Page 26 - AEI Insights 2019 - Vol. 5, Issue 1

AEI Insights, Vol 5, Issue 1, 2019

Malaysia that have the aim of recruiting local and regional students are also one of the
components of TNHE (Garrett, 2002).
Cooperation and competition are also a part of the internationalisation process at national and
institutional level. Malaysia is focusing on cooperation strategy as an internationalisation tool
to transfer and learn best practices from foreign partners to further enhance the quality of higher
education and institutions (Chan, 2013). However, the major challenges in the Malaysian
higher education system are the international coverage in the curriculum, higher education
institutions’ staff involvement in the internationalisation process, resources for projects and
new initiatives, research and academic collaboration, exchange programmes, and networks to
recruit international students and staff (Arokiasamy, 2012). Therefore, Malaysia needs to focus
on international cooperation as it is an integral part of internationalisation to enhance the
visibility in the international sphere (Chan, 2004).

Data and Methodology
A non-experimental qualitative study and non-probability sampling techniques were conducted
in this study. The judgment sampling or purposive sampling (Etikan, Musa, & Alkassim, 2016)
was used to select samples from a segment of the higher education sector. The expert sampling
method was applied under the judgment sampling to select subjects based on their knowledge
and professional experience in internationalisation. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews
were conducted with 15 public higher education sector officials from headquarters of MOE
including senior officials and top management of departments and agencies under the higher
education sector of MOE and administrators of five Malaysian research universities as well as
one international expert. The semi-structured interview questions encompassed elements
related to the four rationale for internationalisation and the overall understanding of
internationalisation, achievements and challenges.

The interview data was recorded using an audio-recorder. The results were transcribed in word
format and transferred to the Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) software (Nvivo-11). The data
was analysed using the general process of qualitative text analysis (Kuckartz, 2014) by
emphasising the qualitative content analysis (Schreier, 2012). Data was coded according to
thematic qualitative text analysis and categories were constructed through the inductive
approach (Kuckartz, 2014). The coding frame was created by applying concept-driven and
data-driven strategies (Schreier, 2012). Then, the coding structure was generated based on the
central themes according to the four rationale of internationalisation. The perception of
internationalisation, achievements and challenges of Malaysian higher education
internationalisation were also coded under the central themes. Firstly, the volume of data was
coded broadly and central themes created. Secondly, the same data was involved in major
refined coding and categorisation under the central themes. These provide opportunities to
identify new themes within the volume of data through the evaluation and modification of
existing themes.

Findings

Malaysian higher education administrators labelled internationalisation of higher education
into seven main themes: higher education system competitiveness, the impact of globalisation,
competences of local staff and lecturers, Transnational Higher Education (TNHE),
international networking, internationalisation at home and mobility programmes. A key
element observed under the first theme, competitiveness of Malaysian higher education system,
was recruitment of international students. One of the administrators in a research university

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