The way private colleges in Malaysia expanded capacity in post-secondary education is a story of innovation and foresight that has led to a whole redefinition of university education, not only in this country but worldwide. From their traditional and limited role as providers of ‘second-chance’ education at the secondary level and basic commercial education to school-leavers, they rose to become half-way institutions for a university education overseas and eventually, even without the status of university, to offer full university programmes from foreign universities locally.
The growth of the private sector owes all to the powerful demand for higher education in the country and the inability of public institutions to meet that demand. That demand still drives the private sector. The public craving for higher education will not be curbed by policy limitations or economic shortcomings that limit university places. This in turn will fuel the further development of the private sector.
The private sector was already entrenched as a viable provider of higher education even before proselytization by international agencies moved the government to divest its responsibilities in higher education to the private sector. The hallmark of the decision to privatize higher education is manifested in legislation passed in 1996 and 1997 that included the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996 – an Act that liberalized official attitudes to the establishment of higher education institutions.
Today, the private sector accounts for more than half the students enrolled in tertiary institutions. Malaysia’s profile as a destination for students from other countries is no less significant –it has become the 9th or 10th most popular destination of foreign students.
More recently, the idea of becoming a hub for regional higher education, an idea made possible by the vibrant private sector has drawn some of the most recognized universities in the world to occupy and plow the space cleared by private institutions over the last five decades to recruit students from this region.
This Blog hopes to examine the development of private higher education from the watershed legislation of 1996 to the present against the background of tensions emerging from national higher educational policies and official political attitudes to the establishment of private educational institutions.
Some of the themes that will be pursued in the Blog;
1. Development of tertiary education in the post-independence period up to the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 and the policies underlying that Act.
2. Government policy and reactions to private higher education
3. The role of private post-secondary educational institutions in the post-war period and their role as innovative (Twinning et all) providers of higher education.
4. The case of the Medeka University application, the ensuing litigation and the impact of the application on the establishment of private universities.
5. Policies and legislation on higher education:
6. The impact of private institutions on socio-economic policies on education.
7. The ambivalent nature of private higher educational institutions.
8. Academic autonomy in private institutions and regulatory controls.
9. The sustainability of the growth and the future of local private institutions in in the liberalized environment.