy will be their first time away from home. This means that not only are students adapting to a new learning environment, but they also must adapt to a new city and, for international students, a new country. Due to the number of changes a student has to adapt to when they begin their learning journey, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious.
TMC Academy is aware of the pressure that new students, particularly international students, can face when moving to Singapore for the first time and provides support in several ways to assist students in adapting to the new environment. Some of the ways TMC Academy provides support is through
A comprehensive orientation program designed specifically for local and international students to help them adjust and settle into the Academy.
Career guidance and advice to assist students with their job search skills and build their self-confidence.
Pastoral and counselling services to assist students experiencing academic problems or struggling with stress and anxiety or difficulties in interpersonal relationships.
After entry into the learning journey, the next stage is building the core foundation.
Building a core foundation on the learning journey
Building a core foundation is essential, particularly in higher education, for it provides the basis for students to begin analysing concepts, questioning assumptions, and solving more complex issues. The skill of analysing and solving complex problems prepares students to manage real-world issues that arise in the workplace successfully.
In building a core foundation for students, TMC Academy has three aims.
To provide students with a strong academic foundation in their study area's core concepts.
To ensure students are industry-ready—that is, they can apply the core concepts they have learnt to their work.
To develop students' professional and personal qualities.
Student testimonials evidence TMC’s commitment to providing students with a strong academic foundation by exploring subjects through hands-on activities, group work, projects, and lectures.
Part of TMC Academy's strength is its commitment to Industry Advisory Boards. These boards review the course curriculum to ensure they are industry-relevant. The Boards also monitor current industry practices and future trends and advise on industry attachments and appropriate job placement opportunities for students.
Some of the courses offered by TMC have industry attachments of up to six months, which means students can apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in the classroom and are supported throughout the industry attachment. This enables students to be industry-ready.
Many higher degrees offered by TMC Academy are offered full-time and part-time. The advantage of the part-time option is that students can immediately apply the knowledge and skills they have learned in the lectures and classroom to their work situation.
Success in the workplace isn’t just about knowledge and skills. It is also about how students relate to people, their communication styles, and how they work together as a team. Multicultural workforces, such as in Singapore, are also about understanding and appreciating cultural differences.
Through group work and classroom discussion, students at TMC Academy learn to communicate effectively with each other and understand different cultural perspectives.
The culmination and the start of a life-long learning journey
The culmination of the academic and learning journey is completing the degree or course of study and graduating. Graduation marks the end of the formal academic journey.
The academic journey is marked by stress, resilience, and growth. Stress is often part of the educational journey as the pressures of assignments and exams have been met. There is also the stress and anxiety around successfully obtaining employment. Yet, when a student graduates, it also points to the person's resilience and growth. The stress has been overcome, assignments have been completed, and exams have passed. The student has a greater sense of their capacity to manage the pressure of time commitments and juggling multiple responsibilities.
Graduation also marks the start of another learning journey, the journey of a lifelong learning mindset. The student's curiosity and desire to learn have been refined and enhanced with new skills and abilities. They have learnt how to investigate data, analyse information, interrogate facts, and understand things from a different perspective.
These skills helped the students graduate and can now be applied as they progress through their careers. The resilience and growth they developed in managing the stress of assignments, exams, and research papers continue to build as they manage the pressures and stress of the working environment.
Graduation is simply the doorway through which students enter and adapt to a journey of life-long learning.
TMC Academy has over forty years of experience supporting students in their academic journey. The Academy’s motto is “Every step with you”. TMC aspires to partner with each student to achieve their educational dreams.
Contact the Academy to see how they can go every step of the academic journey with you here.
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