Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-30T20:54:55.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Malaysia's Niche in International Higher Education: Targeting Muslim-majority, Commonwealth, and Less-developed Countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2015

Arndt Graf
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 2010, more than 87,000 international students were studying in Malaysia. The Malaysian government wants to increase the number of international students to more than 200,000 by 2020. The case of Malaysia as an emerging player in international education is particularly interesting as it is not only one of the first former colonies of a European country to achieve such high international attractiveness, but also one of the first Muslim-majority countries to become a hub of international education. This article analyses both the supply and demand side of this remarkable trend. The historical and political circumstances for the institutional buildup of Malaysian higher education are discussed, followed by an analysis of the religious, linguistic, and developmental background of the international students coming to Malaysia. Lastly, factors affecting other prominent destinations of international student migration, such as the implications of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, are taken into account.

Keywords

Malaysiastudent mobilityAfricaIslammadhhabinnovation gapCommonwealth
Type
Articles
Information
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia , Volume 4 , Special Issue 1: Student Mobility within Southeast Asia , January 2016 , pp. 5 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © Institute of East Asian Studies, Sogang University 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abd. Aziz, Mohd. Ismail and Abdullah, Doria. 2014. Malaysia: becoming an education hub to serve national development. In Knight, Jane (ed.), International Education Hubs. Student, Talent, Knowledge-Innovation Models, pp. 101–120. Dordrecht andNew York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abu Umar Faruq Ahmad. 2010. Theory and Practice of Modern Islamic Finance: The Case Analysis from Australia. Boca Raton, Fla.: BrownWalker Press.Google Scholar
An-Na'im, Abdullahi Ahmed (ed.) 2002. Islamic Family Law in a Changing World. A Global Resource Book. London and New York: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Central Intelligence Agency. 2014. The World Fact Book. Available at: https:// www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ (accessed on 26 August 2014).Google Scholar
Chai, Hon-Chan. 2007. The business of higher education in Malaysia. In Commonwealth Secretariat (ed.), Commonwealth Education Partnerships 2007, pp.114–118. Cambridge: Nexus Strategic Partnerships. Available at: http://www.cedol.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/114-118-2007.pdf (accessed 28 July 2015).Google Scholar
Chen, Tse-Mei, and Barnet, George A. 2000. Research on international student flows from a macro perspective: a network analysis of 1985, 1989 and 1995. Higher Education 39(4), 435–453.Google Scholar
Global Innovation Index. 2014. The Global Innovation Index 2014. The Human Factor in Global Education. Available at: http://www.globalinnovationindex.org/userfiles/file/reportpdf/GII-2014-v5.pdf (accessed on 5 Sept. 2014).Google Scholar
Graf, Arndt. 2011. Beyond 2020: Malay and Indonesian in a new linguistic world order. Kemanusiaan. The Asian Journal of Humanities 18(1), 77–100. Available at: http://web.usm.my/kajh/vol%2018.1.2011.html (accessed 26 August 2014).Google Scholar
Healey, Nigel. 2008. Is higher education in really ‘internationalising’? Higher Education 55(3), 333–355.Google Scholar
Hekimoglu, Mehmet Merdan. 2010. Constitutional Developments of Turkey since Ottoman Times to the Present. München: GRIN-Verlag.Google Scholar
Ho, K. C. 2014. International higher education ambitions and regional migration supports. TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 2(02): 163–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunwick, J.O. 2004. Islam in tropical Africa to c.1900. In Clarke, Peter, Hardy, Friedhelm, Houlden, Leslie and Sutherland, Stewart(eds.), The World's Religions, pp. 486–497. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Ilieva, Janet, Peak, Michael, and Van-Cauter, Kevin. 2013. What is changing in higher education. In Stiasny, Mary and Gore, Tim (eds.), Going Global. Identifying Trends and Drivers of International Education, pp. 299–308. Bingley, UK: Emerald.Google Scholar
Israeli, Raphael. 2002. Islam in China. Religion, Ethnicity, Culture, and Politics. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Kell, Peter and Vogl, Gilian. 2012. International Students in the Asia Pacific: Mobility, Risks and Global Optimism. Dordrecht and New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Khoo, Kay Kim. 2005. 100 years the University of Malaya. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press.Google Scholar
Lie, Koo Yew, Kaur, Sarjit and Sirat, Morshidi. 2011. Quality Assurance and University Rankings in the Asia Pacific: Country and Institutional Contexts. Penang: Universiti Sains Malaysia Press.Google Scholar
Malikyar, H. 1997. Development of family law in Afghanistan: The role of the Hanafi madhhab, customary practices, and power politics. Central Asian Survey 16(3), 389–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzarol, Tim, and Soutar, Geoffrey N. 2012. Revisiting the global market for higher education. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 24(5), 717–737.Google Scholar
Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE). 2011. Data Makro Pengajian Tinggi – Makro Data of Higher Education. Available at: http://www.mohe.gov.my/web_statistik/statistik2010/BAB1_DATA_MAKRO_PENGAJIAN_TINGGI.pdf (accessed on 26 August 2014).Google Scholar
Pearson, Michael. 2000. The Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. In Levtzion, Nehemia, and Pouwels, Randall L. (eds.), The History of Islam in Africa, pp. 37–59. Athens; Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2009. Mapping the Global Muslim Population. Available at: http://www.pewforum.org/files/2009/10/Shiarange.pdf (accessed on 1 Sept. 2014).Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2011. Table: Christian Population as Percentages of All Christians by Country. Available at: http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/table-christian-population-as-percentages-of-all-christians-by-country/ (accessed on 4 Sept. 2014).Google Scholar
Rasanayagam, Johan. 2010. Islam in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sirat, Morshidi. 2008. The impact of September 11 on international student flow into Malaysia: lessons learned. International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 4(1), 79–95.Google Scholar
Tham, Siew Yean (ed.). 2013. Internationalizing Higher Education in Malaysia: Understanding, Practices, and Challenges. Singapore: ISEAS.Google Scholar
Ujang, Zaini. 2011. Embracing the Knowledge Culture: Understanding Knowledge, Putting it into Practice. Kuala Lumpur: Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia and Penerbit Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (transl. of: Menghayati budaya ilmu: faham ilmu, amalan, dan panduan. Skudai, Johor Darul Ta'zim: Penerbit Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 2009).Google Scholar
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2014. Human Development Reports. Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/MYS (accessed on 5 Sept. 2014).Google Scholar
Wong, Diana and Ooi, Pei Wen. 2013. The globalization of tertiary education and intra-Asian student mobility: mainland Chinese student mobility to Malaysia. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 22(1), 55–76.Google Scholar
Yemelianova, Gemelia. 2009. Islamic radicalization: a post-Soviet or a global phenomenon? In Yemelianova, G. (ed.), Radical Islam in the Former Soviet Union, pp. 11–30. Abingdon, New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar