Transcript Malaysian Higher Education: Policy innovations

Malaysian Higher Education: Policy innovations
BALA RAJU NIKKU, MSW, PHD
School of Social Sciences
Universiti Sains Malaysia
[email protected]
Main Research Question(s)
• How Malaysia has achieved the status of student
sending country in 1950s to student receiving by
1996?
• What policy innovations took place? And How are they
triggered? Do these innovations led to inclusive
development?
• Can Malaysia continue to position Education Malaysia
Brand? If yes How?
Malaysia
• 1957 : Independency led to Open Market Economy – that
resulted in to secure environment for investments
• 1983: ‘Malaysia Incorporated’ ( from ONE university in 1950s
to 20 public universities and more than 500 private higher education
institutions by 2014)
• 1990s : privatization of key government organizations
dealing with public utilities and services (water supply, electricity,
telecommunications, postal, railways)
(Per capita
income increased from US$ 978 in 1970 to
US$10,318 in 2005 (measured in purchasing power parity)
Higher Education :
a catalyst for Malaysian Development
• Malaysia Transformed from production-based economy into a
knowledge-based economy
• Education : perceived as a medium of fostering national
unity, social equality and economic development
• achieve ‘developed nation’ status by 2020
• To become a Regional Hub for higher education
• desire to engage with issues of globalization and
competitive pressure yet at the same time develop own independent path
Policy Evolution in
Higher Education/ Tertiary Sector
• 1971: The University and University Colleges Act
• 1980: lack of formal Policy – but PrHEIs emerged to absorb the
excess demand in Higher education
•
1982 : ( Decentralisation ) education offices were established at the district level
• 1990s: Public Universities Corporatised ( to become less
dependent on government subsidies)
• 1995: Amendments to the University and University Colleges
Act of 1971
• 1996 : passed the Private Higher Education Act and
Amendments in 2003 ( gave more autonomy)
Malaysia continues to build its position as a
regional education hub
• Eighth Malaysia Plan (8MP), 2001–2005 spent on HE about 35 % of the
allocated budget to education ( about RM 38 billion ) Ninth Malaysia Plan
(9MP), 2006–2010 ( spent about 40 % on HE out of the total RM 40.4
billion allocated for the education sector )
• ‘Internationalisation’ - key strategy to develop higher education for
the international as well as the domestic market (Malaysia wants to
become the world’s sixth-biggest education exporting country by
2020 with a target of 200,000 international students.
• 2005 : 50,000 + foreign students, mainly from East Asia and the Pacific
region- about 80 % were enrolled in in private
HEIs)
• 2010 : the private sector has about 50% of total student enrolment in
the country
The Malaysia Education Blueprint
2013–2025
“the biggest shake-up ever of our education
system … a 13-year roadmap [which] will
reshape how our policymakers, education
officials, teachers and parents deal with
educating and teaching millions of our
schoolchildren and preparing them and the
nation for the future.”
Crafting Islands of Excellence?
• EduCity Iskandar brings together eight
international universities on a 350-acre campus.
• Kuala Lumpur Education City (KLEC), is
currently under construction and will be
developed over the next 15-20 years.
Policy to allow/attract Foreign branch
campuses in Malaysia – begining of “glocal”
movement
- Diversity of higher education providers to suit to a
wide variety of students needs and budgets
- Increased choices/ reaping the benefits of both a
“global” and “local” education
- To certain extent fragmentation
Opportunities and Challenges
• sustained investments and political will over the last
50 years in primary and secondary education laid a
robust foundation for the expansion of tertiary
education during the last fifteen years
• international students contributed a total of RM3 billion in
foreign exchange earnings in 2008 (The New Straits Times, 23rd May
2009).
• selective Decentralization – as a policy
innovation
Conclusions
Diversity of PrHEIs and Public : provide a variety of alternative pathways to
higher education
Enhanced access for local students: Malaysian Federal ( and to some extent state)
government provided significant policy and financial resources for the development of
PrHEIs, through the provision of incentives, subsidized loans, and scholarships
Access and Social Policies : inherited merit ( seems to be the
dominant model in Malaysia) compared to equality of rights and
equality of opportunity
Competition Or Collaboration : Pr HEIs as demand absorbers and
now agents of competitive higher education market
market driven knowledge creation : if market only determines the types of
courses to be offered - marginalise national needs and goals