Sunday March 27, 2011

Making Malaysia an education hub

PRIVATE institutions of higher learning (IPTS) must compete with public institutions of higher learning (IPTA) to make Malaysia a regional hub for higher education. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said IPTS should see it in the context of National Key Economic Activities (NKEA) and tap cluster education to propel the economy to higher level. IPTS have a big role to play what with some 75,000 foreign students in the country with 150,000 targeted by 2015, he said when opening the new campus of Kolej Teknologi Yayasan Pendidikan Cheras (YPC) in Taman Maluri, Cheras, recently. The Education Minister said IPTS should become factories to produce quality and highly skilled professionals to meet demands of the new economic model. We must dare to compete and create excellence not only at domestic level but also globally to make Malaysia an international education hub. He said the government was always monitoring IPTS to ensure that the subjects offered meet standards and address job market demands. The government is making the education sector an economic investment to attract foreign students. On the new campus, Muhyiddin hopes that it can elevate the status of education in the country to be on par with leading foreign institutions. I deeply appreciate efforts targeted at students from midle and low income families who do not get places in IPTA. Meanwhile, YPC chairman Datuk Syed Ali AlHabshee said construction of the RM32mil campus started in July 2009. It is equipped with 22 classrooms, 14 tutorial rooms, eight computer and two multimedia laboratories and art studios that can accommodate 4,000 students. At the ceremony, 30 Business and Information Technology foundation programme students received Star-YPC scholarships. - Bernama

http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2011/10/2/education/9585553&sec=education

MONDAY, MAY 28, 2007

MALAYSIA AS AN EDUCATION HUB

The UNSW debacle in Singapore and the exit of Johns Hopkins last year, have dealt a serious blow to the Global Schoolhouse strategy of the Singapore government. Singapore s neighbor Malaysia announced a similar strategy last year. With this strategy, Malaysia becomes one of the most interesting examples of the way that higher education is globalizing nowadays. A major exporter as well as importer of higher education, with foreign universities within its borders and Malay universities establishing branches outside Malaysia.

First of all, Malaysia has long been sending many of their students and university staff abroad, especially for postgraduate studies, because their own system could not absorb the increase of students in the last decades. In addition, the racial quota for public universities to enroll Malay forced a lot of students from Chinese and Indian backgrounds to pursue their higher education abroad. The last decade has seen a sharp rise in private universities and colleges that have been able to absorb many of these students and the Malay that were not accepted in the public sector. Despite this, the flow of Malaysian students abroad especially to the English speaking countries has remained substantial (see table).
Malaysian students abroad 1999-2004

In addition to sending students abroad to pursue their education, the Malaysian government has also admitted higher education institutions into Malaysia in order to meet the increasing demand of higher education in the country. The establishment of such branch campuses has to fulfill a wide range of legal requirement (on ownership issues, but also on the content of education), but this has not kept universities from establishing these branches. The best known examples are Monash University, Curtin and Swinburnefrom Australia and Nottingham University from the UK. Although these partnerships were usually based on so-called sandwich programmes (where part was done in the home country of the university), they now also offer full degrees in Malaysia.

But in recent years, both the flows of students as well as the flows of institutions are no longer one way but now go both ways. Although public universities in Malaysia do not undertake activities abroad and probably they are not allowed to the private ones seem to become more and more active. You can now actually obtain a Malaysian degree in London, offered by the Lim Kok Wing University, well known in Malaysia for its IT and Design programmes. And this university is not just a little office somewhere in London but is established in a beautiful old English building. But Lim Kok Wing did not stop in London. It s also the first Asian university to establish a branch campus in Africa, in Botswana to be precise. Recently, other education institutions are following and are also expanding abroad. And now the Malaysian government wants to make Malaysia a true education hub for the region, more or less like its southern neighbor. The Ministry of Higher Education has set a target of 100,000 students for 2010. Growth will probably mainly be sought in the region and in the Middle East. Together with Singapore, Malaysia probably offers the best quality higher education in Southeast Asia, although Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia are catching up. Due to language (and cultural/religious) issues, Malaysia is popular for Indonesian students, especially for those that cannot get into the local public universities in Indonesia and cannot afford the top private ones or higher education abroad. For Chinese students Malaysia might be popular because of the widespread Chinese influences in Malay society, more apparent though in the private institutions than in the public ones. More recently, especially after 9-11, Malaysia has also become a popular destination for Middle Eastern students. Yesterday, the Star reported on an agreementbetween Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed and his Saudi counterpart Dr Khaled Mohamed Al-Anqari on sending the Saudi students to Malaysian universities(*). In addition to the Middle East, students coming from Africa (especially Libya, Sudan andKenya) are also on the rise (see table; click to enlarge).
Foreign Students in Malaysia 1999-2003

