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EDUCATION
IN MALAYSIA : ENHANCING ACCESSIBILITY, CAPABILITY AND QUALITY
by Professor Dr. Hassan bin Said Director
Department of Higher Education |
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1. INTRODUCTION Education is always an important catalyst in developing talented, relevant, skillful and sufficient manpower to a nation. The future of a nation does depend greatly on the education system of the country. It should begin with the strong foundation at the primary education, to be followed by the systematic secondary education and end up with competitive but flexible tertiary systems. Education brings changes to the civilization of a nation, and thus it should be viewed in more complete and holistic approach. The 21st century brings greater challenges to the education systems. We need to prepare ourselves to overcome these challenges in order to remain competitive. We need to produce capable manpower to serve the nation and the world. Globalization is coming, and technology does actually quicken its process. Information plays significant role in creating knowledge. The strength of a nation in the future greatly depends on the strength of its people to acquire and to apply knowledge. Students can now enjoy their education at their own pace, either in their homes or at their workplace. The technology allows universal access to learning opportunities and recognition of learning in diverse settings. Our education systems should be able
to inculcate the ability for the students to think critically, communicate
effectively and enhance the skill to seek information. Multidisciplinary
and collaborative approach in teaching and learning should be adopted.
This capability will enable them to learn and relearn, in order
to remain competitive. The use of creative knowledge in generating
the wealth and power of nations is increasing. Human capital is
more important than the physical capital, and highly qualified human
capital could be rapidly developed through quality education systems.
Reform in education occurs everywhere. After independent in 1957, Malaysia has undergone various reform and improvement on its education systems. Education has become an agent for socio-economic equity, as well as the creation of a society that has high moral and ethical values, balanced both spiritually and temporally. All these values have been underlined in the National Education Philosophy, and this philosophy has been used in drawing up curricula at all levels of our education system. Malaysia has provided greater opportunities for the young children to enter schools since in the early 60's, by providing free education at the primary and secondary schools. To narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, Malaysian Government has created a number of fully residential schools in various towns and moved the good rural students to study there. Text-books and scholarships were provided to the poor students. Education in Malaysia begins at the age of 5+ in the one-year pre-school education. Then it follows with another 6 years primary education and 5 years secondary education, before they can opt to enter the 2 years post secondary education or to enter diploma programs in colleges, matriculation or entering the job markets. Depending on the degree programs at universities, the average age of Malaysians getting their degree is 22+. Table 1 shows the enrolment in government and government assisted educational institutions in 2000. Table
1. Enrolment in Government and Government
Source: Malaysian Educational Statistics 2000, Educational Planning and Research Division, Ministry of Education Malaysia Pre-School: Pre-school has the objective of injecting
basic education to our young children before they could embark on
the formal school system. Ministry of Education Malaysia implemented
its pre-school education in 1992, and it has 1131 classes of the
pre-school in 2000. There were 15 classes dedicated to the handicapped
children too. Besides the Ministry of Education, there are other
ministries that operate the pre-school education, such as the Ministry
of Rural Development and the Ministry of Unity and Community Developments.
We estimated 64% of our young children attending pre-school classes
in 2000. The development in the primary education increased quite significantly from the year 1995 to 2000. Table 2 shows some of those details. Table 2. Primary Education
Source: Malaysian Educational Statistics 2000, Educational, Planning and Research Division, Ministry of Education Malaysia The table shows an increase of 3.4 %
in enrolment of primary students, and the number of teachers has
increased by 10%. Out of 7,231 schools in 2000, there were 23 schools
dedicated to the deaf and 5 schools for the blind. The structure of the secondary education in Malaysia has two levels. The first level is from year one to three and the following two years are in the second level. Students must sit national examinations at the end of each level, namely Lower Secondary Assessment examination after level one, and the Malaysian Certificate of Education examination after the level two. Curriculum in the first level developed to enable students to master the basic knowledge and skills. The second level offers various choices to the students, namely science, arts, humanities, technical and vocational. The technical and vocational streams enable the students to acquire skills for the industrial requirements. It has been a significant increase in the enrolment of students in the secondary schools, especially in the first level. The participation rate in 2000 was 85% compared to 52% in 1990. This increase was partly due to the increase of secondary schools in Malaysia, especially in the rural areas. Table 3. Secondary Education in 2000
Polytechnics: Polytechnic education was started in
1969 to produce semi-professionals in technical, commerce and hospitality
areas. This system allows alternative route to the students who
face difficulty in pursuing the academic streams. Currently there
are 10 polytechnics and 2 city polytechnics in all over the country.
