Development of Higher Education in Malaysia: Issues and Challenges
This chapter explores six decades of development of the higher education sector in Malaysia. The exploration begins by describing the context of higher education through a historical lens from the early establishments of universities in the First Malaysia
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Development of Higher Education in Malaysia: Issues and Challenges Lorraine Pe Symaco and Chang Da Wan Abstract This chapter explores six decades of development of the higher education sector in Malaysia. The exploration begins by describing the context of higher education through a historical lens from the early establishments of universities in the First Malaysia Plan to the present. Furthermore, the changing roles and functions of universities across the decades were also examined to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the context. The chapter, then, focuses on the development of universities and higher education institutions in the public sector as well as the private sector, elaborating on the challenges and issues specific to each of these sectors. The last section of the chapter discusses selected issues of higher education in Malaysia, notably the changing state–university relationship, internationalisation of higher education services and the need for an inclusive higher education sector.
4.1 Introduction The increasing role of higher education (HE) in development has been documented in literature where training in higher education institutions (HEIs) is expected to increase the skills and knowledge base of the population as relevant to the needs of the modern society. Literature is replete with studies that document the role of HE in overall advancement of countries, alongside its assumed ‘third role’ in providing broader social development through knowledge transfers to society (Brock 2012; Symaco 2013; Smith 2014). In Malaysia, similar development strategies document the functions of HE for advancement. From the First Malaysia Plan (1966–1970)
L.P. Symaco (*) Centre for Research in International and Comparative Education (CRICE), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia e-mail: [email protected] C.D. Wan National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN), University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 M. Samuel et al. (eds.), Education in Malaysia, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 39, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4427-4_4
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which defines the role of education broadly for national development, where it advocates for an education system that is geared towards meeting the development needs of the country – the plan also emphasised the requisite to ensure that the education system corresponds to and coordinates with the manpower needs of Malaysia. More recent policy initiatives such as the Malaysia Education Blueprint, Higher Education (MEHEB) (2015–2035) similarly underscore the task of the HE sector in development. The Blueprint, launched in 2015 focuses on the central role of the HE sector that will help propel Malaysia as a developed nation, along with the ideal of establishing it as an international education hub. But despite possibly missing the Vision 2020 of the country becoming a fully developed nation by year 2020, the increasing internationalisat
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