Sri Lankan students aspire for overseas university education:

Malaysian private universities, a major attraction

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

As Sri Lanka is engaged in a debate on the issue of introducing private universities system to the tertiary education system of Sri Lanka even paralysing the existing state university education system, many youth aspiring for a better higher education to achieve the targets in their lives have to look forward for the opportunities available in overseas campuses.

In a recent statement, Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera has mentioned that the introduction of private universities in the country as one of the eight ways of reducing the outflow of foreign exchange of Sri Lanka as we are losing dollars earned by six to eight housemaids to finance the overseas education of one student.

Although Sri Lanka has understood the value of establishing the private universities as one way to reduce the outflow of foreign exchange and also to expand its development drive by providing required human capital for industries and other services sector, our country is still struggling to create that conducive environment here to expand the university education system in the country.

Statistics reveal that due to the limited number of placements in the state funded universities, only 17 p.c. of those who qualify for university education gain admission to state universities and each year, more than 100,000 qualified students are forced to abandon their ambition to enter a university due to this situation.

Apart from them, thousands of students studying in international schools qualify for universities after following foreign syllabuses such as London A/L, Ed-excel programs also look forward to have a better higher education to suit their aspirations in foreign universities as they do not get adequate facilities here to pursue their university education.

Although Sri Lanka has a very good reputation for its education system, enjoying free university education for more than five decades, the time is ripe for the nation to think afresh and enact a more comprehensive way out for those students qualified for university entrance but deprived of their chances due to limited placement in local universities.

The Malaysian story of higher education will be an ideal story for a country like us to follow as the expansion of the private university system has paved the way for Malaysia to achieve an accelerated development during the past few decades to transform itself from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy.

After decades of struggle, today, Malaysia is emerging as an educational hub in the Asian region, becoming a gateway to many reputed universities in US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and other universities across the globe and attracting more and more international students aspire to obtain their higher education from the world's reputed universities.

The Sunday Observer had the opportunity to explore a number of private universities in Malaysia during a tour organised by the International Scholar Educational Services (Pvt) Ltd., an institute channelling Sri Lankan students for various world renowned universities along with their Malaysian partner Winning Magnitude Sdn.Bhd.

The story behind all these private universities tell how ambitious Malaysia is in pursuing its higher education system to grab the opportunities of development for the country.

As a country which had to spend a huge amount of foreign exchange to educate their youth in foreign universities, it has learned so many lessons after going through the mill and now Malaysia is investing massively in the tertiary education sector as they believe the expansion of the horizon of knowledge of the young generation as a key factor for the growth of the country's economy and to save their foreign exchange.

Research done on the expansion of the higher education sector in Malaysia has revealed that due to the encouragement of setting up of educational and training institutions by the private sector to organise twinning programs and preparatory courses was effective because the number of students studying abroad in tertiary educational institutions declined from about 60,000 in 1985 to 52,000 in 1990.

According to a research by G. Sivalingam, Professor, School Of Business, Monash University Malaysia, the watershed in the development of private higher education in Malaysia, traced to the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act, 1996 which further liberalised the educational sector and provided the legal framework for the establishment of twinning arrangements between public and private institutions and foreign and local institutions and the establishment of private universities, branch campuses of foreign universities and other forms of private higher educational institutions. It also provided for the upgrading of existing colleges to universities.

Liberalisation of higher education sector was considered necessary to match the demand for higher education and Private Higher Educational Institutions Act which was passed by Parliament in Malaysia and later four other related pieces of legislation were enacted by Parliament. These included the Education Act, 1996; the University and University Colleges (Amendment) Act, 1996, the National Accreditation Board Act, 1996 and the National Council on Higher Education Act, 1996.

Within a year of the passing of these Acts, the National Higher Education Fund Board Act was passed in 1997. The most significant immediate outcome of the implementation of these Acts of Parliament was the establishment of six private universities by 2001 and three branch campuses of foreign universities to offer full degree courses. The establishment of the six local private universities was intended to provide courses in engineering, business studies, medicine and multimedia.

With those changes, the higher education sector of Malaysia commenced spanning its wings, and as many as 16 to 20 private universities have so far emerged in Malaysia to cater to both local and international students.

The expansion of the Malaysian private universities is also due to the investment by the large Malaysian corporations. For example, University Multimedia is largely due to the investment by 'Telekom Malaysia', the largest telephone company. 'Universiti Tenaga Nasional' is due to the investment by 'Tenaga Nasional', the national power company.

The branch campuses of the foreign universities are also due to partnership with large Malaysian conglomerates such as Sunway Berhad in the case of Monash University and Barlow-Boustead, the YTL Corporation and Lembaga Tabung Antara Tentera (LTAT) in the case of the University of Nottingham.

Therefore, the success behind the Malaysian higher education sector comes also due to the conducting of the graduate courses in English enabling the international students competent with English language to pursue their higher education rather than conducting those courses in native languages.

Though Malaysia inherits Islamic culture, its liberal attitudes have made the country an attraction of both Islamic and non Islamic students to their universities. Even for the Sri Lankan students, Malaysia is no longer a strange place as Sri Lankan students also hail from multi ethnic, multi religious background.

Malaysia, on one hand is a country where living expenses are not so high and it has become a major factor for the attraction of many students to Malaysia from African region and Asia to pursue their higher education.

Even the foreign campuses established in Malaysia are offering their degree programs charging much lower fees than their parent universities though the degree offered by these branch campuses are of the same standards and it mentions the name of the parent campus but not the branch campus.

The Universities like Nottingham and Monash which have established their branch campuses in Malaysia are offering the same degree from their Malaysian campuses too with a reduced tuition fee for their students. The students also get the chance of completing one or two semesters in the parent campuses at the same fee they pay to the Malaysian branch campuses is an advantage for the students.

As Malaysia is hugely investing in the higher education sector the facilities at these universities are also on the increase on a huge competitive basis to provide students with more facilities to have their education in a better environment.

The Wi - Fi zones created within the university, accessibility to a wide range of books in their libraries and e-libraries and the hostel and residential facilities have also enabled them to attract more international students.

The universities like Kuala Lampur Infrastructure University College, one of the well recognised universities in Malaysia for the engineering degrees, are having affiliation with number of universities in UK, Australia and New Zealand and with several other European countries and it is well recognised by those countries.

The diversified degree program for considered non-traditional sector by many Sri Lankans offered by the universities like Limkokwing University of Creative Technology will also be a major attraction for the young generation who are waiting to enter the fields of advertising and digital imaging and other affiliated industries.

After more than 10 years of exploration each private university in Malaysia is very understanding of the needs of international students, for all international students from admissions, arranging accommodation and other requirements.

Each private university international student service centre has played a very good management and service function from the day they receive the international students at the airport itself till their graduation.

Therefore, there is no doubt that the Sri Lankan student population who does not get a chance for a higher education here, in the absence of a proper private university system are attracted towards countries like Malaysia to pursue their higher education. What we need to realise is that as a country aiming to have an accelerate growth which critically needs human capital, we need to think of following in the footsteps of countries like Malaysia as we see a lacuna in the present university system to achieve that much needed growth in the country.