The regulatory education environment in Malaysia and willingness to accept unlimited numbers of international students

Abstract

Since its 1957 independence, Malaysia's National Education Policy (NEP) has beneficently and continually evolved to meet its citizens' needs. Since its establishment, the NEP has responded to reports with new policies and several amendments, especially after facing criticism from minority groups. Amendments are expressed in terms of unbiased fairness regarding ethnicity for the sake of social unity. Hence, such policies should beneficially include everyone. When considering Bumiputra rights, meaning the majority Malay racial ethnicity and Muslim majority, it would seem the NEP indeed provide equal opportunities for all races, ethnicities, languages and religions in keeping with official declarations regarding unity and social harmony. Any well-established educational system in a “newly industrialized country” makes plans for developmental interfaces that advance an educated society. Thus, the ambition of Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) was reflected in its “World-class Degrees” and “Truly Asian Values” sloganeering, which also indicated that Malaysia aimed to double international student enrolments from 135,000 in 2014 to 250,000 foreign students by 2025. This concept paper seeks to answer 1) to what extent this target will be met; and 2) which Malaysian universities and institutions qualify to meet the ambition? Public and private universities compete for high ranking to effectively attract a considerable number of international students. Consequently, in 2017, there were 170,068 international students enrolled at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The findings indicate that Malaysia is becoming a significant educational hub for foreign students, most of whom are from Muslim countries.