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Finding the next ‘wave’ in internationalisation of higher education: focus on Malaysia

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Abstract

This article presents a case study of Malaysia’s inroad in internationalising its higher education system for the past three decades and proposes recommendations and the way forward in internationalisation. Internationalisation is one of the critical agenda in Malaysia’s higher education transformation with an end target of becoming an international hub of higher education excellence by 2020. The country is no stranger in internationalisation as efforts in student mobility, academic programmes and international collaboration have started since the 1980s and 1990s. As with other higher education systems globally, it was the private sector that initiated and sustained efforts in internationalisation of Malaysian higher education. With the growth in international student enrolment, the country has established itself as a student hub; however, greater focus and clarity in direction should be set forward in accelerating Malaysia’s progress in internationalisation, with research and development as a potential catalyst. The article also questions Malaysia’s current standing with regard to internationalisation and the need in facilitating higher education institutions to build their capacity in internationalisation, highlighting the important roles of individual institutions at both public and private sector that drive the country’s internationalisation agenda.

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Notes

  1. Quarterly meetings for Critical Agenda Project (Internationalisation), National Higher Education Strategic Plan (NHESP), conducted between 2010 and 2013.

  2. Research projects identifiable under the Research Management Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia under the following codes: 3B067, 4B045, 4B001.

  3. The Ministry has since merged with the Ministry of Education in May 2013.

  4. The five MRUs are Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the research grants identified by the following codes under the Research Management Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia: 01H56 (Funding source: Research University Grant, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia) and 4B045 (Funding source: Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia). The authors would like to thank representatives from the Ministry of Education, fellow collaborators in research and academic endeavours on internationalisation (both local and international) and representatives from Malaysian public and private HEIs who helped, directly or otherwise, in shaping the content and arguments put forward in the article.

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  1. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

    Mohd Ismail Abd Aziz & Doria Abdullah

  2. UTM Perdana School of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur campus, Jalan Semarak, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Doria Abdullah

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  1. Mohd Ismail Abd Aziz
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  2. Doria Abdullah
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Correspondence to Doria Abdullah.

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Abd Aziz, M.I., Abdullah, D. Finding the next ‘wave’ in internationalisation of higher education: focus on Malaysia. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 15, 493–502 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-014-9336-7

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