BERJAYA University College

About BERJAYA University College (BUC)

BERJAYA University College is a private university college operating from a dedicated campus footprint within the Berjaya Times Square complex in central Kuala Lumpur. The institution was founded in 2009 as the educational arm of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, the diversified Malaysian conglomerate led by Tan Sri Vincent Tan. The institution was originally established as BERJAYA University College of Hospitality, reflecting its founding focus on hospitality and culinary arts programmes that aligned with the Berjaya Group’s substantial hospitality and food-and-beverage business interests. The “of Hospitality” designation was subsequently dropped from the institutional name as the programme catalogue broadened to cover business, design, IT, and mass communication alongside the hospitality core.

The institutional identity continues to anchor on hospitality and culinary arts as the flagship specialism, with the broader programme catalogue positioned as adjacent and complementary specialisms rather than as a wholesale shift away from the founding focus. The institution received Institute of Hospitality (United Kingdom) accreditation in June 2017, becoming the first Malaysian higher education institution to hold that international hospitality-specific professional accreditation. The Institute of Hospitality recognition complements the standard Malaysian Qualifications Agency programme accreditation and signals that BUC’s hospitality curriculum has been independently evaluated against UK professional hospitality higher education standards.

The Berjaya Group ownership structure connects the institution to a substantial portfolio of hospitality and food-and-beverage businesses, including the Berjaya Times Square Hotel and the broader Berjaya Hotels and Resorts portfolio (Berjaya Tioman, Berjaya Langkawi, Berjaya Penang Hotel, and other properties), historical involvement in food-and-beverage franchising (including the Krispy Kreme franchise in Malaysia and Starbucks Malaysia, with current franchise holders subject to verification), and the broader retail and entertainment portfolio that includes the Berjaya Times Square complex itself. This proximity to a live hospitality operating environment is one of the institution’s principal differentiators in the Malaysian hospitality higher education market, since students can access the Berjaya hotels and food-and-beverage businesses for industrial training, internship placement, and post-graduation employment routing.

The Chancellor of BUC is Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, the Permaisuri of Pahang, whose role provides the ceremonial-academic leadership of the institution. The institution operates under Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) registration DKU007(W) and is listed on the Malaysian Qualifications Agency public register under reference 528.

Location of BERJAYA University College in Kuala Lumpur

The BUC campus is located at Level 11 West, Berjaya Times Square, Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur. The Berjaya Times Square complex is the integrated retail, hospitality, and entertainment landmark in the central Kuala Lumpur Bukit Bintang district, occupying a substantial city-block footprint along Jalan Imbi. The complex houses the Berjaya Times Square Hotel (the on-site five-star hotel that is part of the integrated development), a major shopping mall with several hundred retail outlets, the Berjaya Times Square Theme Park (one of the largest indoor theme parks in Asia), and a concentration of food-and-beverage outlets that range from quick-service to mid-tier and fine dining.

The integration of the campus within an active commercial hospitality complex is one of the institution’s distinctive features. Students in hospitality and culinary programmes have direct, on-site access to a live four-and-five-star hotel operation through the Berjaya Times Square Hotel, which sits within the same complex. Practical training opportunities, observation rotations, and casual student employment in the hotel’s various functions (front office, food and beverage service, banqueting, housekeeping, kitchen brigades) are organised through the institutional partnership.

The Bukit Bintang district itself is the principal hospitality and tourism cluster of central Kuala Lumpur, with the four-and-five-star hotel concentration that includes the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur Hotel, the JW Marriott KL, the Westin KL, the Royale Chulan Bukit Bintang, the Renaissance KL, and the broader cluster running across Jalan Bukit Bintang, Jalan Sultan Ismail, and Jalan P. Ramlee. The geographic proximity gives BUC students reach into a large, dense network of internship hosts and graduate employers in the immediate campus surroundings.

Public transport access to the campus is via the Imbi MRT station on the Putrajaya Line, which is the closest rapid transit access point and provides direct connections to KL Sentral, the broader Klang Valley MRT network, and the airport rail link. The Bukit Bintang LRT station on the Kelana Jaya Line and the Bukit Bintang monorail station provide alternative rapid transit access. The Berjaya Times Square complex itself has integrated parking and direct access from Jalan Imbi by road.