In 2000, the enrolment at polytechnics was 44,775, which marked
350% increase since 1990. Higher education in Malaysia is expanding at a very significant rate. In this report, higher education system is defined as the systems which incorporate post- secondary education, namely colleges and universities. Higher education in this country is undertaken by public institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education. Malaysian government spends almost 5% of its annual budget in financing public institutions of higher education. At the moment we have 15 public universities offering certificates, diploma, first degree and postgraduate degrees. Enrolment at these universities increased from 147,927 in 1995 to 321,729 in 2000. The number of students enrolling for the first degree in 2000 were 170, 794 and almost 30,000 enrolled for the postgraduate degrees. Enrolment doubled in courses such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and engineering. Enrolment in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) courses in public institutions of higher education increased from 3,770 in 1995 to 15,050 in 2000. Private Education: Private sector involvement in education is increasingly significant and serves to complement the efforts of the government. To date there are 591 such institutions offering programmes at the certificate and diploma levels. Seven of these institutions have been granted university status, and three foreign universities have set up their branch campus in Malaysia. In 1998, the 3+0 programmes were introduced which allows students to obtain their degree from a foreign university without having to do any part of their programme overseas. 3. FORCES FOR CHANGE The education system in Malaysia needs to be reviewed in order to meet global challenges and also to achieve the vision of transforming Malaysia into the center of the academic excellent. The system also should be able to meet the requirements for the country to become a developed country by the year 2020. Careful and strategic planning is therefore paramount in charting the course of the nation's education system. Such a plan would have to take into account the external and internal forces related to the education. Those forces are as follows:
Cost: Throughout the world, there is pressure and demand for greater access to education. Access greatly depends on the financial contribution of the government and the economic status of the students. Even in developed countries with relatively high rates of participation in education, access remains one of the most divisive challenges. We have to develop various pathways to enable greater access into our education systems, especially in the higher education. School: Pre-school education should be made available to all children of the 5+ age cohort. There is almost 35% of this group do not participate in the pre-school system, and it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education Malaysia to provide places for all these children. This is in line with the democratization of education to our children, and also to provide opportunities to the underprivileged children to participate in the pre-school education. Although the participation rate in the primary education is high, but challenges to the ministry is to minimize the number of students missing during the 6-year primary education. About 3.1% of the group entering the primary schools in 1995 left the system after the group completed the 6-year period in 2000. The reasons were believed to be due to the poverty, accessibility and deaths. Similar problem needs to be addressed at the secondary schools too. Almost 20% of the students do not complete the 5-year secondary school education. Higher Education:
The demand for higher education will continue to grow as a result of more qualified students finishing the schools, and also the decline of number of students pursuing their education abroad. Currently about 25% of the 17-23 age cohort is in the higher education, and we need to increase the number tremendously to meet the level of the developed countries. In order to increase the access, our higher education needs to be innovative in delivering their programs. Flexibility should be given to those academically weak, but posses very sound technical skill. More "hands-on" higher institutions should be set up. More polytechnics would be built. Skill-training centre needs to be established within the community, as a part of bringing education to the peoples. Private Sector:
There should be shared responsibility between the public and private sectors for increasing access to higher education. Private sector involvement in higher education would not only aid to increased opportunities for young Malaysians, but also contribute to making the country a center for higher education for the region by opening intake to overseas students. Technology:
The revolution of the technology provides the possibility of extending the classrooms to any part of the globe. Distance learning, instruction by interactive video, internet and satellites are at our disposal, which could reshape the education in the future. Using this technology, we may communicate more easily and frequently, regardless of our geographical, cultural and political differences. Peoples from the disadvantaged groups and in rural areas will be able to enjoy access to this so-called "digital global learning". This concept will generate commonalities between our communities by fostering shared space, shared value, shared experience and shared purpose. Students in the future will not require to attend full time education or to live in the campus. Many of the students will pick up their education at their own pace, either in their homes or at their workplace. With the help of the technology, they can access courseware or information 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. This concept of education, namely part-timers and distance education, will enrich the access to the higher education and training. Social and