To reach the goal of 100,000 international students, the government will need to double the intake of foreign students. There are obviously pros and cons to a strategy like this. For many, a first reaction would be to ask why a government wants to increase the number of international students if it barely has the capacity to meet the demand of its own people? On the other hand, it can generate extra financial resources (if the fees for foreign students are profitable) by which the education of the Malaysian population can be supported. Obviously creating more multicultural campus will also have more intangible positive effects. And the quality of education can increase if these foreign students will be of such quality that they will positively influence the academic atmosphere and quality in the universities. And of course there are the economic effects through spending and consumption from the students and through the new jobs that are created for such an expanding higher education sector. So...should the Singapore case make the Malaysian government nervous? Maybe not yet, but they better keep an eye on the developments in their neighboring city state. Malaysia s plans are not as ambitious as Singapore s grand strategies and they are less dependent on foreign providers than is the case in Singapore. But I hope they will not become obsessed with the projected number of 100,000, and instead just focus on the overall quality of their higher education. Then the foreign students will follow automatically...

Malaysias growing private education sector may be set for a round of consolidation, as local players use fast growth as a means to build reputations and compete with stronger internationals in the area. Education has been identified as one of the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) and Malaysia is busy positioning itself as a stable, safe and relatively cheap place for overseas students to study. Already the worlds 11th largest exporter of educational services, there are currently 90,000 international students from over 100 countries studying at its schools, colleges and universities. The government is counting on increased demand for quality education from students in new markets like the Middle East, China and Africa. Malaysia-based branch campuses of big name Western institutions are competing with locals like Sapura Resources, SEG International Bhd, Help International Corp Bhd and Masterskill (M) Education Group Bhd. Some of these companies have already acquired smaller players, and many expect them to merge further with each other, link up with larger internationals, or form education networks to pool resources and offer a wider variety of study choices. Some Malaysian institutions have also branched out overseas, such as Universiti College Sedaya with its campus in Indonesia, and Limkokwing University in London. source & article: Bernama via Business Times

http://www.newasianist.com/malaysia-as-an-international-education-hub/

Malaysia As An Education Hub

Malaysia plans to become a regional hub for education. Towards this, measures are being taken to liberalise the education sector to encourage more private and foreign educational institutions to set up joint-ventures, twinning facilities and branch campuses in Malaysia. These facilities are open to foreign students. Under the Seventh Malaysia Plan, the use of distance learning technology will be promoted in a major way to facilitate the provision of educational services to the less developed areas as well as to allow for off-campus courses to serve remote students, both local and regional. The use of multi-media, interactive technology will be enhanced to ensure the effectiveness of this programme. In the light of the above, there is expected to be a exponential increase in the demand for IT especially multi-media products, both hardware and software, as well as services, to cater to this expanding market.

Make Malaysia a well-known education hub.

29 May 2003

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Koh Lay Chin New Strait Times KUALA LUMPUR, May 29: Malaysia should invite renowned institutions from all over the world to be established here through working with universities already in the country, Department of Private Education (enforcement) director Dr Ariff Kasim said today. He said in order to make Malaysia a well-known education hub, a strong presence of renowned foreign universities was necessary. Singapore had been able to attract ten world famous institutions that included John Hopkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Insead, Stanford University and Georgia Institute of Technology, he said, adding that an eleventh, the Indian Institute of Technology was on its way. "Malaysia had the presence of MIT through Malaysian University of Science and Technology (MUST), Monash (University), Nottingham (University) and Curtin. However, the concentration is different from that of Singapore," he said at the Malaysian Education Summit 2003 at Hotel Istana here. He said since MIT was expensive, the Government should intervene in helping MUST so as to prevent the university from leaving Malaysia. "If the Economic Development Board of Singapore is directly involved in the presence of the said renowned institutions, then Malaysia through its agencies should also play the same role," he said. He said Cambridge was originally present through the International Commonwealth University of Malaysia, which was invited to be established as a private university but "the institution never took off." The presence of Kellogg School of Management and Wharton School in the Sassin Business School in Chulalongkorn University and Wharton in the Singapore Management University could be used as models, he added. "Maybe Kellogg can be invited to work with one of the private universities in Malaysia," he said in his paper entitled "The role of private educational institutions in making Malaysia a regional hub: Challenges, Issues and Opportunities". Ariff also said there was a need for standards in running the business of education among the private educational institutions that could be in the form of code of ethics or code of best practices.

"For example, the Malaysian Association of Private Colleges and Universities and The National Association of Private Educational Institutions in Malaysia have its own code of ethics. However, the code of ethics is only applicable to both its members," he said. He said private education institutions should support international seminars or conferences on private education held in Malaysia and should also establish its own centre of excellence. For example, the Multimedia University could have its centre of integrated research centre, Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology would have its centre of design and Universiti Teknologi Petronas its institute of petroleum products, he said.