ROZANA SANI
There was a time when getting a tertiary-level education was not an option open to all. This was due to a limited number of places in higher learning institutions, financial constraints or other factors.
But with the 1990s came the unveiling of a goal for the nation: to become a fully developed country that is globally competitive by 2020.
That goal required education to be reformed to bring about the planned accelerated development of Malaysia with the right infrastructure to nurture the right kind of future-ready workforce.
This was the scenario faced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the start of his five-year tenure as education minister, which began in 1995.
During the period, he led the ministry to liberalise the education system with laws like the Private Higher Education Act 1996 to allow more players to provide services as well as to compete, supported by the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) through the National Higher Education Funding Act 1997. This move provided the building blocks for Malaysia to develop a world-class education system that is flexible and innovative as well as turn the country into a regional education hub and centre of excellence.
At the school level, the well-being of teachers was given due attention with the introduction of time-based promotions, better starting salaries for new teachers and special housing projects for teachers.
The idea of smart schools was conceptualised in 1996 to revolutionise the education system through a holistic approach to development that focused on the individual, making value-based education available to anyone, anywhere and at any time. The Smart School Initiative was launched in 1997 as one of the flagship applications of the Multimedia Super Corridor, under the management of the Multimedia Development Corporation (formerly MDC, now MDeC) and is now rolled out throughout the nation.
Higher Education Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Seri Dr Zaini Ujang said the main challenge during those years was to balance what was ideal and the reality.
In the late 1990s, Zaini was special officer to the then education minister, tasked with higher education policies, particularly on the corporatisation of public universities, formulation of private universities and academic research and development strategic portfolio.
“The ideal was to transform the higher education sector to be quality-focused and with wider access and equality, enhancing academic excellence as an emerging regional hub and have a more market-driven approach and strengthen public-private partnerships. However, the reality was that we faced the Asian financial crisis, which started in mid-1997, as well as political uncertainty in later years. Thus, Najib was quick to make appropriate adjustments and set a new list of priorities,” he related.
The first priority was to ensure all Malaysian students were able to continue their studies. The biggest pressure was coping with students who returned home from abroad due to the depreciation of the ringgit against major currencies, especially the United States dollar.
“In the 1990s, more than 50,000 Malaysian students were studying abroad. Almost half of the self-sponsored students decided to come back and look into studying in local universities, or delaying their studies. Quick to understand the situation, Najib initiated policies to expedite the establishment of Malaysian campuses of foreign universities. Monash University, for example, started its Malaysian branch campus in 1998, Nottingham University in 2000, with others quick to follow. Private universities were managed by government-linked companies (GLCs) — Universiti Teknologi Petronas, was established in 1997, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) (1999), Universiti Telekom (1996, then MMU in 1999). The ministry also allowed more twinning programmes to take place with foreign universities at private colleges,” said Zaini.
Transforming local universities to offer more postgraduate research programmes was also on the cards. During Najib’s tenure as education minister, more access, scholarships, grants and facilities were made available to universities to embark on higher level studies in master’s and doctoral programmes.
“The number of PhD students enrolled in local universities in 1990, for example, was less than 300. The number of foreign students was less than 1,000. But in 2,000, the number increased to 3,000 for PhD students and more than 24,000 foreign students. Increasing the numbers has been easier since then: more than 40,000 PhD students and 142,000 foreign students enrolled in 2015,” he said.
On his years working with Najib during his tenure as education minister, Zaini said Najib was friendly and frank with his assistants.
“I had an opportunity to travel to the US with him in April 1997. We had an exhaustive list of events, visits and meetings from Washington DC to Athens, Ohio, then travelling on to Los Angeles and Silicon Valley, California. In between, we visited schools and universities in Vancouver, Canada. I still remember celebrating Hari Raya Haji while crossing the continent from Washington DC to San Francisco.
“The objective was to observe the planning and practice of e-learning and the future of brick-and-mortar institutions of higher learning. With the Multimedia Super Corridor in its infancy, the Education Ministry was tasked with outlining the blueprint of education for the 21st century for Malaysia. We visited and met chief executive officers of major corporations, such as Apple, Oracle and IBM, and academic leaders at Stanford, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, and Ohio University,” said Zaini.
He found that, through various engagements with leading professors and corporate leaders, Najib was able to convincingly converse at the same level of thinking on business models, financial frameworks, technological gadgets, scientific jargon and policy implementation of information technology into education.
“I personally observed that he was able to cope with difficult issues and pressing schedules. In addition, he was receptive not only to suggestions made by outstanding people we had met, but also to my suggestions and ideas to make it more appropriate and adaptable. In return, he also gave me some tips, especially on confronting issues and handling difficult meetings.”
Universiti Teknologi MARA Vice-Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Hassan Said, who was appointed to the post of Higher Education Department director in 1998 after a five-year stint as Universiti Sains Malaysia deputy vice-chancellor (Academic), had this to say about Najib: “He was an easy boss to work with, very composed, calm and full of new ideas. He was a good listener and very quick in making decisions. He empowered us to ensure that all major decisions were executed fast.”
Hassan said that on the issue of the accessibility of students to higher education, the (then) minister increased the number of polytechnics, introduced technical-based university colleges and allowed the private sector to set up private universities and colleges to address the shortfall of places in the public sector.
“He introduced the Higher Education Loan Scheme (PTPTN) to enable students from all walks of life to enjoy the opportunity to study in local universities. I still remember his statement that ‘No qualified student in this country will be denied the opportunity to study in our universities’.
“He also introduced a very innovative approach for students to get foreign degrees in Malaysia. Private colleges were allowed to offer twinning programmes and other creative crossborder collaborations,” Hassan said.
For Hassan, Najib is the “father” of liberalisation and modernisation of Malaysia’s higher education sector, which is recognised globally.
“His early initiatives in crossborder education have been widely imitated by many countries. The introduction of the Private Higher Education Act was really the game changer,” he said.