Higher education in Malaysia: National strategies and innovative practices

Abstract

The higher education system in Malaysia has undergone rapid expansion and restructuring in the past three decades so as to widen access and equity as well as to improve the efficiency and quality of the delivery system. This chapter is an analysis of the restructuring process, the national strategies and innovative practices adopted in the Malaysian context. The analysis highlights the privatization of higher education and the corporatization of public universities in Malaysia. It also examines the various challenges met in terms quality assurance, diversifying sources of funding, and internationalizing higher education. This chapter features some of the innovative practices in Malaysian higher education such as different types of higher education institutions, public-private partnerships, and international-linked programmes. It is argued that massification of higher education in Malaysia is very much influenced by global trends as well a the internal dynamics of social, economic and political forces. Furthermore, higher education is viewed both as a public good and a private service resulting in an innovative hybrid model of financing higher education in Malaysia.