HISTORICAL & PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION OF MALAYSIAN EDUCATION EDT 1001:GROUP 4

Question:

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Corporatization and Privatization of Education in Malaysia.

PRIVATIZATION IN EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA

Started in the 1950sFor students who cannot continue their studies to obtain their basic certificates in Government schools.1970s:The roles of the private education changed when the private education began focusing on the pre- university courses.

HISTORY

Until the 1980s, the Malaysian government was the main provider of higher education

Government kept tuition fees low by heavily subsidizing all public institutions. The government offers scholarships and loans to low-income students.

Student enrollments at the tertiary level have risen dramatically in the past decade.

The ministry faced with tight budgetary constraints in meeting the ever-increasing demand for higher education.

State has to relinquish its role as the main provider of higher education

Pressing the private sector to set up independent higher education institutions.

In 1998, five public universities were given greater institutional autonomy to generate revenue through research contracts, consulting, business ventures with industry, and other forms of investment.

An Expanded State RolePrivate higher education has expanded tremendously 1996, the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act was passedGovernment regulatory control powers over all private education institutions in the country. 1997, the National Accreditation Board was created to formulate policies on standards and quality control

The state has attempted to give higher education a Malaysian identity.

All institutions must offer required courses in Malaysian studies, Islamic studies (for Muslim students), and moral education (for non-Muslim students).

1996, the government established the National Council on Higher Education

Function: to plan, formulate, and determine national policies and strategies and oversee both the public and private sectors

Government would like the private sector to complement and supplement the efforts of the public sector and has sought to steer the private sector toward providing more vocational and technical education.

There has been a gradual shift from state control toward state supervision in the relationship between the Malaysian government and higher education.

State Control ModelThe Ministry of Education regulates access conditions, the curriculum, degree requirements, examination systems, the appointment and remuneration of staff, the selection and admissions of students, and other administrative matters. State Supervision ModelUniversities are responsible for their own management and generation of their own revenues.State oversees the higher education system in terms of assuring quality and maintaining a certain level of accountability

Types of private education institutions:Private kindergartens which adopt the Pre-school National Curriculum of the Ministry of Education, MalaysiaPrivate primary and secondary schools which adhere to the National Curriculum and the proposed assessmentsPrivate religious schools which use the National Curriculum

Chinese private schools which follow the Ministry of Education guidelinesExpatriate schoolsInternational schoolsTuition centres which provide learning assistance to students according to the National CurriculumLanguage centres, computer training centres, skills/commerce centres, correspondence schools, etc

Example of related Institution

PrivatizationInternational collegeUnitarLim Kok Wing InstituteHELP instituteUniselShahputraLagenda

PTPLCosmopointUniKLStanford CollegeKDU

CorporatisationMMUUNITENUTPCollege Telekom

PRIVATISATION IN EDUCATION

ADVANTAGES: lower cost to obtain a foreign degree by enrolling in a twinning programMore references from the main university Different study climate values - competitiveness - self-efficiency - motivation - language

The shift is from central state control to market-based policies, which will increase the range of choices for students and address the needs of an increasingly complex social order

The Malaysian state will still maintain a central steering role to ensure equity access, consumer advocacy, and national identity, which are broader social and cultural goals that transcend the market.

Sought to create the conditions for national unity by reducing inter-ethnic disparities.Develop and improve utilities and other infrastructure.Provide the public better services.Changing the status of the institution.

Promote competition, improve efficiency and increase productivity.

DISADVANTAGES..Complete transfer of ownership and control of a government institution.Burden people especially if charges or fees are raised for privatized services.Implications of 2 sets of services :>can afford privatized services.>cannot afford continue rely on public services.

Increased costs of living and poorer services and utilities especially in remote and rural areas.

CORPORATIZATION IN EDUCATION

ADVANTAGES1. Corporatized universities will be allowed to borrow money.2. Entering business ventures.- investment3. Provide development funds for new programs.4.Attractive salary packages for academic staff.

