Internationalisation of the Malaysian Higher Education System Through the Prism of South-South Cooperation

Abstract

Many of the internationalisation efforts in Malaysia have focused on enhancing collaboration with developed economies and Western systems. This article seeks to fill a gap in the literature by examining six initiatives to internationalise higher education within the Malaysian higher education system through the prism of South-South cooperation. It showcases the ways in which Malaysia participated in such initiatives and illustrates four levels of engagement ranging from government-to-government, institution-to-institution, international organisation-to-government using universities as intermediaries, and regional networks with Malaysian universities playing a significant role. IntroductionMalaysia is a developing country that is striving to become a developed one. It recognises that one of the keys in achieving this ambitious goal is to focus on the development of its higher education (HE) system. The National Higher Education Strategic Plan 2007-2020 (NHESP) was formulated in 2007 to unleash HE's potential to transform the country by bolstering competition and enhancing national productivity and innovation (MOHE, 2007). In the era of globalisation, national HE cannot exist in vacuum; hence, the internationalisation of Malaysian HE is a key strategic thrust of the NHESP. It aimed to establish Malaysia as an international hub of higher educational excellence (MOHE, 2007, p.12).Moreover, the Malaysia Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025 that followed the NHESP, identified global prominence through internationalisation as one of the ten shifts required to enhance the Malaysian HE system (MOE, 2015a).As a developing country, Malaysia's internationalisation of HE has not been confined to enhancing networks and interaction with developed countries. A significant proportion of regional and global interactions across the HE system, institutions and individuals, have taken place with fellow developing and least developing countries. The perception that Malaysian universities always look to Harvard, Oxbridge and other top-ranked global universities in order to enhance their own image is not always true. During the NHESP period, equal emphasis was placed on collaboration with universities of the same standing. More importantly, Malaysian universities were mandated to collaborate with universities in the ASEAN region in order to promote an ASEAN collaborative and cooperative spirit. Thus, this article explores the ways and extent to which internationalisation of the Malaysian HE system progresses through South-South cooperation and interaction. The first part examines the concept of South-South cooperation by drawing on the literature on knowledge development, developmental studies, globalisation and colonisation. Having established the conceptual lens, the second part of the article explores South-South initiatives and programmes undertaken in Malaysia to enhance internationalisation.

A comparative study on turnaround leadership in higher education and the successful implementation of the UN’s sustainable development goals

“…The issues explored in that study were related to EfS leadership such as leadership capabilities, managerial competencies and the contextual factors which influence EfS leadership. In the current study, we replicated the study by using data on the perceptions of academics working in Malaysia and Japan, two Asian higher education systems with high ambitions and comprehensive programs to internationalize their higher education [see Wan and Morshidi (2018) and Sanders and Wong (2021) for more detailed information]. In addition, the availability of the data from the study by allowed comparison with the international TLSHE sample.…”

Institutional Policies and Initiatives for the Internationalization of HE: A Case of Southeast Asia and Pakistan

“…Globalization has made higher education accessible to all. Higher education is subject to both national and international agendas in keeping with globalization [29].…”

Lecturers' personality traits and affective states amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: estimating a theory-driven longitudinal model using the novel PLSe2 methodology

“…, 2018). As noted by Wan and Morshidi (2018) and Wan et al. (2020), two critical documents help in better comprehension of the higher education management system in the context of Malaysia, namely the National Higher Education Strategic Plan (NHESP) 2007–2020 and the Malaysia Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015–2025.…”