ID :
38855
Mon, 01/05/2009 - 09:48
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/38855
The shortlink copeid
MALAYSIA TO BOOST MUSLIM PROGRESS THROUGH EDUCATION
By Muin Abdul Majid
DUBAI, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- For Malaysia's Higher Education Minister Mohamed
Khaled Nordin, efforts to make Malaysia a regional education hub is
more than just about attracting an increasing number of foreign students to its
approximately 60 public and private universities.
It is also about doing whatever it can to enable developing countries,
especially Muslim nations, to progress by equipping their people with the
relevant skills and knowledge.
"We're providing access to our higher education, places in our universities
because we believe that this is one way of contributing towards the development
of our fellow Muslim countries," he said in an interview here recently.
"No country can develop if they don't give their people the required
knowledge and skills," said Khaled, disclosing that Malaysia was currently home
to 60,000 foreign students, of which about 18,000 are from the Middle East and
Northern Africa (MENA) region.
The countries include Yemen, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Libya, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, Bahrain, Lebanon,
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
With about 43 million people in the age range eligible to be enrolled in
tertiary education, Khaled acknowledged that the MENA region held great
potential for Malaysia in terms of attracting foreign students to its shores.
"You will see that there will be a consistent and constant effort by
Malaysia, especially my ministry, to come over to this region to establish
closer ties with governments and officials responsible for higher education so
that they will always consider Malaysia whenever they decide to send their
students for further studies," he said.
Khaled said the ministry was shifting its focus to government-sponsored
students although private students would still be welcome to study in Malaysia.
Explaining the reason behind this, the minister said: "Governments will only
sponsor the best students and we need good students to help improve the rankings
of our universities. Whatever we do, we can't run away from achieving
excellence."
Besides attracting undergraduates, Khaled said, Malaysia was also eyeing
more students for Masters and PhD programmes.
"Such students will do a lot of research and development, and you can see
the amount of knowledge that will be discovered. New knowledge and discoveries
can lead to potential wealth creation.
"The creation of wealth is something very important. This is the direction
in which we're heading," he said.
Besides bringing in foreign students, the minister said the
internationalisation of Malaysia's higher education was also about enabling its
universities to collaborate with other institutions of higher learning from
around the world for mutual benefit.
Khaled spoke at length about what Malaysia had to offer in terms of tertiary
education and steps being taken to improve it further.
"We ensure that the courses offered are within the quality framework
introduced under the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). In other words,
those who send their students to Malaysia can rest assured of the quality and
standards of higher education available in Malaysia," he said.
The emphasis on quality was in tandem with efforts to mould world-class
Malaysian universities, he said, adding that private universities in Malaysia
were also under the purview of MQA.
"Among the changes that we're going to make is that all private universities
will be subjected to the Rating System for the Malaysian Higher Education
Institutions (Setara) aimed at identifying their strengths and weaknesses so as
to improve quality," he said.
The system has already been used to rate public universities in Malaysia as
either excellent, very good, good and so on.
According to Khaled, not all universities, especially private institutions
of higher learning, in the Southeast Asian country of 27 million people would be
allowed to take in foreign students.
"We're going to identify only those qualified to offer places for foreign
students. Those which don't meet the requirements won't get the licence to enrol
foreign students," he said.
The minister said those opting to further their studies in Malaysia should
expect to see a high level of tolerance towards foreigners on the part of the
Malaysian society which had a multireligious and multicultural make-up.
"This is unlike, for example, certain issues and problems faced by students
from Muslim countries in places like America and Europe," he observed. As people
keep a tight hold on their wallets against the backdrop of the current economic
and financial crisis, Khaled said, Malaysia offered value for money in terms of
education.
"The cost of studying and the cost of living in Malaysia are reasonable.
Governments from this region will find Malaysia a very attractive proposition to
send their nationals for further studies," he said.
