PUTRAJAYA: The following are excerpts from the New Straits Times exclusive interview with Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.
Question: Do we have too many public and private higher-learning institutions in the country given our population?
Answer: We have enough at the moment. That’s why we have a moratorium on new universities coming in. With 20 public universities and 500 private colleges, we have more than enough.
Each state has its own university now and, of course, there are also 34 polytechnics and 93 community colleges complementing them.
We are going for quality rather than quantity. To open a higher-learning institution, we need staff — thousands of lecturers. With the influx of lecturers, the issue of quality, too, has to be considered.
The quality of manpower is crucial in any higher-learning institution.
Question: So, the ministry is not going to approve new licences?
Answer: It depends. We recently issued a licence for Asia Business School, which is a subsidiary of MIT Sloan School of Management.
We will consider it if it is a relevant specialty area, but approval has to go through the cabinet. In principle, the country has enough higher-learning institutions.
Question: Do you see a period of consolidation when strong institutions merge with weak ones?
Answer: We encourage them to do so, but these people are entrepreneurs and we cannot force them. Private higher-learning institutions are just like any other business. We have given them the licence to operate, so it is up to them as, at the end of the day, it is only business.
Some (colleges) are small but they are good in their own specialty areas. However, I strongly hope that they will emphasise and focus on the quality of education instead of the business aspect only.
Question: What is the function of Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) in promoting Malaysia as the region’s education hub of choice?
Answer: We established EMGS to promote Malaysia as a global education destination and to coordinate the arrival of foreign students in the country. There are currently 150,000 foreign students here, and our target is to reach 200,000 by 2020. (I believe) With the initiatives of EMGS, (we) can achieve more than the target.
Question: What countries are we focusing on?
Answer: Currently, many of these students come from China and other developing nations like Bangladesh and Indonesia. We want to make sure there is a balance to include students from other regions like West Asia, Europe and Africa. We do not want to depend on a specific area or region that may lead to a burden forming because of an imbalance in the students’ country of origin.
Question: There are concerns from private universities that red tape in EMGS are constraining them in getting students and processing their intake. Are these being addressed?
Answer: Yes, there were cases when they submitted too many applications at one go.
To address these issues, we introduced an online application system early this year to make the process easier.
We are also issuing visas for the duration of study instead of annual renewals, which will help facilitate the process.
We are using international benchmarks for the approval of visas based on the duration of study.
We are also looking at granting these students a working visa upon graduation.
Question: Who will monitor the students?
Answer: EMGS will monitor them. There used to be drug problems among the students but now, each will be issued a card that has a star tracking system.
This allows Immigration officers and the police to access their details like the college they are studying in, the type of course and visa expiry date. The system will be constantly updated so that EMGS can better monitor them.
Question: Are the students allowed to work here?
Answer: Currently, they are not allowed, but we are discussing with the Immigration Department to allow them to get industrial training in our country for a maximum of two years.
Question: Will this create competition with local graduates?
Answer: We are not talking about the whole 200,000 foreign students. Not all will want to get a job here, but we must offer them opportunities to make Malaysia an educational hub.
The opportunities also include continuing their studies to postgraduate level. Currently, there are 30,000 foreign students doing their Masters and PhDs, who also contribute to the excellence of our education system.
We cannot stop the process of globalisation as this is a part of it. Look at Silicon Valley in the United States. More than 50 per cent of the residents are not Americans, and this is one positive example that we have to look at.
Question: Countries like South Korea and China are spending a lot of money on improving their rankings. How do we compete with them? Wouldn’t ranking be one consideration in attracting foreign students?
Answer: We are not obsessed with ranking. We are guided by the Blueprint and ranking is just one of the global prominence included. I know that on the ground, among the universities, they are competing to push their ranking higher.
Ranking is important but it is not everything. Our focus is
more on the first shift — to produce holistic, entrepreneurial and balanced graduates.
As I mentioned earlier, the focus is for Malaysians to get the best education system in this country. That is why the ecosystem of the Blueprint also looks into online learning, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and lifelong learning. This (the Blueprint) is the way forward for education in Malaysia.
Question: What about the issue of research and academic credibility?
Answer: This issue is not just a concern but it is very important. During my meeting with university vice-chancellors, I stressed maintaining academic integrity. Plagiarism should not happen at universities as it is a place to learn, a place for you to be a holistic person of integrity. I will not compromise on academic integrity.
Question: What is the role of the ministry in ensuring that academicians share their research and the knowledge they produce not in academic journals only, but also with the public?
Answer: Universities are different from schools. They are given autonomy with greater decision-making rights as we don’t want to micro-manage them.
In the context of global prominence, research and development (R&D) projects should first be published in journals. The next step should be the frequency of citation. If they are not cited, it will be as good as not publishing the research in the first place.
Universities should take full responsibility on the research area and journals in which they choose to publish. I am concerned about the R&D needs in our country’s industry.
For example, in the context of foreign workers, how do we see our dependency on them and deal with their issues in 2020?
This is one example of what universities should be aware of in their research. At the same time, they also have to consider the time to complete their projects and how to commercialise them.
They need to know the fundamentals as R&D quality reflects the country’s strength in science and technology.
We have to ensure that our R&D strength is increased to three per cent of the world average on gross domestic product. Currently, we are at one per cent only and this is not enough to establish the strength of our education system.
Question: So, how do universities cope with the budget cut?
Answer: We have no choice but to cope with this. We found that our universities are too dependent on government funding — amounting up to 90 per cent, when universities around the world are normally 30 to 50 per cent dependent on their governments. For example, only 30 per cent of Bangkok University’s funds come from its government.
We have to create a financial sustainability concept to keep up with the rest.
The way forward is to increase the university’s revenue and reduce their dependency on government funding to 70 per cent. If other universities can function within 30 to 40 per cent, we should be moving towards that, too.
Universities must not be too dependent on the government for money and should start working on productivity. This is the reality.
We have a recommended plan on how universities can enhance income generation. Each university should start creating their own income-generating activities through endowment and waqf.
Harvard and Oxford, for instance, are basically using endowments to generate income.
Question: With hundreds of thousands of academicians and students under your ministry, what keeps you awake at night?
Answer: You must know your focus, you must have time to find balance in your life. If you are not balanced, you will not last long.
It is like running a marathon — you can do a 100m dash and then collapse. We can’t afford that because we are “running” all the time. I am responsible for the ministry for five years, and one must know how to be productive within those years. So, it is important to find a mechanism to maintain that balance.
Question: How do you chill out?
Answer: I do my 5km walk around Tasik Putrajaya twice a week. I take time off to spend with my family and friends.
Question: The books you are reading...
Answer: I do read two or three books at one time. The book I am reading now is The Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku.
The book is about how science and technology are going to control and shape human destiny and our daily lives, which is the basis of the future.