State of Penang, Malaysia Development
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Higher Higher Education in Regional and City Development Education Higher Education in Regional and City State of Penang, Malaysia Development Penang is one of Malaysia’s most industrial states. Its long-term economic in growth has been based on manufacturing and foreign direct investments. Strong Regional State of Penang, dependence on multinational corporations has brought growth and development but also an underdeveloped local industry, limited indigenous innovation and a lack of Malaysia dynamic new entrepreneurship. and City How can Penang move up in the value chain, away from manufacturing to knowledge-driven economy? How can Penang capitalise on its diverse population, Development the co-existence of three cultures and the UNESCO cultural heritage site? How can Penang’s diverse tertiary education sector be mobilised for regional and local development? This publication is part of the series of OECD reviews of Higher Education in State of Penang, Malaysia Regional and City Development. These reviews help mobilise higher education institutions for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. They analyse how the higher education system impacts upon regional and local development and bring together universities, other higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and to work towards them. 89 2010 17E www.oecd.org/publishing Higher Education in Regional and City Development State of Penang, Malaysia 2011 This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries. Please cite this publication as: OECD (2011), Higher Education in Regional and City Development: State of Penang, Malaysia 2011, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264089457-en ISBN 978-92-64-08945-7 (PDF) Series: Higher Education in Regional and City Development: ISSN 2218-3140 (online) Cover image design © Francisco Esquer Mares. Photo credits: Cover © Asnizal Haidy Jasni. Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: www.oecd.org/publishing/corrigenda. © OECD 2011 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected] Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at [email protected]. FOREWORD – 3 Foreword Universities and other higher education institutions can play a key role in human capital development and innovation systems in their cities and regions. Reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development are the OECD‟s tool to mobilise higher education for economic, social and cultural development of cities and regions. The reviews analyse how the higher education system impacts local and regional development and help improve this impact. They examine higher education institution‟s contribution to human capital and skills development; technology transfer and business innovation; social, cultural and environmental development; and regional capacity building. The review process facilitates partnership building in regions by drawing together higher education institutions and public and private agencies to identify strategic goals and work together towards them. To know more about the OECD review process and requirements, visit Higher Education and Regions‟ website at www.oecd.org/edu/imhe/regionaldevelopment. These reviews are part of a wider multi-annum work of higher education in cities and regions co-ordinated by the OECD Programme on Institutional Management of Higher Education (IMHE). In 2004-07, the OECD/IMHE conducted an extensive study with 14 regional reviews across 12 countries. This resulted in the OECD flagship publication Higher Education and Regions: Globally Competitive, Locally Engaged (OECD, 2007) with recommendations to benefit both higher education institutions and national and regional governments. In 2008, the OECD/IMHE launched a second series of OECD reviews of Higher Education in Regional and City Development to address the demand by national and regional governments for more responsive and active higher education institutions. As a result, 14 regions in 11 countries underwent the OECD review process in 2008-10. The reviews were carried out by the OECD/IMHE in collaboration with international organisations and associations and other OECD programmes and directorates. This work also supports the OECD Innovation Strategy and OECD Green Growth Strategy. HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT: STATE OF PENANG, MALAYSIA – © OECD 2011 4 – ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Acknowledgements Numerous national and regional stakeholders and representatives of higher education institutions provided valuable insights during the review visit and in the form of comments. The OECD would like to thank in particular the lead co-ordinators and other active local counterparts for this review: the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia; Universiti Sains Malaysia and the related departments and staff; Professor Morshidi Sirat (Project Co-ordinator) of the National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN) and other IPPTN staff; and the Penang self-evaluation report writing team. As for the other Penang local stakeholders involved, a sincere thanks is extended to the Penang Secretary Office/State Economic Planning Unit, Penang Municipal Council and Seberang Perai Municipal Council, Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC), Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER), IXC Malaysia Berhad, Wawasan Open University, Socio- Economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI), Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics (RECSAM), Universiti Teknologi MARA, Penang Medical College, Penang Education Department, Dewan Perniagaan Melayu Malaysia Pulau Pinang, Intel Malaysia, Intellectual Avenue Sdn. Bhd., InvestPenang and Software Consortium of Penang (ScoPe). We are also grateful to all other Penang stakeholders not mentioned above and steering committee that provided needed information and guidance in improving the quality of the Penang review. This publication draws on interviews carried out during a week-long review visit in 16 – 21 May 2010, on the findings of the State of Penang‟s Self-Evaluation Report and using additional information provided to the review team. The OECD Review Team were also able to rely on a range of other reports, including the World Bank report on Malaysia‟s higher education and tested its conclusions and recommendations within the higher education system Penang. HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT: STATE OF PENANG, MALAYSIA – © OECD 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS – 5 The review visit was led by Jaana Puukka (OECD/IMHE) who also co- ordinated this publication with support from Austin Delaney (OECD/IMHE). The other members of the review team were Patrick Dubarle, Aims McGuinness (National Center for Higher Education Management Systems – NCHEMS, US), Andrea Hofer (OECD/LEED), N.V. Varghese (UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning, IIEP) and Hena Mukherjee (National Expert). Further details about the Review Team can be found in Annex 1 of this report. Rachel Linden supervised the publication process. HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL AND CITY DEVELOPMENT: STATE OF PENANG, MALAYSIA – © OECD 2011 6 – TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents Assessment and recommendations ............................................................................. 15 Chapter 1. National and regional context ................................................................. 47 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 48 1.1 State of the economy ........................................................................................... 50 1.2. The National Education System ......................................................................... 51 1.3. State of Penang ................................................................................................... 65 1.4. Higher education in Penang ................................................................................ 72 1.5. Economic growth in the region .......................................................................... 79 1.6. Higher education and the renewal of Penang ..................................................... 84 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 89 References ................................................................................................................. 91 Chapter 2. Higher education in regional human resource development ................ 99 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 100 2.1. Regional educational attainment ...................................................................... 100