Page 22 - AEI Insights Vol. 7 2021

AEI Insights, Vol 7, Issue 1, 2021

concrete actions. Through this, the main aim of the AEP is to enhance cooperation and
exchanges in higher education between Asia and Europe (AES, 2013).
Malaysia joined ASEM in 1996 and the AEP in 2008. Malaysia has hosted more than twenty
ASEM events such as the Third ASEM Culture Ministers’ Meeting (2008), the Fourth ASEM
Education Ministers’ Meeting (2013) and the ASEM Symposium on Countering Radicalisation
(2016) (ASEF, 2017). In terms of higher education, Malaysia has been a member of more than
ten initiatives and has led the ASEM-AEI Summer School since 2015. Additionally, an officer
of MOHE has been seconded to the Secretariat in Jakarta and Belgium to assist and share
expertise for the progress of the AEP (ASEMME7, 2019). The participation and involvement
of Malaysia in ASEM and the AEP strategically would enhance the political, economic, socio-
cultural and academic development in Malaysia to internationalise Malaysian higher education.
Thus, Gaens (2018) and Dang (2013) stated that the networking outlook of ASEM and in
specifically, the AEP can be an exclusive prospect for ASEM partners, including Malaysia to
enrich its global prominence in higher education.

The internationalisation of higher education

International education has developed as an industry. It has become an avenue for income
generation and promoting quality education (de Wit, 2020). International education also creates
a platform for delivering world-class education (Dumanig & Symaco, 2020). The rise of
globalisation has influenced the higher education sector worldwide to embark on
internationalisation to gain international recognition (Dumanig & Symaco, 2020). Thus, the
internationalisation of higher education is seen as a transformation agent in higher education
in developed and developing countries around the globe (de Wit, 2020). The understanding on
the internationalisation of higher education has focussed to the impact of international and
regional cooperation and intercultural and inter-regional capabilities (Morshidi, Samsinar, &
Farhana Tahmida, 2019). The compelling pressure on intensifying internationalisation
activities is driven by four key rationales occurring at both the institutional and national levels.
These are the socio-cultural, political, economic and academic rationales (de Wit, 2011).
However, the recent challenges in higher education internationalisation include the
competitiveness in getting international students worldwide and in producing globalised skilled
graduates to meet the requirements of industry and business (Robson & Wihlborg, 2019).
The internationalisation of higher education generally, emphasises the importance of
embedding an international dimension in higher education for the benefit of a nation,
academics, students and the wider public. However, the recent focus has been on the roles of
International Organisations (IOs) and Inter-governmental Organisations in transforming the
higher education system around the world (Shahjahan, 2012). Therefore, Knight's (2003)
definition of the internationalisation of higher education at the national, higher education sector
and institutional levels as the “process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global
dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of postsecondary education” (p. 3) was
adopted for this study. The following section looks at the process of higher education
internationalisation in Malaysia and the major transitions taking place in the country.

The Malaysian higher education system and internationalisation
After the British colonial era in Malaya, the higher education system in Malaysia was shifted
from the British system to an exclusively Malaysian system (Selvaratnam, 1985) to supply

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