The Critical Issues of Malaysian Education System free essay sample

The main legislation governing education is the Education Act of 1996. Before the introduction of the matriculation system, students aiming to enter public universities are required to finish an additional 18 months of secondary schooling in Form Six and sit the Malaysian Higher School Certificate (Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia, STPM); equivalent to the British Advanced or A levels. Since the introduction of the matriculation program as an alternative to STPM in 1999, students who completed the 12-month program in matriculation colleges (Kolej Matrikulasi in Malay) can enroll in local universities.However, in the matriculation system, only 10% of the places are open to Non-Bumiputra(Chinese Indian) students. Excellence in these examinations does not guarantee a place in a public university. Most of the selection criteria are not publicized or vague as no strictly enforced defined guidelines exist. This situation had created many disputes between the government and the parents of Non-Bumiputra students. Although the government announced a reductio n of reliance of racial quotas in 2002, things hasn’t been changed much. The classification of tertiary education in Malaysia is organized upon the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) which seeks to set up a unified system of post secondary qualifications offered on a national basis both in the vocational as well as higher educational sectors. In 2004, the government formed the Ministry of Higher Education to oversee tertiary education in Malaysia. The ministry is headed by Mustapa Mohamed at that time. There are a number of public universities established in Malaysia. The academic independence of public universities faculty has been questioned.Critics like Bakri Musa cite examples such as a scientist who was reprimanded by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak for publishing studies on air pollution, and a professor of mathematics at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia who was reproved for criticising the government policy of teaching mathematics and science in English at the primary and secondary levels. [13] Students also have the option of enrolling in pr ivate tertiary institutions after secondary studies. Private universities are also gaining a reputation for international quality education and students from all over the world attend these universities.Many of these institutions offer courses in cooperation with a foreign institute or university, especially in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, allowing students to spend a portion of their course duration abroad as well as getting overseas qualifications. One such example is SEGi University College which partnered with University of Abertay Dundee. [14] Many private colleges offer program whereby the student does part of his degree course here and part of it in the other institution, this method is named twinning.The nature of these programs is somewhat diverse and ranges from the full twinning program where all credits and transcripts are transferable and admission is automatic to programs where the local institution offers an associate degree which is accepted at the discretion of the partnering university. In the latter case, acceptance of transcripts and credits is at the discretion of the partner. Some of them are branch campuses of these foreign institutions. In addition, four reputable international universities have set up their branch campuses in Malaysia since 1998.A branch campus can be seen as an ‘offshore campus’ of the foreign university, which offers the same courses and awards as the main campus. Both local and international students can acquire these identical foreign qualifications in Malaysia at a lower fee. The foreign university branch campuses in Malaysia are: * Monash University Malaysia Campus * Curtin University of Technology Sarawak Campus * Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus * University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. The net outflow of academics from Malaysia led to a brain gain scheme by then (1995) Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamed.The scheme set a target of attracting 5,000 talents annually. In 2004, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Datuk Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis in a parliamentary reply stated that the scheme attracted 94 scientists (24 Malaysians) in pharmacolo gy, medicine, semi-conductor technology and engineering from abroad between 1995 and 2000. At the time of his reply, only one was remaining in Malaysia. Postgraduate programmes Postgraduate degrees such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) are becoming popular and are offered by both the public universities and the private colleges.All public and most private universities in Malaysia offer Master of Science degrees either through coursework or research and Doctor of Philosophy degrees through research. Vocational programmes and polytechnics schools Besides the university degrees, students also have the option of continuing their education in professional courses such as the courses offered by the ICSA (Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators) etc. Polytechnics in Malaysia provide courses for diploma level (3 years) and certificate level (2 years). Education policyEducation in Malaysia is monitored by the federal government Ministry of Education. [17] In July 2006, Higher Education Deputy Minister Datu k Ong Tee Keat stated that a review of the controversial Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) will be held among Malaysian MPs. The ruling political alliance is composed of ethnically based parties and one of the concessions allowed by the controlling Malay party is to allow the Chinese and Indian parties to start colleges. National Education Blueprint In 2006, the National Education Blueprint 2006–10 was released.