Corporatised universities are expected to raise a much greater proportion of their own revenue, encourages partnerships with private business firms,compete with other universities in the production and marketing of courses to students who are now seen as customers, engage with the market for higher education.

has the predominating characteristics of being an institution that pursues technical excellence

Excellence in universities is not confined to academic pursuits: it is also proclaimed in such matters as housing, health and even parking.

greater access to higher education for all and especially for disadvantaged groups,

greater responsiveness to demands for more relevant courses

greater involvement of universities with the communities that surround them,

DISADVANTAGESMany entrepreneurial activities will impact the academic quality & freedom of the university. 3. Money is lost to the service as profit for private companies4. Conditions of employment & job security of staff are threatened

The decline of collegiality,a form of relationship where responsibility is shared Corporatisation has undermined collegiality in two ways:Firstly, by removing the kind of equality that existed between individual academics Secondly, by creating a sense of competition between universities as they confront each other in the marketplace.

The result of this preponderance of technique over value is the decline of the classical disciplines which can be seen occurring on a global scale.

The removal of disciplines from university curricula follows automatically from the conception that a university produces a product that can be consumed and if a particular productive unit has no buyers for its product, then logically it should not continue to exist.

Hadith and SayingsFrom Abu Hurairah r.a said, the Prophet (pbuh) said; Whoever find a path to seek knowledge, therefore Allah will ease him a path to Heaven (From Muslim).

"Islam, after all, makes it a duty for everyone to seek knowledge and discover facts, and increase the welfare of mankind." (Sardar, 1989, p. 25).

The Prophet (pbuh) said;Attain knowledge from the cradle to the grave.Acquire knowledge even if you have to travel to China. Acquiring of knowledge is obligatory to every Muslim male and female. Prof. Maqsood Jafri Islamic Concept of Education

IssuePrivatization and Corporatization

Upon completion of their diplomas, the students can proceed to the degree "twinning" programmes in collaboration with foreign universities.Finally, these students will be graduating with foreign degrees without having to leave the country. Besides the relatively lower tuition fees in Malaysia, this possibility of proceeding to the degree course is a "selling point" for most private colleges wishing to attract students from the Asia Pacific region.

What is the relative tuition cost of private tertiary education compared to a public one? A three-year undergraduate programme at one of the public universities costs about RM1,400 per year in tuition fees (which is 13% of the actual cost) whereasIt costs about RM30,000 to complete a 4-year IT degree at the UNITAR,from RM8,000 to RM13,000 per year for an engineering degree at Multimedia University (The Star, July 18, 1999) and RM12,000 at the UNITEN (e-mail comm.). One can expect to pay much more to study for a Monash degree at its Sunway campus.

All these go to show the extent of subsidization (87%) at Malaysian public universities.

Following corporatization, Vice Chancellors in Malaysia have been directed by the Education Ministry NOT to increase tuition fees to local students, as the government has promised the general public that tuition fees remain unchanged after corporatization.

A private college enables its students to apply for loans from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation

According to one claim, private colleges will have to pay between RM70,000-RM1 million in accreditation fees depending on the number of courses a college offers per campus operated. If a college has three campuses, it pays three time.

Aggressive Advertisement A KDU ad says the college wants to "make you somebody." It also claims (perhaps rightly) that it is a pioneer in American university transfer programme.

Kolej Komuniti Mertajam boasts that it is the first government approved private college in Penang. RIMA College in Penang capitalizes on the fact that they are offering "a part-time American degree for busy people."

Silicon Institute of Technology proudly promises to offer an Honours degree in engineering and computing in three years after the SPM.

HELP Institute says that theirs is "more than just a degree-it's an American experience."

Taylor's College, which is twinning with, among others, Sheffield university, warns that it's not easy to be top engineers and financiers-you have to be prepared for a tough life as an engineering student on its campus.

Law and OrderIt is advertisements such as this that the 1996 Act tries to regulate. Article 75 states:

Any person who makes a false or misleading statement in promoting a private higher educational institution shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding RM50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.Three years after SPM (eleven years of schooling) is indeed a short-cut way to a degree. The Ministry of Education has recently determined that 3 years is the bare minimum. Some colleges aren't too happy about the new directive. (The Star, August 29, 1999).

CONCLUSION..The actual achievements may have had more to do with organizational, managerial and incentive reforms, which do not require privatization as a precondition. While there are undoubtedly been many improvements in the quality of services provided, user costs have generally risen disproportionately higher, with obvious adverse and distributional implications.

The EndGroup 4

Nur Hidayah YusufSirajun Munira SahrudeenNurul Nisshak BaharudinKhairunnisa Mohamad YusoffNur Liana Johari