Education success puts Malaysia 45th in UN index

Efforts to bridge the education gap between urban and rural areas have borne fruit and this is reflected in Malaysia's 45th placing among 129 countries in Unesco's Education-For-All Development Index.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Education-For-All Global Monitoring Report 2009 of which the world body is the coordinator has put Malaysia on par with several developed nations for its success in closing this education gap.

The commendable efforts are in line with Unesco's objectives, said Muhyiddin, who is also the education minister, at the opening of the fourth review conference of the national development master plan 2006-2010.

"This means that all aspects of the country's education such as access, equities and quality are at a very good level. Despite this, efforts must be doubled to enhance the level of accessibility, especially for students in rural areas and the interiors."

This is because there are about 125,000 children who still do not attend school.

"Most of them are living in outlying areas and the interior. Therefore, efforts should be intensified to ensure that these children also receive similar opportunity and are provided with equal capabilities so that they can gain access to education."

The present education sector policy should not be confined only to improving digital access but all aspects of education.

"There is nothing more sincere than working extra hard to ensure that these children get access to education," he said.

Muhyiddin called for emphasis to be given to the prime minister's vision of "1Malaysia, people first, performance now" and expanding the access for quality education.

"The 1Malaysia vision is a continuity of the Razak Report which is to make national education a vision to produce a united and knowledgeable society.

"I hope the thrust to build one nation based on 1Malaysia will continue to be given emphasis in our education planning."

Through the education system, he said an individual should at least be able to master three quotients -- intellectual, emotional and spiritual.

In producing quality teachers, Muhyiddin suggested a responsive teacher placement policy be introduced.

"Besides teachers, the quality of school leaders must also be looked into. The time has come for school leaders to be chosen not just based on seniority but also talent, dynamic leadership and quality."

Such leaders must be able to translate the national education policy in their daily routine.

He proposed extra attention be given to producing holistic students with strong proficiency in both Bahasa Malaysia and English.

He said 1Malaysia camps should be held every year.

"Through these camps, it is my hope that the eight values in 1Malaysia could be understood by participants."

Under the 2006-2010 masterplan, the ministry had targeted to implement 13,014 rural projects at a cost of RM25.2 billion. Up to December last year, 6,386 projects had been completed.

Muhyiddin said 2,348 pre-school classes had been made available for Orang Asli and Penan children.

More than 2,250 computer laboratories and 3,600 access centres will be built to benefit over 2.8 million students in rural areas.

British education, right in Malaysia

NOTHING beats a good British education. And there’s little doubt that universities in Britain are clearly among the world’s best.

The fact that no less than 400,000 Malaysians have obtained degrees in Britain goes to show the popularity of British education among those back home.

Indeed, international students – including some 12,000 Malaysians – contribute over £2.5bil l(RM14.4bil) in tuition fees alone to the British economy each year.

A staggering figure, you may say.

Then there are those who yearn for the prestige of a British degree but cannot afford to study in Britain.

For them, it is an elusive dream – no thanks to rising tuition fees and stiff upfront payments under the Tier Four (students) points-based visa system.

However, British universities are increasingly expanding abroad and tapping the huge offshore student market, which accounted for nearly £270mil (RM1.5bil) in fees last year.

So, it’s perhaps time to look at a new kind of educational collaboration where – apart from British universities – British-style boarding schools can be brought to Malaysia. This would allow our students to have a British education without leaving our shores.

So far, Cardiff University, Manchester University and University of Reading are said to be eyeing Malaysia while boarding schools like Marlborough College, Wellington College and Epsom College have expressed interest too.

Even the prestigious Cheltenham Ladies College and Roedean All-Girls College are reportedly keen in jumping on the bandwagon.

For the record, Nottingham University already has a branch campus in Semenyih and Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia’s (NUMed) campus in Nusajaya, Johor, is scheduled to open in 2011.

Brain drain

British-Malaysia Society chairman Datuk Neville Green expressed confidence that it was economically and financially viable to set up British-style boarding schools in Malaysia.

He said they could cater to the expatriate children of foreign investors and Asean nationals as well as Malaysians who could not afford to send their children to boarding schools in Britain.

Green said he knew that a number of British public schools were interested in expanding to Malaysia but they were being held back by the global economic downturn.

“The timing is just not right,” he said, adding that it was the right time to start thinking (about expanding to Malaysia) although not the opportune time to make a decision.

He said Wellington College, for instance, was looking at Selangor while Epsom College was eyeing the Kuala Lumpur Education City.

Wellington College, he said, had held talks with its Malaysian counterparts, and it was keen on Selangor because a number of its former students were from that state.

“There is also a need for boarding schools for girls and Cheltenham Ladies College and Roedean College have expressed interest in Malaysia,” he noted.

Green said once the opportunity was ripe, they might take the next step in finding business partners to develop the sites and finance the projects.