Economic Equity: Education is known to be as an important element to foster unity and solidarity amongst peoples, regardless of their race, religion and culture. Malaysia is a multiracial and multicultural country, and its challenge towards creating harmonious and prosperous country is always the main priority. Diversity does contribute to competition and creativity. However, we need to narrow down the differences and imbalances with respect to the intra-race and also inter-races. Greater assistance should be given to the unfortunate groups. Measures will continue to be undertaken to increase income and improve the quality of life of the bottom 30% of the population. 3.2 Capability Information
and Communication Technology (ICT): Education systems should look into strategies of meeting today's learning requirements with the technology. Modes of delivery and the teaching methods must be made flexible. Opportunities for learning should be made available throughout the lifespan. Modular techniques, whereby the students need to purchase those services in which they are interested or in which their employers required, should be developed. Accreditation and credits transfer should be accepted as a part of combining points for certain recognition. Information and communication technology has grown by leaps and bounds. Students view technology as tool to enrich learning, seeing or experiencing cybercommunications. The pedagogy and techniques in our teaching curriculum need to be revised. The knowledge-based economy requires students who have the capacity to think. Things change very fast, and they should be able to learn and relearn, in order to remain competitive. Science and
Technology (S&T): S&T have been identified as the engine of economic growth. The present ratio of 7 scientists to 10,000 persons is small compared with the more developed countries. We need to produce more scientists to the country, and this can only be materialized if we have enough students going into the S&T programs. In the year 2000, there were only 28% of the secondary school students in the science stream. The figure is low and greater efforts need to be put in bringing the figure to the 60% as targeted by the government. Postgraduate
Programmes: Institutions of higher education should increase the enrolment of postgraduate students in order to increase the number of highly educated, capable and skilled workforce. This increase would also result in increased research activity among the universities. R&D: Innovation is one of the most important and most difficult issues facing today's industries. Innovation is important for the industries to remain competitive in the k-driven markets. The great challenge in innovation is linking emerging technologies with emerging markets. A new concept of R&D has to be developed to meet the accelerating changes at the marketplace. This new concept, so called the 4th generation R&D, integrates customers and partners in research, development, production and marketing. This concept of partnership will create more innovation. The R&D at our universities should also consider this concept of partnership. Globalisation:
In global economy where employers arbitrage the world looking for the best deal, people's employability will not be based on national boundaries and geography but upon individual's skills and competence. The challenge for our education system is in producing a workforce that is educated and skilled for the global market. 3.3 Quality We need a quality education system if we are to realize our goal of being a centre for educational excellence. This calls for improvements in the quality of the schools, universities, learning infrastructure, evaluation processes, teachers, lecturers and other teaching facilities. Meeting the challenges of the new economy is predicated on the designing of curricula that is relevant and of the international quality. One way of doing this is through benchmarking. Another important step is in obtaining international recognition for the programmes offered by our educational institutions. This process calls for a management system that is effective, visionary, transparent and proactive. 4. FUTURE PLANS Action plans and strategies for education in Malaysia need to take into account the above forces and related issues. The plans are as follows: Increased Access
to Education: Full participation of children in pre-school
and primary must be achieved in the next 10 years. Special efforts
must be done to provide sufficient infrastructure in the rural areas,
and teachers should be encouraged to work in those schools. Students
leaving the secondary education can be kept minimum by introducing
various curricula to suit their need and ability. Vocational and
technical streams will be revised accordingly. More polytechnics
will be built and Community colleges will be introduced to provide
education to those in small towns. These community colleges should
be community-driven institutions. Curriculum:
Curriculum at all levels needs to be revised and benchmark. It should suit the current requirements and students should be able to apply the knowledge efficiently. Teaching Profession
: Teaching profession is becoming unattractive, partly due to the salary schemes and also more peoples are moving into business or other money-making professions. The high cost of living caused the quality of life of our young teachers. Steps need to be taken to upgrade the image of the teachers, by giving them proper recognition. We will get quality students by having quality teachers. Increase Use
of ICT: The ICT infrastructure should be improved in order to integrate the facilities and methodologies of teaching, learning, research, management and administration of schools, colleges and higher education. The concept of e-learning, e-governance and e-community needs to be emphasized in all aspects of teaching and learning. The ratio of computers to students needs to be improved, and virtual libraries need to be developed to facilitate information sharing. Communication
Skills: Our education system should be able to produce students who have excellent communication skill, and are competent in other languages, especially English. This competence would give them a competitive edge in this increasingly global world. Emphasis on
S&T: Malaysia is targeting to have 60% of the students in higher education taking courses in S&T. We could only materialize this if we have enough numbers from the school. We need to have more students taking science in the secondary schools, and more qualified teachers to teach them. Students at primary schools too need to be exposed with science, as to enhance their awareness and interest in science. Technical University:
The country will establish more technical universities to cater the need of students from vocational and technical background. Polytechnics will continue to provide programmes at the certificate and diploma levels. These students can then feed into the technical universities. Increase in
Postgraduate Programmes: The increase of postgraduate students at our universities would result in increased research activity among our universities. We hope the enrolment at our universities will comprise of 18% of postgraduates by the year 2005. Enhancing R&D: Institutions of higher education should form strategic alliances with leading industries within the country and overseas. Providing "incubators" is one way of attracting industry to collaborate on research with the universities. Policies and incentives should have in place to attract multinational companies to relocate their R&D functions in Malaysia. Funding: Education in Malaysia is highly subsidized. Primary and Secondary education are almost free, and the government subsidized almost 90% of the cost at public universities. The opportunities for universities to ease government's burden on them are plentiful. They can set up companies and establish smart-partnership with private sectors. Their governance systems could be improved in order to save costs. This approach, namely "corporatization" of public universities, started in 1998 to allow universities to generate their own income. We hope by 2010, government subsidizes only 60% of the total cost. Quality Assurance: Ensuring the quality of education calls
for the process of monitoring, reviewing and benchmarking. A quality
standard for the teaching, learning, research and management processes
is necessary. Evaluation and audit should be continuos. It is essential
that a national body to be established to determine and regulate
the quality of our education. In order to achieve future goals and plans, we need players who will champion the cause and assist in facing resistance. The key players are the government, public, teachers, administrators and students. The main resistance will be finance and the exodus of good brains Education system must comply with the policies and guidelines set by the government. The policies will ensure national agenda met, and accountability at all levels observed. The public demands for quality education at reasonable costs. The participation by the publics in education can also enhance participation of students and generation of income. Teachers, lecturers and administrators of schools, colleges and universities play significant role for the smooth running of these institutions. The image of these institutions depends greatly on how they could uplift the quality and cost-effectiveness of their institutions. Academicians always play major roles in the process of change, especially on the change of curriculum and pedagogy. Students' strength has been identified through their numbers, volatility, anonymity, energy and idealism. In certain countries, the student activism that helped bring down certain politicians and governments. 6. CONCLUSION Education is always the main agenda for the economic growth, knowledge and harmonious society. Malaysia invests a lot of money on education for the future. Strategies have been laid down to enable our students to face global challenges. Accessibility, capability and quality are important keywords in developing those strategies. REFERENCES Malaysian Educational Statistics 2000,
Educational Planning and Eight Malaysia Plan (2001-2005) Hassan Bin Said, 2000, The Strategic
Direction on Higher Education in Malaysia, International Conference
on Policy Issues in Higher CURRICULUM
VITAE Name: Dr. Hassan bin Said Education Background: Ph.D. (CAGD)
Brunei University, England Work Experience:
Awards: 1989 - University's Excellent Service
Award Oct 1989-July 1990 - Commonwealth Fellowship
at Dundee University, Scotland. August 1990 - Maths. Soc. Of Japan Fellowship
for ICM90 1993 - University's Excellent Service
Award Feb. 1999 - United states Information Agency, U.S.A. State/Federal Honors: 2000 - Johan Mangku Negara (JMN) Research Interest: Computer-Aided Geometric Design (CAGD)
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