Education in Malaysia
Message from the Minister of Higher Education
Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin
‘Within the landscape of such critical concerns and challenges that confront higher education we are charged with producing a competent and resourceful workforce equipped to meet the challenges of developing and using tomorrow’s technological innovations and trained to face the demands of the economies of the future. There is also a need to examine the different perspectives about the provision of higher education. Some economists and higher education leaders view higher education as a business while other global experts state that ‘higher education is not just a business’. Such basic questions are often at the very core of tensions that exist between public and private higher education institutions in many developed and developing economies.‘
Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin was born on 30 November 1958. He studied law at Malaya University, Kuala Lumpur before pursuing a career in politics. He is a member of the United Malays National Organisation. Between 2004 and 2008 general elections, he held the office of Minister of Entrepreneurial and Cooperative Development. In 2008, he became Minister of Higher Education. Mohamed Khaled Nordin is a Member of Parliament for the Pasir Gudang constituency.
Joined Commonwealth: 1957
Population: 27,468,000 (2009)
GDP p.c. growth: 3.2% p.a. 1990-2009
UN HDI 2010: world ranking 57
Net primary enrolment: 94.1% (2008)
Net secondary enrolment: 67.9% (2008)
Gross tertiary enrolment: 32.1% (2008)
Adult literacy: 92.5% (2009)
Public spending on education was 4.5% of GDP in 2008. There are six years of compulsory education starting at age seven. Net enrolment ratios are 94.1% for primary and 67.9% for secondary, and gross enrolment ratio for all levels of education combined is 69.8% (2008). The pupil-teacher ratio for primary is 15:1 (2008) and some 96% of pupils complete primary school (2006). The school year starts in January and comprises two terms.
About 32.1% of the relevant age group is enrolled in tertiary education (2008). Of the very many public and private universities located throughout the country, the longest-established are University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur (1905) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Skudai, Johor (1904 as the Technical School, becoming a university in 1972). The female-male ratio for gross enrolment in tertiary education is 0.65:1 (2008). Literacy among people aged 15-24 is 99% (2009).
Key to the Tenth Malaysia Plan 2011-2015 is the development of the country’s human capital towards a knowledge-based economy. This entails improving access to and the quality of the education system at all levels; making national schools the school of choice; nurturing top quality research and development; and empowering women and youth.
Malaysia hosted the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (17CCEM) in Kuala Lumpur in June 2009, which marks 50 years since the first conference was held in Oxford in the UK in 1959. Commonwealth education ministers meet every three years to discuss issues of mutual concern and interest.
In January 2009, three organisations in Malaysia were selected as a finalists in the 2009 Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards: SK Ulu Labai for total involvement of a farming community in Sarawak in improving a remote school’s performance; Sabah State Education Department for the use of games and activities in the school compound to improve children’s interpersonal skills and racial integration and to promote cultural activities such as story-telling; and Ba Kelalan Primary School, Sarawak, situated deep in the Borneon jungle, for mobilizing the community to contribute voluntary service and making the school a safer and more orderly place for children to study; and for a 43% improvement in student examination passes since 2000.