Higher Education and Socioeconomic Development in Malaysia:
A Human Resource Development Perspective

by

I. Development of Higher Education

Student Enrollment

To achieve Vision 2020 (i.e. to be a fully developed nation by year 2020), the government has set a target that at least 21 percent of the college cohorts should receive college education. The emphasis is going to be on the sciences and technology, and student intakes will be in the ratio of 60:40 in favour of these subjects as opposed to the arts and humanities.

As a result of the recent economic crisis, which saw a drastic depreciation of the Ringgit, student enrolment in local universities and private colleges has sky-rocketed. This happened as government sponsors shopped around for cheaper tuition fees for their students. Malaysians, who in the past have been showing a "taste and preference" for foreign degrees, have come to terms with the reality. Parents of private students who used to send their children overseas are now also turning to local private colleges and universities in the face of a declining Ringgit.

As early as 1970, an economist argued that the government "should, as far as possible, discourage students going abroad to do a first degree" (Kanapathy, 1970: 21). His rationale was the excessive drain on foreign exchange. Writing at a time when there were only 8,000-9,000 students abroad, and one university, Kanapathy calculated that the nation was spending RM30-35 million annually to "merely maintain them." He further argued that "in the interest of the local university, allied institutional development, and the participation of the best young minds in this field, it appears prudent to discourage the outflow, especially when with some additional expenditure and planning, the intake of students into local institutions could be increased." Today, almost thirty years later, all local universities have been asked to increase intake by 10% in order to reduce the number sent overseas drastically. This was done in response to the economic downturn, an unanticipated upheaval on a scale never before experienced in this region.

The result of this shift in policy is to swell student population of local universities and intensify competition to get in. If there is no matching increase in recruitment of teaching staff, there is a danger that quality of instruction will suffer. Heavier teaching loads also mean reduction in faculty research activities.

Some Observations

 

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