KUALA LUMPUR: Parents’ groups have castigated Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh for claiming that Malaysia’s higher education system is on par with those in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
They said Idris seemed unable to comprehend that there were numerous reasons why foreign students chose to pursue their studies in Malaysia, and it was not because the country’s higher education was “world-class”.
Shamsuddin Hamid, the founder of the Association of Parent Groups in Reforming Education (Aspires) coalition, said many of Malaysia’s private higher education institutions employed specific tactics for higher enrolment.
“They can lower their fees, offer a number of specialised courses. It’s not that difficult to do. So to say that our higher education system is on par with those countries just because of high foreign student enrolment is just stretching it a bit too far.
“We must look at the entire picture. We have to look at the accomplishment of our students in Malaysia compared to the rest of the world. He is being self-delusional and is trying to deceive the public on the state of higher education,” said Shamsuddin.
Mak Chee Kin, the chairman of the Malacca Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie), said Idris should study why foreign students preferred Malaysia, and suggested it may be due to the lax immigration process.
He also wanted to know which countries the foreign students came from.
“Maybe Malaysia is an easy place for them to come to. In fact, there have been many cases of foreigners coming here with student visas, only to pursue other activities.
“But that definitely doesn’t mean Malaysia is on par with universities in Australia, the UK and Germany in terms of quality. That is definitely ridiculous,” said Mak.
He added that Universiti Malaya’s (UM) 2014 QS World Ranking of 151 was not something to be proud of, despite Idris insisting otherwise, and that the facilities provided in local varsities were way behind their foreign counterparts.
Parent Action Group for Education (Page) chairperson Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said Idris was being somewhat misleading, as it was only last year when he had admitted that Malaysia’s education system was below par.
“Surely we haven’t solved all the problems and become on par with the rest of the developed world within just a year? If he’s talking about world class, we definitely aren’t world class yet.” said Azimah.
“But I also think he’s not totally incorrect, because those countries do have universities which are not ranked in the top 400,” she added.
Azimah said one of the reasons foreign students flocked to Malaysian higher education institutions was because English was the medium of instruction here, adding that this should be an impetus for the education ministry to allow school students to learn mathematics and science in English.
“If our universities didn’t offer English, they wouldn’t come here. That’s why we are pressing for our students to be more proficient in English in schools, particularly in science.
“There’s no use offering all these courses if our students can’t enrol in these universities. If we make our students more competitive, then we will have even more enrolment from foreign students,” she said.
On Saturday, Bernama reported Idris as saying that Malaysia’s higher education is now on par with those of developed nations. He said this was proven by the fact that 135,000 foreign students made up 10% of students at national higher educational institutions in the country.
“Now, foreign students are confident of studying in Malaysia compared with previously, more so with the strong economic development, and the stable and well-administered government in the country,” Idris had told reporters in Jerteh.
He said Malaysia was now the ninth most popular destination for foreign students in various fields including engineering, agriculture, and information and communication technology.
Idris said UM was now ranked 151 (up from 167) in the 2014 QS World Ranking, while four other Malaysian institutions that had improved their ranking compared with last year were Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia at 259 (269 in 2013), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia at 294 (355 in 2013), Universiti Sains Malaysia at 309 and Universiti Putra Malaysia at 376.
Idris said the countries that had started sending their students to study in Malaysia included Australia and China. He urged the public not to be influenced by those whom he said were tarnishing the government by saying that the education system in the country was still backward. — The Malaysian Insider
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on February 23, 2015.