Higher Education in Malaysia

Abstract

Higher education in Malaysia only began in 1949 with the establishment of the University of Malaya in Singapore. With independence in 1957, a new campus was established in Kuala Lumpur in 1962. Since then, Malaysian higher education has undergone several major changes. The first was the focus on affirmative action while opening up to private institutions, which heralded a new phase. Malaysia’s early 21^st century higher education sector can be characterised as having roughly equal numbers of students enrolled in about 120 public and 500 private institutions with the gender ratio biased significantly in favour of females. Public institutions employ more qualified academic staff, but private institutions emphasise teaching over research. The sector faces major challenges, some internal to the system while others related to the rest of the economy. Internal challenges relate to the primacy of affirmative action over merit as entry qualifications for enrolment as well as the paucity of science and technology graduates. Economy-wide challenges relate to female graduates’ low participation in the labour force, attrition through brain drain, and failure to achieve technological catch-up. These factors combined conspire to ensnare Malaysia in the ‘middle-income trap’ the escape from which requires fundamental reform.

Citation

Cheok, C.K. (2024), "Higher Education in Malaysia", Pe Symaco, L. (Ed.) Higher Education in Southeast Asia (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 49), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 49-65. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-367920240000049005