Belt & road initiative: A qualitative study on Malaysians’ awareness and attitude on education opportunities

Abstract

China has received overwhelming responses from the world since the introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by the Chinese President, Xi Jinping. Majority of country leaders are indeed demonstrated a positive attitude towards the potential and associated benefits that brought by BRI. The coverage of BRI is huge, comprising policy coordination, infrastructure development, economic integration, cultural exchange, as well as healthcare and education development, which bring impacts at country, industry and individual levels. This qualitative study strived to explore Malaysians perspective towards the education and human capital development that brought by BRI, in particularly their awareness and attitude. Focus group has been carried out, and the study involved 17 participants. The research findings demonstrated that Malaysians showed moderate level towards the education opportunities that brought by BRI, but basically for those who were aware of, their attitude was positive. Research implications were also discussed and recommendations were also provided to both policy makers and market practitioners in higher education industry.