Page 28 - AEI Insights 2019 - Vol. 5, Issue 1

AEI Insights, Vol 5, Issue 1, 2019

The Political Rationale

The political rationale was ranked at fourth place among all rationale. Only 7 out of 15
administrators specified that the political rationale is significant for internationalisation of
higher education in Malaysia although some administrators mentioned that these four rationale
are important without ranking them accordingly. Many administrators agreed that the political
mandate from the Minister in charge of higher education is crucial to foster higher education
internationalisation in Malaysia. The mandate is also vital for inter-ministries and agencies
cooperation which are directly involved in higher education internationalisation. The welfare
of international students at undergraduate and post-graduate level studying in Malaysia in term
of scholarships, being allowed to work in Malaysia and other services such as medical and visa
requirement are also governed by a clear mandate from the top management of higher
education stakeholders. Likewise, the welfare of Malaysian students studying abroad also
comes under the political mandate of the Ministry’s stakeholders. This include conducting
awareness programmes and promoting the national culture by Education Malaysia offices
which are also involved in promotion activities for recruitment of international students to
Malaysia.
The political directive has also influenced the development of a specific policy on
internationalisation and its sub-policies. The policies were introduced to achieve a certain target
of international students and the focus was on post-graduate international students. Several
administrators from the research universities including a Senior Officer from the Ministry
declared that “Ministry only focus on KPI to reach 250,000 international students by 2025”;
“So basically the mandate is more numbers of international students…... The previous
government mandate in very clear, so by 2025 easily the government could reach the target of
250,000 international students”; and “Malaysia is aiming for 250,000 international students
by 2025”.
The aim of becoming an international higher education hub was also mooted by the political
mandate. Thus, the Private Higher Education Act (Act 555) was introduced in 1996 and it
allows for the establishment of quality international branch campuses such as Monash
University from Australia and Nottingham University from the United Kingdom. In terms of
leadership, “the charisma and wisdom of Minister are important for internationalisation
process” stated by a Senior Officer from the agency under MOE. A senior expert of
internationalisation expressed that “… in the case of Malaysia, internationalisation and
ranking also about politics because issues of ranking were discussed in the Malaysian
Parliament”. In addition, an administrator of a research university expressed that the
“Government allocate money to strategies internationalisation for ranking”.
The political rationale influences inter-regional cooperation such as the Asia-Europe Meeting
(ASEM) and the Asia-Pacific Cooperation (APEC) to promote strategic alliances, regionalism
and networking opportunities. “The idea of the strategic alliances could be related to
regionalism such as ASEAN, East Asia and European Union” (Senior expert of
internationalisation, Research University). Malaysia participates in inter-regional cooperation
to promote the exchange of students and to enhance the understanding between ASEAN
members and with other regions. The country is also involved in the internationalisation agenda
predominantly to improve the understanding and learning between collaborating nations and
partners.

The networking between Malaysia and other nations through bilateral and multilateral
cooperation such as interregional cooperation is also generated through political will.
Administrators indicated that networks bring leaders, researchers, policymakers within the
region and cross-region to collaborate and exchange ideas to overcome the challenges of the

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