Programmes Offered at BERJAYA University College

BUC operates four faculty divisions covering the hospitality and culinary arts core, business and accountancy, design and creative arts, and information technology and mass communication. The institutional positioning preserves the hospitality and culinary specialism as the flagship across all programme levels.

The Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism offers Diploma and Bachelor programmes covering hospitality management, culinary arts, patisserie and pastry arts, food service management, and event management. The hospitality programmes hold Institute of Hospitality (United Kingdom) accreditation, which is the institution’s flagship international quality reference for the specialism. Practical training is integrated through the Berjaya Times Square Hotel relationship and through the broader Berjaya Hotels and Resorts portfolio across Malaysia.

The Faculty of Business and Accountancy offers Diploma and Bachelor programmes in business administration, marketing, accounting, banking and finance, and entrepreneurship, alongside the Master in Business Administration (MBA) at postgraduate level. The business programmes carry the Berjaya Group’s industry positioning, with the corporate portfolio of the Berjaya Group providing case material and internship placement opportunities across hospitality, retail, gaming and leisure, food and beverage franchising, property development, and the broader conglomerate operations.

The Faculty of Design and Creative Arts covers interior design, graphic design, communication design, fashion design, and the broader creative arts specialisations at Diploma and Bachelor level. The creative arts focus complements the hospitality and culinary core through the design integration into hotel interior, restaurant interior, food presentation, and the broader hospitality design ecosystem.

The Faculty of Information Technology and Mass Communication offers programmes in information technology, software development, game development (one of the institution’s distinctive specialisms in the Malaysian higher education market), mass communication, broadcasting, and public relations. The IT and mass communication division covers the digital and media specialisms that integrate with the broader BUC programme portfolio.

The institution also offers Foundation programmes at pre-university level, providing the one-year preparation pathway for SPM and O-Level holders entering the BUC Bachelor programmes or transferring to other Malaysian and international institutions. The MQA-accredited programme list at any given time is published on the Malaysian Qualifications Agency public register under the institutional entry.

Fees at BERJAYA University College

BUC fee benchmarks across the standard programme stack typically run in the RM 20,000 to RM 40,000 per year range for local students at Bachelor level, with Diploma programmes running lower in the RM 12,000 to RM 22,000 per year range. The hospitality and culinary programmes typically carry additional kitchen-use, equipment, and uniform charges that broader business or design programmes do not incur, reflecting the practical and equipment-intensive nature of the curriculum.

For international students, the fee schedule runs higher under the standard Malaysian private higher education two-tier fee structure, with typical Bachelor-level annual tuition in the RM 25,000 to RM 50,000 range. International applicants should also factor the Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) student visa pass processing fees, mandatory medical insurance under the EMGS framework, and the standard living costs in the central Kuala Lumpur Bukit Bintang district (which run at the higher end of Klang Valley student living costs given the central location).

The MBA at postgraduate level operates on a separate total-programme cost basis. Specific MBA fee figures should be requested directly from the admissions office given the cohort-based pricing structure typical of MBA programmes.

BUC publishes a portfolio of scholarship and financial assistance schemes including the 50 percent Entrance Scholarship for qualifying applicants meeting the academic merit and conditional criteria, plus other merit-based awards. A TSVT (Tan Sri Vincent Tan) scholarship has been referenced in some aggregator listings; the specific scheme details and current eligibility criteria should be verified directly with the BUC admissions office before relying on aggregator-sourced information.

The practical step for any prospective applicant is to request the current 2026 fee schedule from the BUC admissions office, with reference to the specific programme of interest, the applicant’s local-international status, and the current scholarship eligibility criteria. Specific cost components to confirm include base programme tuition, registration and resource fees, kitchen and equipment charges for hospitality and culinary programmes, hostel accommodation rates if applicable, and the international student fee schedule for non-Malaysian applicants.

Accreditation and Regulatory Status of BERJAYA University College

BUC’s regulatory status sits across multiple authorities: the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) for institutional licensing, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) for programme-level accreditation, the SETARA framework for institutional rating, and the Institute of Hospitality (United Kingdom) for the hospitality-specific international professional accreditation.

At the institutional level, BUC holds Ministry of Higher Education registration DKU007(W), which is the licence code for a university college (kolej universiti) under the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996. The DKU prefix on the registration code distinguishes university colleges from full universities (DU prefix) and from colleges (KPT prefix). The (W) suffix denotes the Wilayah Persekutuan (Federal Territory) location of the institution.

