Malaysia As the Centre of Educational Excellence – Strategies in Recruiting International Students
Malaysian government aspires for Malaysia to become the center of educational excellence both regionally and internationally and the country currently hosts some 40,000 foreign students and this number is expected to grow to 95,000 by 2010.
Being new in the business of recruiting foreign students, Malaysian government has to be realistic in analyzing its potential by looking at the strength and weaknesses that Malaysia has. Economic and political stability is one plus factor but Malaysia is still at its early stage in terms of having well established and renowned institutions that will attract quality students by itself. Nevertheless, the recent World University Ranking by Times Higher Education Supplement has listed two Malaysian universities i.e. University Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia among the 200 universities of the world and therefore enhancing the image of Malaysia as education provider.
Marketing Malaysia as Destination for Education
The government through the Ministry of Higher Education has established various policies that will encourage the flow of foreign students into Malaysia such as the setting-up of branch campuses of foreign universities that provides avenues for students to receive degrees from established universities from developed countries but with a more complacent cost of living.
The branch campuses alone are not good enough and the aspiration of the Malaysian government will materialize only when all institutions of higher learning in Malaysia work hard in marketing themselves regionally and internationally. The questions here is how could Malaysia compete with other countries that have been more well established as education provider such as United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the US. Malaysian higher learning institutions are rather young compared to those in the countries mentioned. Therefore, in marketing the institutions of higher learning in Malaysia, it is very important for the government and the
Being new in the business of recruiting foreign students, Malaysian government has to be realistic in analyzing its potential by looking at the strength and weaknesses that Malaysia has. Economic and political stability is one plus factor but Malaysia is still at its early stage in terms of having well established and renowned institutions that will attract quality students by itself. Nevertheless, the recent World University Ranking by Times Higher Education Supplement has listed two Malaysian universities i.e. University Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia among the 200 universities of the world and therefore enhancing the image of Malaysia as education provider.
Marketing Malaysia as Destination for Education
The government through the Ministry of Higher Education has established various policies that will encourage the flow of foreign students into Malaysia such as the setting-up of branch campuses of foreign universities that provides avenues for students to receive degrees from established universities from developed countries but with a more complacent cost of living.
The branch campuses alone are not good enough and the aspiration of the Malaysian government will materialize only when all institutions of higher learning in Malaysia work hard in marketing themselves regionally and internationally. The questions here is how could Malaysia compete with other countries that have been more well established as education provider such as United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the US. Malaysian higher learning institutions are rather young compared to those in the countries mentioned. Therefore, in marketing the institutions of higher learning in Malaysia, it is very important for the government and the