The movement of students across borders has had profound impact on higher education policy development. This article seeks to unpack international student mobility through a discourse approach, using five policy documents on international student mobility from well-established recruiters of international students. Eight headline findings are presented in this article. It was found that there are many different types of international students. Higher education institutions are located at the heart of the action, and provide a broad range of services across four distinctive stages of the students’ sojourn. Governments reaffirm their commitment in providing good higher education experience to the international student population. However, there are signs that the students’ presence has shaped higher education policies to be more service-, market-, and reputation driven. The ethics of care concept is proposed to balance the present role of higher education as “wealth creation agents,” and to ensure both institutions and students reap the benefits of international higher education.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the policies and practices of internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia, and to specifically explore how Sustainable Development Goals are translated into policies and practices.Design/methodology/approachThis paper takes a chronological and historical approach to examine policies and practices on internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia. This includes identifying patterns, trends and shifts on internationalisation at the system and institutional levels.FindingsAt the system level, Malaysia has transformed from a sending to receiving country, from being an aid recipient to an equal partner, and from a host to a provider. At the institutional level, internationalisation transforms from a fad to a norm, and from having unilateral collaboration to setting up multinational collaborations with international partners. Equally important, the paper discusses the role of internationalisation to address the global Sustainable Development Goals, and identify policy gaps at the national level and the de facto practices of Sustainable Development Goals at the institutional level.Originality/valueThis paper charts the changes of internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia, and importantly, shows gaps to incorporate the global Sustainable Development Goals and to relate this global agenda to the internationalisation of higher education.
The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused massive disruptions in many sectors of society including higher education. Although the mainstream news outlets and social media have discussed how Malaysia's higher education system coped with the disruptions caused by COVID-19, a fuller narrative needs to be properly documented. This qualitative narrative review involved an analysis of various types of publications including scholarly articles, world organizations' reports, university documents as well as commentaries and reports from mainstream news outlets and social media that directly focus on the topic. It is evident from the review that Malaysian HEIs' priority was in safeguarding student and staff welfare in terms of their health and safety. While providing emergency aid to students and support for institutions, the Ministry of Higher Education together with HEIs developed administrative measures to safeguard the delivery of programmes through remote online learning. The analysis confirmed that while online learning is considered appropriate during an emergency period, the digital divide clearly still exists, posing the greatest challenge to Malaysia's recovery post COVID-19. The critical review on the immediate impacts of the pandemic on teaching and learning point to key recommendations for leadership, student welfare, and the importance of flexible education and evidence-based policymaking.
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