Our higher education system in the new decade

UKEC

With the current Covid-19 pandemic taking up the majority of the news, it is easy to forget that Malaysia’s 11th Economic Plan, which began in 2016, is set to end this year. Among its other pillars, one of the main pillars in the former legisative’s mid-term review was the focus on “empowering human capital” – aimed to be achieved by “enhancing access to quality education” among other things.

Infographic highlighting the six pillars of the mid-term review. Source: TalentCorp

Quality education is valued greatly by our community with great emphasis placed on the “academic reputation” of the institution among other factors, as reported by PwC Malaysia’s publication on “Harnessing Education in the New Economy.”

UKEC’s education report sets out to understand what are the key factors in influencing the decision of students to pursue their studies abroad, specifically in the United Kingdom (UK) – with our mandate focused on tackling brain drain in Malaysia.

With the twelfth economic plan being drafted this year, it is appropriate for policymakers to undertake a few sessions of “reverse-mentoring”, where they listen to the concerns of the main ‘consumers’ of the Education Industry – students. In fact, if our tertiary education system is to compete with the best institutions around the world, it is “crucial that institutions listen to the views of prospective students carefully.”

In our survey (129 responses), we found that overall satisfaction levels in the UK were higher than those in Malaysia.

Education satisfaction levels according to criteria. Source: UKECatalyst Education Report

But perhaps the problem with our education system is a two-pronged one, where there is also a significant difference between the sentiments of students studying in the UK and in Malaysia when it comes to the importance of the factors affecting teaching quality.

Students studying in Malaysia are shown to place greater emphasis on the need for clear rather than through explanations, with the most important factor being the clear explanation of concepts followed by the recording of lectures. Our report attributes this to the prevalence of spoon-feeding in Malaysia, where this matches Dr Cynthia Joseph’s assessment of Malaysian students in her book “Growing up Female in Multi-Ethnic Malaysia. ” The former senior lecturer at Monash University, Australia, described students to have become accustomed in “accepting the facts teachers taught,” which is then “reproduced in examinations.” This definitely has to change moving forward if we are to foster a creative and proactive mindset in students at all levels of education in Malaysia if we are to truly become a “first-world country” with a “first-class workforce”.

But is it important to retain such talents in Malaysia when the unemployment rate in Malaysia is already so high?

Malaysia’s unemployment rate has increased to 5.3% in May 2020, where the Department of Statistics attributes this to the negative impact of the movement control order (MCO) implemented since the 18th of March 2020. This has been the highest unemployment rate since 1990.

The department also notes that “workers such as traders/ small traders/farmer markets/ night markets/ caterings/ freelancers” are at greater risk of unemployment during this time. However, Malaysia’s workforce is seen to be largely skewed towards low-skill jobs, as reported by Arjuna Chandran Shankar in The Edge Financial Daily, who cited research conducted by MIDF (Malaysia Industrial Development Finance Berhad). This statistically explains why a majority of those who are unemployed are on average, low-skilled.

In 2018, for every 100 jobs, 89 were low-skilled, 7 were medium-skilled and 4 were high-skilled jobs. Source: The Edge Financial Daily.

This is in part due to the structure of the Malaysian economy, which is dependent on cost suppression as a source of competitive strength instead of competing on the quality of its workforce. An article from the Central Bank of Malaysia notes that when labour is relatively cheap when compared to capital, this weakens “incentives for firms to substitute labour for technology, or for greater value-adding activities from the employment of higher-skilled labour to occur.”

This will no doubt impact the choice of returning back home to work for students studying abroad, with many having studied abroad looking to contribute to high-value industries, mostly in the service sector. We must make it a point to retain such talent, where The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) notes in their survey of Malaysia in 2019 that “Skilled workers are crucial to facilitate innovation and technology adoption as well as promote the upgrading of activities to unlock the potential of economic growth.”

Solutions?

With many graduates already facing difficulties finding employment even before the Covid-19 crisis, it is crucial for both the public and private sector to work together to ensure the workforce matches the skills demanded by firms. Take, for example, the government’s focus on boosting Malaysia’s digital infrastructure and use of technological innovations within firms. For this to be achieved effectively and substantially, they must ensure that there is a demographic of skilled workers ready to take advantage of such innovations.

Only with clear, intentional action can the government truly ensure that the supply-side of the labour market is ready to meet the demands of firms and drive Malaysia’s recovery post-COVID-19. This starts with making sure that we are capable of training and shaping our talents. Although students that study abroad will most likely bring back skills and experiences that will be of great value in the development of Malaysia, this is conditional on whether they return to Malaysia. Malaysia should look to train and prepare our youth instead of looking to solutions abroad, where only when we improve our local higher education system can we unlock the many hidden talents that will otherwise remain lost to society.

Our key findings show that local universities can look to create a more conducive and comfortable environment by improving their physical space e.g. lecture halls, classrooms or even virtual learning environments whilst revolutionising the way students learn, shifting the focus away from results to a more holistic learning experience.

To find out more about our other findings and our suggestions for improvements within Malaysia’s higher education system, read our full report here!