The population of Malaysia, as recorded by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, was 27.7 million in 2008. Forty per cent of its population comprises of young citizens aged between five and 24 years. From this group, approximately five million are in primary and secondary schools and 800,000 in public and private higher education institutions in the country. Overall, the literacy rate for Malaysia is 92.3 per cent.
The political scene in Malaysia has been robust since the General Election in March 2008, when the ruling coalition, the Barisan Nasional (BN), was denied the two-thirds majority in Parliament. Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Prime Minister, had stepped down in early April 2009 to pave way for Datuk Seri Najib Razak. This lead to the re-shuffling of the Cabinet. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is the new Deputy Prime Minister and also Minister of Education (taking over from Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, who is now the Minister of Home Affairs). Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin retains his position as the Minister for Higher Education.
Like other countries across the globe, Malaysia’s economic climate is uncertain. To prevent the country’s economy from slipping into recession, two stimulus packages amounting to MYR 67 billion were unveiled. The GDP forecast for 2009 has been revised to a target range of between growth of one per cent and a contraction of one per cent. The unemployment rate is also expected to increase to 4.5 per cent. Nevertheless, Malaysia is hopeful that the country’s economy would improve in the second half of the year, with the implementation of the plans stipulated in the second stimulus package.
Despite all the changes and challenges, education is still high on Malaysia’s agenda. Twenty-one per cent of the total budget in the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006 to 2010) is allocated for education and training development. As part of the second stimulus package, the Government will provide financial support to encourage more Malaysians to take up Master's and Doctorate programmes. The National Higher Education Strategic Plan (strategies for higher education) and National Education Blueprint (strategies for education) are in place to steer Malaysia towards its aspiration to becoming a regional and international centre of education excellence.
Bahasa Malaysia is the medium of instruction in most schools in Malaysia. Nevertheless, English is also widely used. The debate on whether science and mathematics will continue to be taught in English was finally resolved, with the final decision to revert the teaching of these subjects to Bahasa Malaysia. To ensure that English will still be used extensively in schools, more hours might be allocated to teach English. English grammar will also be reinforced in the syllabus to strengthen students’ competency in both written and spoken English.
Students who have completed 11 years of studies and who have obtained their SPM results (equivalent to O-levels) will have the option to pursue their tertiary education at either a private or public higher education institution in the country. These students are around 17 to 18 years of age when they sit for their SPM examinations.
Students who want to get into public universities need to take STPM (equivalent to A-levels) or the local matriculation examination (conducted in matriculation colleges under the Ministry of Education) after getting their SPM results. With effect from the academic year 2007 / 2008, students will be assessed on their academic performance in STPM (90 per cent) and involvement in co-curricular activities (10 per cent) prior to being granted entry into any public universities. Students are also required to get at least a Band 1 in the MUET (Malaysian University English Test).
Private colleges and universities are more flexible in their entry requirements, as these institutions do not only accept students with STPM but also students with other pre-university qualifications (e.g. A-level, IB, SAM, AUSMAT, CIMP, UEC, internal foundation programmes). SPM students also have the option to complete their pre-university studies at these institutions. Most private colleges and universities work with overseas universities to offer TNE (trans-national education) programmes as a mean for students to get an overseas Bachelor's degree.
There is a tendency for Malaysians to major in areas which are in demand (e.g. niche areas identified by the Government). In general, popular study areas among Malaysians include science, pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, allied health sciences, engineering, biotechnology, actuarial science, law, accounting and business.
In 2007, it is recorded that there were about 55,000 Malaysians studying abroad, with significant numbers in Australia, the United Kingdom, Egypt and the United States. Most of these students would have at least completed their pre-university studies before going abroad. A certain percentage would have gone through the TNE route.
It is estimated that there are about 70,000 international students from more than 100 countries currently studying in public and private higher education institutions in Malaysia. Most of the international students are enrolled in private colleges and universities. Malaysia aims to get 80,000 international students pursuing higher education studies in Malaysia by 2010.
Malaysia wants to be a fully developed nation by 2020 and one of the ways to achieve this is to invest heavily in human development. Malaysia aims to achieve 40 per cent of the 17 to 23 years old population enrolled in tertiary education by 2010. Under the MyBrain15 initiative, the Government endeavours to get 100,000 PhD holders by 2020 to promote the country’s economic growth and to meet world ratio of 50 researchers, scientists and engineers (RSE) per 10,000 members of the workforce. Therefore, numerous strategies are currently carried out to attract more overseas education providers to work with Malaysia to make these goals possible.
Nowadays, most organisations in Malaysia are looking for employees with at least a Bachelor's degree. Therefore, Malaysian parents will endeavour to finance their children’s education until they graduate with at least a Bachelor's degree. For those who are affluent, they will send their children abroad, as overseas graduates tend to be viewed more favourably by employers. On the other hand, for those who cannot afford overseas education, they will settle for the next best option, which is to send their children to private colleges and universities to enrol in Bachelor's degree programmes which are delivered via TNE.
With the uncertain economic climate, many have predicted that the education industry will be one of the industries which will be the least affected (and perhaps flourish), as people tend to look for opportunities to upgrade and equip themselves with new skills and knowledge to prepare themselves for better days ahead. Therefore, it is anticipated that there will be an increase in demand for Master's and Doctorate programmes from white collar workers from both the public and private sectors. Usually, employees from the public sector have the opportunity to be sponsored by the Government for their studies.
This trend was reflected in the HESA data for 2007 / 2008 for Malaysians studying in the UK. From the 12,430 Malaysian students, 35 per cent were enrolled in postgraduate programmes (4,375 students) as compared to the 31.2 per cent in 2006 / 2007 (3,775 students). In terms of number of postgraduate students, there has been a significant increase of 16 per cent. The number of Malaysian students pursuing undergraduate programmes remained more or less the same. Overall, there was a 4.7 per cent increase in the number of Malaysians studying in the UK compared to the 11,875 recorded in 2006 / 2007.
Malaysia performed exceptionally well in the PMI2 Connect bidding which took place between December 2007 and February 2008. Out of the 12 East Asian countries with successful bids, Malaysia secured the lion’s share, with 34 successful bids (25 for research co-operation, eight for collaborative programme delivery and one for international mobility of UK students). A grand event was organised on 8 September 2008 to give recognition to the successful public and private universities in Malaysia. For the second phase of PMI2, Malaysia again did relatively well by securing eight bids under the international mobility of UK students strand.
British Council Malaysia offers a wide range of services to UK institutions, namely:
- providing advice and information to UK institutions about Malaysia
- managing activities for UK institutions when they are in Malaysia (e.g. interview sessions, presentations, alumni receptions, etc.)
- promoting UK institutions’ activities and events
- brokering partnerships for UK institutions who are interested in TNE
- organising exhibitions in-country to promote UK education.
We work closely with the British High Commission office in Malaysia, especially on matters relating to the points-based system and student visas. Besides that, we also work together with education agents and UK regional offices in-country to promote UK education. We also communicate frequently with stakeholders from the public and private sectors to see how the British Council can work productively with them to achieve their goals and objectives.
At present, we have four offices located strategically across the country (Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu). All of our offices in Malaysia have ceased to offer all forms of counselling services (e.g. face-to-face, telephone and e-mail) and certification services. Instead, we are using our resources more strategically to reach out to potential students rather than waiting for them to come to us.
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