At the programme level, MQA accreditation is reflected on the agency’s public register at mqa.gov.my under the institutional entry IDAkrIPTS=528. Each accredited programme carries its own MQA accreditation reference. The MQA register is the canonical source for verifying the live accreditation status of any specific BUC programme before enrolment.

The SETARA rating for BUC sits at Berdaya Saing (Competitive) under the Malaysian higher education quality rating framework. The SETARA rating system evaluates Malaysian higher education institutions against quality criteria spanning teaching and learning, research and development, and institutional services. The Berdaya Saing rating places BUC in the competitive tier of the framework. For comparison, Sunway University holds SETARA Tier 6 (Outstanding/Cemerlang), which is the highest tier on the rating scale.

The Institute of Hospitality (United Kingdom) accreditation, granted in June 2017, applies to the institution’s hospitality management programmes and is the international professional reference for the specialism. BUC was the first Malaysian higher education institution to receive this recognition. The Institute of Hospitality is the UK-based professional body for hospitality and tourism management, founded in 1938 and headquartered in London, and operates a programme accreditation system that evaluates hospitality higher education curricula against UK professional standards.

Admissions to BERJAYA University College

BUC operates rolling admissions across most programmes, with intake start dates typically aligned to the Malaysian academic calendar (January, May, and September starts at private institutions).

Entry to Foundation programmes requires SPM, O-Level, or equivalent secondary school qualifications with the relevant subject passes for the chosen progression pathway. Foundation typically runs as a one-year preparation programme.

Entry to Diploma programmes requires SPM, O-Level, or equivalent qualifications with the subject passes appropriate to the chosen specialism. Hospitality and culinary Diplomas typically require an English language credit and may require an interview or aptitude assessment as part of the admissions process. Design Diplomas may require a portfolio submission.

Entry to Bachelor programmes requires STPM, A-Level, BUC’s own Foundation, a Diploma in a relevant field, or equivalent pre-university qualifications. Subject and CGPA requirements vary by programme, with the hospitality, culinary, and design programmes typically requiring portfolio or aptitude evidence in addition to the academic threshold.

Entry to the Master in Business Administration (MBA) requires a recognised Bachelor’s degree in any discipline, professional work experience appropriate to MBA cohort norms, English language proficiency (IELTS 6.0 or equivalent for international applicants), and the standard MBA admissions documentation including statement of purpose and references.

International applicants should plan for the Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) student visa pass workflow, which runs on a four-to-eight-week processing window separately from BUC’s internal admissions decision.

Application contact: info@berjaya.edu.my, switchboard +603 2687 7000, website berjaya.edu.my.

Hospitality Industry Pathway via BERJAYA University College

BUC positions itself as a pipeline into the Malaysian and regional hospitality, food-and-beverage, and culinary industry. The institutional integration with the Berjaya Group’s hospitality portfolio gives the institution a specific industry-employment pipeline that is structurally distinct from the broader hospitality higher education market in Malaysia.

The Malaysian hospitality industry workforce structure provides several distinct entry points that a BUC graduate may target. The first is hotel operations, covering front office, food and beverage service, banqueting and events, housekeeping, sales and marketing, and revenue management roles at the four-and-five-star hotel cluster across Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, and the broader Malaysian destination cities. The Diploma in Hospitality Management and the Bachelor of Hospitality Management are the principal feeder qualifications for this pathway, with the Berjaya Times Square Hotel and the broader Berjaya Hotels and Resorts portfolio providing direct in-group employment routing.

The second is culinary arts, covering line cook, sous chef, pastry chef, and the broader kitchen brigade career progression at hotel restaurants, standalone fine dining establishments, banqueting operations, and the food service supply chain. The Diploma in Culinary Arts and the Bachelor of Culinary Arts are the feeder qualifications, with practical training routed through the BUC kitchen facilities and through the Berjaya Group’s food-and-beverage operations.

The third is food and beverage management at the operational and strategic level, covering restaurant management, food service business operations, food and beverage entrepreneurship, and the broader F&B career trajectories. The Diploma in Food Service Management and Bachelor programmes in food and beverage management feed this pathway.

The fourth is event management, covering corporate events, weddings and social events, exhibitions and conferences, and the broader event-services market. The Diploma and Bachelor programmes in event management are the feeder qualifications, with the Berjaya Times Square integrated complex (with its theme park, banqueting facilities, and hotel) providing live event operational exposure.

