Sunday March 2, 2008
By Lim Kok Wing

MALAYSIA'S commitment to education is well known worldwide. Unesco has acknowledged the country as among the few that invests heavily in education. We at home know that education is almost 100 per cent subsidised.

Malaysia has built the infrastructure to ensure everyone has access to education. And in focusing on creating the best environment for our children, we inadvertently found ourselves in the position to offer these same facilities to others in the region.

And we have built on it.

In less than a decade, Malaysia has become an international education hub with 50,000 students from more than 100 countries pursuing their higher education here.

And this number is expected to double within the next two years although I am confident that we can actually increase the number to 200,000 by 2010.



Malaysia is a great place to study. Just consider what we have that is working in our favour.

We are politically stable. We have a diverse population that is tolerant of multi-cultural differences and the practice of other religions.

We have excellent infrastructure offering good amenities and facilities comparable with the more advanced countries.

English is widely spoken and the learning of other languages is encouraged.

We are economically advanced and a role model nation for the developing world.

Kuala Lumpur is a metropolis. Healthcare is among the best and, in fact, a reason why over 100,000 tourists choose to visit this country in search of medical treatment.

The standard of living is much more affordable than many advanced countries. The quality of our education delivery is internationally- recognised.

Now let us look at the global scenario. More and more young people are choosing to study abroad.

According to Unesco, the number increased by 41 per cent between 1999 and 2004.

Worldwide, an estimated three million students leave their homes to study abroad, most of them going to the United States, their first choice, followed by Britain, Germany, France, Australia and Japan.

But over the last 10 years, Malaysia has begun to make inroads into this market because we know that a percentage of the three million have chosen to pursue their higher education in this country.

This number is increasing as the government intensifies the promotion of Malaysian education to more countries.

Governments of a number of countries actually sponsor their young citizens to pursue their higher education in Malaysia knowing that they are getting the quality at an affordable price as well as the confidence that the country is safe for their citizens.

Of late, the quality of Malaysian education has been a topic of discussion in many countries. In Britain, we actually aroused the academic community to rethink its education policies.

The setting up of a Malaysian campus in London was a "wake-up call to the harsh realities of globalisation", was how one newspaper referred to this development.

Many countries, especially in the developing world, look to our experiences to learn and create similar outcomes.

These are the countries that are sending their citizens to study in Malaysia.

They admire our ability to build our country in just five decades to become one of the most respected and sound economies in Asia. They admire our ability to stay united using our formula of power sharing to jointly build this country.

They admire our drive in developing our economy to become one of the 20 leading trading nations in the world.

We must maintain our position and reputation by harnessing innovation to provide suitable educational systems that work better and produce the kind of human capital these countries need.

This means we must constantly review and address weaknesses in our educational systems and provide solutions.

The crux of the responsibility falls on the private sector which works within the parameters of government policies to keep the export of education buoyant.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said: "Crucial to our success in becoming a regional centre for education is the role of Malaysia's private sector universities and colleges.

"The bulk of foreign students in Malaysia are enrolled in private sector universities and colleges. This is one branch of education where we see dynamism and innovation.

"To ensure success, the quality of education that is delivered must be of the highest standard -- conforming to or even surpassing global standards. We cannot compromise on this as this is the only way to compete and be among the best in the world."

Education can no longer be for education's sake. Education has to be relevant in matching the ambitions of the next generation with the needs of industry.

Education has a defining role to play in creating the kind of human capital that will build a country's economic competitiveness.

Many of the emerging economies are struggling to catch up with the rest of the world.

Education for education's sake would be a luxury they can ill-afford.

Education is building the Mal-aysian economy in more ways than one.

Certainly it develops the human capital needed to fuel the expansion of industries.

It has also grown to become an important revenue generator for the economy.

There are enormous economic benefits to hosting foreign students. Besides their spending on tuition fees and living expenses, which creates jobs and boosts business, foreign students:

- Enrich the educational experience of Malaysian students,

- Enhance the reputation of local educational institutions, and,

- Contribute to the advancement of the country through their knowledge and skills.

The presence of international students activates a different kind of tourism where their families and friends are stimulated to visit the country. This benefits the hospitality industry.

Surveys have proven that for every one foreign student, seven to 10 tourists actually visit the country during the period of the student's stay.

Foreign students stimulate the housing, automobile, retail, entertainment and financial industries.

Their contribution to the education sector in 2006 was about RM1.5 billion, in tuition fees alone. This figure did not include payments made by students in international schools.

The tangible benefits are clear to see in how it stimulates the various sectors of the economy but the intangible benefits are more long term and influence the mindset of Malaysians.

Having students from 100 countries is to have the opportunity to build lasting relationships.

These may benefit us in the years to come as these students begin careers in their own countries and become the stimulus to initiate business dealings with Malaysians.

We also benefit in other ways where we gain market intelligence without having to travel the length and breadth of the globe.

Malaysians also gain from the cultural understanding that will benefit them when they begin their entrepreneurial pursuits or work in companies that need the knowledge and the network to penetrate new markets.

Having spelled out the economic benefits that Malaysia gains from hosting so many foreign students, we now come to the change of the Malaysian mindset that is needed to expand and improve on our delivery.

Foreign students are guests in our country.

They are contributing to build the Malaysian economy and they are, themselves, ambassadors of their own countries.

Many are very young and are living in a foreign land, far away from their loved ones. We must all be sensitive to this.

Every Malaysian from government officials to taxi drivers and others must take it upon themselves to be courteous when dealing with foreign guests.

This is the ecosystem needed to support a sector that we wish to grow.

It can only grow if our foreign guests bring back good memories and good stories about their time in Malaysia.

It can only grow if our foreign guests are satisfied with the quality and the standard of our education.

New Straits Times