Foreign student numbers decline in malaysia

[PJKru]

KUALA LUMPUR: The declining number of foreign students in the country has prompted the Higher Education Ministry to set up a committee to study the country?s competitiveness in the region.

Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh said the committee, comprising representatives from his ministry and the private higher education sector, would also discuss effective marketing strategies to attract foreign students.

?We are seriously worried about how Malaysia can compete against countries like Singapore and Thailand.

?For that very reason, I am heading a special committee to see how we can overcome the problems we have and improve things,? he told reporters after delivering the keynote address at the Conference On Building Asia-Europe Partnerships Through Higher Education here yesterday.

Dr Shafie was commenting on a report in StarEducation on Sunday that Malaysia currently has only about 23,000 foreign students, a far cry from the ministry?s target of 50,000 by this year.

The report also highlighted that other countries in the region, such as Singapore and China have come from behind and are now attracting a higher number of foreign students.

Singapore, for instance, has an enrolment of 50,000 foreign students while China, from where most of our foreign students come from, recorded a foreign student enrolment of about 77,715 in 2003.




http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/1/25/nation/9982477&sec=nation

[Dr_Tay]

Not surprised at all viewing how lecturers are treated and paid at private institutions. Long hours up to 35 max a week for lecturing, does not include preparation, exam setting, marking and reading. Some institutions even ask for leave to be suspended just for board meetings.

To add foreign students always ask me do Malaysian lecturers speak Standard English? I suppose I developed a Malaysian slang to fit in since I was called a Yellow Banana once in the commercial world when I came back from overseas studies.

[chenchow]

Guess an appropriate question for us would be to brainstorm on how to rectify this problem. How could we affect the changes, be it towards IPTA/IPTS or private colleges?

To those who are studying at private colleges in particular, what do you think about the quality over there? Which aspect do you think that should be changed? Do you think that the price tag for studying there is worthwhile? Do you think that by increasing the cost, would that make the education more worth it?

Dr_Tay and other lecturers in ReCom.org, what is the average lecturing hours in a typical private institutions in Malaysia? What do you think about the commitment of lecturers in those institutions? How about the quality of foreign students? Are they comparable to the local students? Better? Worse?