Internationalization of Higher Education: A Case Study of Policy Adjustment Strategy in Malaysia

Abstract

At the beginning of the new millennium, Malaysia aspires to become a regional hub for education. Therefore, there is an adjustment strategy in Malaysian higher education policy. Among other elements are and the liberalization of the higher education sector in 1997, which led to the development of language-in-education policy; and the formation of the Ministry of Higher Education in 2004. This policy encompasses the economic, political and socio-cultural domains. Instead of only analyzing economic, political and socio-cultural viewpoints, we analyze this policy from the knowledge perspective. We review the literature on the link between knowledge and policy-making. Then, with emphasis on English language usage, we review language policy in general, and in Malaysia. Case study approach is used; because this gives an in-depth understanding of the policy-making process in Malaysia. The Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, policy-making process is the case study. Prior to the case study analysis, we also review the general policy-making process in Malaysia. The findings show that first; the Ministry of Higher Education of the Malaysian Federal Government is generally responsible for most of the policy-making process. And second, benchmarking with international best practices is one of the bases for the development of higher education policy in Malaysia.

The Implementation of Malay Language Education Policy and the Linguistic Landscape in Malaysia

“…Malaysian Ministry of Education is the authority to design and implement 'top-down' language education policies over the years. The Razak Report introduced in 1952 was the first language education policy which endorsed the Malay language as the national language and it would serve as the medium of instruction and English was taught as the compulsory subject at all levels of national schools (Choong, 2008;Zuraidah, Farida, Ibiannaflociliana, Haijon & Katshuhiro, 2011). English was allowed to share the status of official language till 1967 in Peninsula Malaysia, 1973in Sabah and 1985in Sarawak (Zuraidah et al, 2011.…”

A Descriptive Study of Thailand’s ESP Programs: Policy Implications for AEC

“…In Malaysia and Thailand, the governments believe that investing in graduate education contributes to national economic development (Chien & Chapman, 2014 2004 465 153 203 109 0 2005 520 176 217 127 0 2006 727 241 290 178 18 2007 844 277 327 220 20 2008 884 296 350 215 23 2010 981 342 389 225 25 2012 1,071 344 394 249 30 national objective to become an educational hub in the region (Zaaba et al, 2011 Singapore is also the best prepared for the AEC because the city-state is a free port that has never relied for long periods on tariffs and other economies depend heavily on tariff duties (The Nation, 2013).…”

English and the linguistic ecology of Malaysia

“…English schools were only situated in such areas and were attended mainly by non‐Malays who would want to speak English. The vernacular schools – Malay, Chinese and Tamil – were located in the rural areas except for some Chinese schools in those urban areas where Chinese were involved in the business sector (Zuraidah Zaaba et al : 160). Towards the end of colonization, negotiations took place to set up an education system for Malaya that would cater for all ethnic groups.…”

“…English was the natural choice. The Education Act 1996 had ‘implicitly approved the use of English language in science and technology courses in PHEIs’ and the 1996 Private Higher Education Institution Act ‘approved English language in dual programs with overseas institutions and offshore campuses’ (Zuraidah Zaaba et al : 161). Moreover, the liberalization of higher education resulted in the corporatization of public higher institutions.…”