For graduates moving outside the Berjaya Group, the broader Malaysian hospitality industry employment market includes Malaysia Airlines hospitality roles, Khazanah-linked hospitality investments, the established international hotel groups (Marriott Asia Pacific, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Accor) operating across Malaysia, and the regional hospitality market across ASEAN. The realistic graduate-employment expectation is an entry-level position at four-or-five-star property starting salary appropriate to the specific role and progression into supervisory and management positions over five to ten years of experience.

BERJAYA University College Compared with Taylor’s University and Sunway University

The Malaysian hospitality and broader private higher education market has multiple reference institutions that prospective students typically weigh against BUC. The two most direct hospitality-relevant comparisons are Taylor’s University, which holds the strongest international hospitality ranking in the Malaysian market, and Sunway University, which sits at the top tier of the broader private university market.

Taylor’s University operates as a full Malaysian private university with a comprehensive academic portfolio across hospitality, business, engineering, design, and the broader university disciplines. Taylor’s holds QS World University Rankings top-20 placement in Hospitality and Leisure Management, a placement sustained for seven consecutive years through 2025, which is one of the strongest QS subject rankings achieved by any Malaysian institution in any discipline. The Taylor’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events runs Diploma, Bachelor, Master, and PhD programmes from the Subang Jaya campus, and the institutional heritage in hospitality higher education extends back to the 1980s through the Taylor’s College School of Hospitality and Tourism. Taylor’s positioning on hospitality is the QS-ranked, globally-benchmarked, university-tier alternative.

Sunway University operates as a full private university with a broad academic portfolio and the SETARA Tier 6 (Outstanding/Cemerlang) institutional rating, which is the highest tier on the SETARA framework. Sunway’s hospitality school runs Diploma and Bachelor programmes from the Bandar Sunway campus integrated with the broader Sunway City development, including the Sunway Resort Hotel and the Sunway Lagoon theme park as on-site practical training environments. Sunway’s positioning relative to Taylor’s is the second-place QS-ranked Malaysian hospitality school with the broader Sunway City integrated campus environment.

BUC sits in a different position in the market. The institution is a specialist university college rather than a full university, with the central Kuala Lumpur Bukit Bintang district campus location that places students in the immediate Klang Valley hospitality cluster. The Institute of Hospitality (UK) accreditation that BUC holds is the institutional flagship accreditation in the hospitality specialism but does not equate to the QS top-20 ranking that Taylor’s holds. The Berjaya Group ownership and the on-site Berjaya Times Square Hotel give BUC a distinctive in-group industry pathway that the independent-ownership institutions Taylor’s and Sunway do not offer.

For a prospective hospitality candidate weighing the three, the typical decision factors are the budget envelope (BUC sits at a lower fee point than Taylor’s and Sunway), the campus location preference (central KL Bukit Bintang for BUC, Subang Jaya for Taylor’s, Bandar Sunway for Sunway), the importance of the QS international ranking (which favours Taylor’s), and the importance of the in-group industry partnership (which favours BUC through the Berjaya Group connection). The choice frequently splits along these decision axes rather than a single across-the-board ranking.

Contacting BERJAYA University College

BERJAYA University College can be contacted through the following channels:

• Address: Level 11 West, Berjaya Times Square, No. 1 Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Phone: +603 2687 7000
• Email: info@berjaya.edu.my
• Website: berjaya.edu.my
• MOHE Registration: DKU007(W)
• MQA Reference: IDAkrIPTS=528 (https://www2.mqa.gov.my/Mqr/English/eakrKPList.cfm?IDAkrIPTS=528)
• Hospitality Accreditation: Institute of Hospitality (United Kingdom), granted June 2017
• SETARA Rating: Berdaya Saing (Competitive)
• Chancellor: Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, Permaisuri of Pahang
• Owner: Berjaya Corporation Berhad

For programme details, current fee schedules, intake timelines, scholarship information, and application requirements, the authoritative reference is the institution’s own published materials at berjaya.edu.my and the Malaysian Qualifications Agency public register at mqa.gov.my under the BERJAYA University College entry. Prospective international students should additionally reference the Education Malaysia Global Services student visa pass workflow at educationmalaysia.gov.my for the visa documentation timeline.