Well, if you are talking about a recognized degree, then there is NO WAY you can ever do a Degree directly after SPM. You need to go through at least a pre-university programme. This is a requirement under the Ministry of Higher Education. It is the same in UK, Australia, Europe and most of the world.

Unless your foundation programme is packaged together with the degree.

If I may ask - where are you taking this degree?

You took diploma? Or directly to Degree?

May i know where you did you degree. If you don't mind me asking. And degree in which area?

Yeah - but it's a wrong notion to state going straight to degree because the pathway is not 100% assured and some degree entry req programmes are highly dependent on CGPA.

Well, usually to get to a degree programme, you need to do some sort of pre-university programme that is around 1-1.5 years long. Examples of pre-university programmes are STPM, A-Levels, Matriculation, CPU, AUSMAT, UNSW, SACE, IB and Foundation.

Taking for example foundation which is one-year long and a normal degree programme which is around 3 years. The total duration of studies would normally be 4 years long.

So those universities that state direct entry into degree would also be 4-years (1+3 years). If they just allow you to go straight into the 3-year degree, then especially in Malaysia - they are running afoul MQA and MOHE regulations. Your degree would then be void if it was EVER discovered. And of course the university would be in BIG trouble.

Well, according to MQA - Institutions cannot do that. This is because Degree's has entry requirements and one of those is Foundation. And foundation is not always an automatic entry into degrees. There is a certain criteria to meet.

If you refer to this chart - this is the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF)

https://www.mqa.gov.my/pv4/mqf.cfm

A Bachelor's Degree is specifically at MQF Level 6. And while Pre-University is not stated here, in the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) 2nd Edition Document, Foundation and University Preparatory Programmes are clearly placed between level 3 (Certificate) and Level 4 Diploma)

This is an excerpt:

Foundation and University Preparatory Programme
71. Foundation and university preparatory programmes as well as Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia, Matriculation and foreign qualifications such as A Level are entry qualifications to tertiary education/bachelor’s programmes at universities. However, they are not in the Framework. Nonetheless, MQF determines the standards for these qualifications to ensure comparability and standardisation of students’ abilities. The minimum credit requirement is 50 and typically conducted within the period of 1 to 2 years.

What this means is that it is SEPARATE from a Bachelor Degree's programme. So technically, should not even be put as YEAR 0. It's a marketing and advertising strategy by institutions.

Foundation Programmes have a separate Programme Standards guideline as well.

Depends on the programme. Computing has a very specific standards to follow (although some universities don't really do that) and has pre-reqs for subjects.

But yeah - nowadays it's easy to coast by on just a pass to accumulate 2.0 CGPA and graduate. It also depends on the university system on failing. Does the repeat module replace the failed module's CGPA or not. If it doesn't then it is super difficult to just coast by.

Er. not true especially in the area of Game Development and Computing. Well, I can only speak for my school. We do have a 5-10% failure rate. While some universities may balk at that high failure rate or frown upon students failing, for us the main reason why we started the school in the university I am at is because we wanted to produce talents for the industry. There is no point in passing students that cannot survive in the industry. There are some poor students who will eventually pass but it's due to their tenacity (and either parents or us pushing them to excel) eventually.

It's a delicate balancing act. Yes, I am aware that in some universities, having students fail is bad for business. Apparently some students (and parents) prefer to go to a uni where they are all but guaranteed passes. However, that is not our philosophy. We help students not because it is good for business. We do it because we believe that students can excel but just require a push. So push we will! But we will never help students to merely pass by lowering the standards and benchmarks. The standards and benchmarks will always remain or even sometimes increase.

I am sure there are some private institutions out there who will never compromise on quality and standards as well.

UTM doesn't allow straight into Degree, right? I know their degree programmes are 4-years.