Bringing quality British education to Malaysia, he added, would help to reverse the brain drain as parents no longer needed to send their children to study in Britain.

Emerging trend

Malaysian High Commissioner to Britain Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohamad said it was time Malaysians moved away from the mindset of pursuing higher education in Britain.

He said the number of Malaysian students coming to Britain had been declining over the years, with a lot of diversions to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

“We’re now all over the place, with Australia and New Zealand getting about 32,000 Malaysian students,” he said, adding that many had also gone to Ukraine, Germany and France.

Abdul Aziz said some British universities were trying to capture a slice of the Malaysian market through collaborations with their local counterparts.

He spoke of an emerging trend where British institutions set up boarding schools and campuses in Malaysia.

For instance, he said, Marlborough College, Cardiff University and Manchester University had expressed interest in venturing into Malaysia.

“There are a few more but nothing is concrete yet. It’s still at an exploratory stage,” he added.

Iskandar Investment Bhd’s senior vice-president (education & healthcare) Khairil Anwar Ahmad said talks were under way to bring British-style boarding schools and tertiary institutions to Malaysia.

He said besides NUMed, they hoped to attract eight other universities and several boarding schools to set up branch campuses at Iskandar Malaysia’s EduCity in Nusajaya and other nearby sites.

Other countries in Europe, and Australia and the US have shown interest in establishing branch campuses at Iskandar Malaysia’s EduCity.

“EduCity will be developed into a fully integrated education hub comprising best-in-class faculties of reputable universities,” he added.

And for foreign investors and expatriates who wish to do business or set up a second home in Malaysia, Iskandar Malaysia is offering what may be seen as the ultimate work-live-play environment.

Najib: Malaysia will ensure world-class education

KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 – While Malaysia practises an open door policy on partnerships involving local and foreign education institutions, it also strives to ensure the quality of education adheres to world-class standards.

In line with this, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak has encouraged local institutions to forge partnerships with reputable education institutions overseas.

“We have to make sure that we put in place, the necessary regulatory functions to ensure the standards, and also to ensure the agency responsible will facilitate the approval of world-class or outstanding institutions that want to establish their branch campus here.

“We have an open door policy and there are very active discussions (about it) now, I know one particular institution (that would like to set up its branch campus) in the Iskandar Development Region in the near future,” he told reporters after opening the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here today.

He was responding to a question on efforts taken to boost Malaysia’s position as an education hub.

To a question on encouraging other stakeholders to play a role in the Malaysian education system, Najib said the government had always believed that education was the responsibility of all its citizens.

“It has always been predicated on the public and private sector, from the primary schools to the universities.

“We have incorporated the civil society in the running of our public schools by getting the support of our parent-teacher associations.

“As for the involvement of non-governmental organisations, we have the teachers and their unions that we engage with,” he said.

Besides that, he said, political parties were part of the stakeholders who partook in the development of education.

Experts to jointly review Malaysia’s education system

Malaysia and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) experts will jointly review the national education system in line with global changes.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the move would provide a more balanced assessment of the country’s education system.

Warm welcome: Matsuura (right) welcoming Muhyiddin at the Unesco headquarters in Paris yesterday.

He stressed that the review would cover only the implementation process and not policy which had been accepted by the people.

“We will draw up the terms of reference for the review and, hopefully, it can start this year,” he told Malaysian journalists after meeting Unesco director-general Koichiro Matsuura at the organisation’s headquarters yesterday.

Muhyiddin arrived here earlier for a three-day working visit.

This is his first working visit overseas as deputy premier and Education Minister.

Muhyiddin said education must move in tandem with, if possible ahead of, what’s happening around the world.

“We’re looking at the bigger picture. We want our education quality to be on par with world standards,” he said, citing the progress in the fields of technology, science, ICT and knowledge,

He said Malaysia would benefit from the experience and expertise of Unesco in helping to improve the system to achieve the national education objectives.

“They can provide us with a third person’s perspective on how to further raise our education standards to a higher level,” he added.

Muhyiddin, however, said the review did not mean there were weaknesses in the education system which had achieved success over the years.

Muhyiddin said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has been invited to address the 35th Unesco General Conference’s first plenary session on Oct 6.

This would be the first time in Malaysia’s 51-year history with Unesco that its Prime Minister would address the world body’s opening plenary session as such invitations are usually reserved for heads of states.

He said it was a historic milestone for Malaysia as Unesco has never invited a head of government to give a keynote speech at its first plenary session.

“This will provide an opportunity for our Prime Minister to present his vision and mission in addressing issues of global interests,” he said after presenting Najib’s acceptance letter to Matsuura.

Muhyiddin met Elysee Palace secretary-general Claude Gueant and French Education Minister Luc Chatel before attending a dinner with the Malaysian community in France.