According to him, mechanisms were in place to ensure minimum bureaucracy for
foreign students and the ministry would advise universities accordingly on this
matter.
-- BERNAMA
DUBAI, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- For Malaysia's Higher Education Minister Mohamed
Khaled Nordin, efforts to make Malaysia a regional education hub is
more than just about attracting an increasing number of foreign students to its
approximately 60 public and private universities.
It is also about doing whatever it can to enable developing countries,
especially Muslim nations, to progress by equipping their people with the
relevant skills and knowledge.
"We're providing access to our higher education, places in our universities
because we believe that this is one way of contributing towards the development
of our fellow Muslim countries," he said in an interview here recently.
"No country can develop if they don't give their people the required
knowledge and skills," said Khaled, disclosing that Malaysia was currently home
to 60,000 foreign students, of which about 18,000 are from the Middle East and
Northern Africa (MENA) region.
The countries include Yemen, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Libya, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, Bahrain, Lebanon,
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
With about 43 million people in the age range eligible to be enrolled in
tertiary education, Khaled acknowledged that the MENA region held great
potential for Malaysia in terms of attracting foreign students to its shores.
"You will see that there will be a consistent and constant effort by
Malaysia, especially my ministry, to come over to this region to establish
closer ties with governments and officials responsible for higher education so
that they will always consider Malaysia whenever they decide to send their
students for further studies," he said.
Khaled said the ministry was shifting its focus to government-sponsored
students although private students would still be welcome to study in Malaysia.
Explaining the reason behind this, the minister said: "Governments will only
sponsor the best students and we need good students to help improve the rankings
of our universities. Whatever we do, we can't run away from achieving
excellence."
Besides attracting undergraduates, Khaled said, Malaysia was also eyeing
more students for Masters and PhD programmes.
"Such students will do a lot of research and development, and you can see
the amount of knowledge that will be discovered. New knowledge and discoveries
can lead to potential wealth creation.
"The creation of wealth is something very important. This is the direction
in which we're heading," he said.
Besides bringing in foreign students, the minister said the
internationalisation of Malaysia's higher education was also about enabling its
universities to collaborate with other institutions of higher learning from
around the world for mutual benefit.
Khaled spoke at length about what Malaysia had to offer in terms of tertiary
education and steps being taken to improve it further.
"We ensure that the courses offered are within the quality framework
introduced under the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). In other words,
those who send their students to Malaysia can rest assured of the quality and
standards of higher education available in Malaysia," he said.
The emphasis on quality was in tandem with efforts to mould world-class
Malaysian universities, he said, adding that private universities in Malaysia
were also under the purview of MQA.
"Among the changes that we're going to make is that all private universities
will be subjected to the Rating System for the Malaysian Higher Education
Institutions (Setara) aimed at identifying their strengths and weaknesses so as
to improve quality," he said.
The system has already been used to rate public universities in Malaysia as
either excellent, very good, good and so on.
According to Khaled, not all universities, especially private institutions
of higher learning, in the Southeast Asian country of 27 million people would be
allowed to take in foreign students.
"We're going to identify only those qualified to offer places for foreign
students. Those which don't meet the requirements won't get the licence to enrol
foreign students," he said.
The minister said those opting to further their studies in Malaysia should
expect to see a high level of tolerance towards foreigners on the part of the
Malaysian society which had a multireligious and multicultural make-up.
"This is unlike, for example, certain issues and problems faced by students
from Muslim countries in places like America and Europe," he observed. As people
keep a tight hold on their wallets against the backdrop of the current economic
and financial crisis, Khaled said, Malaysia offered value for money in terms of
education.
"The cost of studying and the cost of living in Malaysia are reasonable.
Governments from this region will find Malaysia a very attractive proposition to
send their nationals for further studies," he said.
According to him, mechanisms were in place to ensure minimum bureaucracy for
foreign students and the ministry would advise universities accordingly on this
matter.
-- BERNAMA
