Malaysia is fast becoming a major attraction for candidates from all over the world to pursue their higher education. Currently students (local and international) who pursue postgraduate (hereafter, PG) education in Malaysia use the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores as indicators of their English ability. These are tests from the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, tailor-made for university education in those countries. Recent literature in testing and evaluation describes the need for more localized tests, developed for the "local" context of a particular country. Thus, the need for a test that could be utilized and customized to the needs of the students studying in Malaysia is foreseeable. This is in line with the concept of test localization. It stipulates that for a test to be valid, its design and development must take into consideration the population, context, and the domain in which the test is used. A project was undertaken where a new English test named Graduate Admission Test of English (GATE) was developed for PG admission into universities in Malaysia. This article describes the process of developing a new test that measures English language competency of PG students who intend to pursue their studies in Malaysia. It includes the use of a test specification/blueprint that contains validity elements adopted from a test validation framework developed by Weir. The article emphasizes the rigor of developing such a test, which includes aspects of test development, operation, analysis, and validation.

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Currently, education is facing overwhelming challenges in terms of the generation of students that the universities are taking in and the demands of the industry. This is propagated further by the enhancement of modern technology. Therefore, the courses offered in universities must ensure that graduates are ready for the working world and a good well rounded curriculum is needed to achieve this. In Malaysia, the body governing academic quality is the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) and they require curriculums to be reviewed every 3 – 5 years to ensure their relevance to industry requirements. A curriculum usually undergoes years of ‘trials’ and changes before a sound one can be produced. In essence, a curriculum needs to be reviewed for the f ollowing reasons; the dynamic nature of a curriculum, to keep abreast with new approaches in learning and teaching and best practices in teaching strategies. Students need to be trained and well-exposed to meet the challenges of the globalised world and function well at the workplace. Due to these reasons, the paper discusses the processes involved in reviewing a curriculum. A program from the Academy of Language Studies in UiTM Malaysia was selected as a case to highlight the stages, challenges and outcomesof the review.

Albeit the presence of educational quality initiatives like Outcome Based Education (OBE) and Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) to enhance the  implementation and outcome of university language courses, deep seated issues continue to leave a trail of shortcomings in the outcomes and abilities of university graduates in terms of language and communication.  Detailed qualitative responses via purposive sampling elicited from experienced English lecturers teaching ESP courses to engineering students at universities in Malaysia, revealed underlying issues that stemmed from the systemic aspects of the engineering curriculum planning and execution. Issues like inaccurate course positioning in programme structure and marginalized roles of English lecturers that affect ESP courses implementation were identified via contextual analysis. Guided by the list of issues and theoretical underpinnings, a framework was proposed for mitigation efforts. The collaborative ESP testing implementation framework (CETIF) which is tied-up to language testing principles of Validity, Reliability, Impact, Practicality, and Quality management (VRIPQ) and ESP principles like specificity, authenticity and learners’ needs, embodies  mitigation efforts and synergy between practitioners like English lecturers,  engineering lecturers, and industry personnel. Discussion on the potential use of CETIF is put forth and the potential benefits to be yielded include enhancement of English lecturers’ professional roles, forming of positive beliefs and views and cultivation of good ESP testing practices.