Problems and Issues of Higher Education Development in Malaysia Mohamed Suffian Bin Hashim 57
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 101 632 HE 006 224 AUTHOR Hoong, Yip Vat, Ed. TITLE Development of Higher Education in Southeast Asia: Problems and Issues. INSTITUTION Regional Inst. of Higher Education and Development, Singapore. PUB DATE 71 NOTE 241p. AVAILABLE FROM Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development, 1973 c/o University of Singapore,Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 10 ($4.00) EDRS PRICE CIF -$0.76 HC Not Available from EDRS. PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS *Case Studies; *Educational Development;Educational Improvement; Educational Needs; *Educational Problems; Foreign Countries; *Higher Education; *International Education; Universities IDENTIFIERS Indonesia; Khmer Republic; Laos; Malaysia;Singapore; *Southeast Asia; South Vietnam; Thailand ABSTRACT This volume of essays examines some of theproblems and issues in the development of highereducation in Southeast Asia. Part 1 consists of studies on highereducation in Singapore, South Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and theKhmer Republic. Part 2 consists of a number of casestudies of specific universities in the process of development; and Part 3deals with a number of specific issues in higher education that are of concernto countries in Southeast Asia. (MJM) S ) .1 Pr\ rt DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION CD IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: 1-4 PROBLEMS AND ISSLES Ltd Yip Yat Hoong Editor PERMISSION 10 REPRODUCE THIS U S DEPARTMENT OP HEALTH. COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL BY MICRO. EDUCATION 11, WELFARE CHI ONLY 14 BEEN R NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS eEENREPRO DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVEDFROM ORIGIN 10 1. c ANL ORGANI/AIIONs OPE RAT THE PERSON OR OGANIZATiON 046 uNOE 01 AGREE Mt N1 S *11R THE NA ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OROPINIONS 'ORAL INSri WI Or EDUCATION STATED DO NOT NECESSARILYREPRE OF FURTHER REPri )DucliON OUTSIDE SEMI OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE 1141 ERIC SYSTER. REQUIRES PERMIS EDUCATION POSITION OR POL ICY SION I14E EOPYRIGui OAINE "ilmammowillFr' Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development Singapore 1973 2/3 4) The Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development, 1973 c/c University of Singapore Bu..it Timah Road Singapore 10 Printed by University of Malaya Press FORWARD One of the most significant and urgent problems facing the countries of Southeast Asia today is that of the educational system and the purposes for which itis designed. The rapid growth of population and the increasing demand for education at all levels pose the most serious problems for national governments at a time when resources are strained by inflation, defence needs, and essential development programmes. In the light of these pressures, the question of how much education and of what sorts a country should provide, and to whom, is of vitil importance. This is the question that political and educational leaders the world over are asking and hoping to find the right answer. The problem is particularly acute in the field of higher education because it is more expensive and because of its importance in fulfilling the technical and professional manpower needs in a country. At the same time, the demo- cratic surges, the rising tide of expectation, and the identification of higher education with individual success and personal happiness have combined to create an almost irresistible demand for college and university education: a demand that has been reinforced by the greater prestige and higher salaries of university graduates. This demand has often succeeded in pressuring na- tional governments into creating new institutions of higher education without regard to the specific manpower needs of the country. Consequently, there are constant complaints that development needs for trained manpower are not being met, that graduates in certain fields of specialization are unem- ployed, and that the mounting costs of university education are showing decreasing returns in terms of overall national development. This therefore poses the question as to whether higher education 'in Southeast Asia is being expanded and developed in the right direction. This is a problem that is acutely felt throughout Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, the Report of the Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education states the problem clearly: There is a tremendous pressure of social demand for a university or col lege education which has swollen enrolments through a system of open entry.... Aggregate output of graduates is much greater than market demand or market. needs resulting in unemployment and underemployment of educated manpower. On the other hand, there is a shortage of tech- nicians and welltrained professionals. In Thailand, a rather well planned programrix of university expansion attempted to meet national needs for trained manpower and regional leader- I 6 FORWARD vi ship, but it could not meet the mounting social pressures for university edu- cation. The result was the establishment by the Legislature of Ramkamhaeng jniversity, an open university which any secondary school graduate may enter. It was opened in 1971 with an enrolment of 37,000, thus almost immediately doubling the total enrolment in higher education in Thailand. For many years in Malaysia there was only one university, the University of Malaya, a rather select institution, which, because of its selection pro cedures, and various institutional factors, tended to have a predominantly Chinese student population. Since 1968, there have been several new institu- tions proposed and two have been established: the University of Science of Malaysia (formerly the University of Penang), performing a vital role in that area; and the National thiversity, with instruction almost exclusivelyin Ma- lay. Now two other universities are being considered, one of which, the Agri- cultural Unkersity, has been approved and will begin next year. The other is the proposed Islamic University which would be offering a broad range of subjects other than Islamic studies. The Educational Planning and Research Division of the Ministry of Education is giving serious consideration to the role of these several universities in relation to the urgent needs of primary and econdary education (especially in the Malay stream), and to the mane power needs of mo nation. In Indonesia, likewise, even the very rapid expansion of the university system in the past few years has not fully met the demand for university places while at the same time there is beginning zo develop some educated unemployment. Thus is showing itself in the social sciences and law, in which over 40 per cent. of the students are enrolled. In the Republic of Vietnam, university and secondary school enrolments are setting new records every year. The University of Saigon now has 35,000 students scattered in buildings all over the city and enrolments in the six provincial universities, both public and private, bring the total to nearly 50,000. Students and staff both are seeking identity and purpose in the welter of change that is taking place in the Republic, and Dr. Le Thanh Minh Chau, the Rector of the University of Hue, has declared that !there should be research into higher education itself.I mean research as to what kind of education is suitable for Vietnam, for this society'. In view of this vet y rapid expansion of higher education, the following are some of the problems which have emerged throughout thecountries of Southeast Asia. 1. Social Demands versa, National Manpower Needs In most countries in Southeast Asia, the demand for places in the univer- 7 FORWARD vii shies exceed by far the number of places available; and this has happened despite the fact that during the 1960's university enrolments in Southeast Asia have more than doubled. On the one hand, this increased demand for higher education is due to both a guest for knowledge and the increased earning potential resulting from a university education. On the other hand, many of the secondary school systems in the region do not effectively prepare young people for anything except continuing studies and hence they find it difficult to seek suitable employment after obtaining a secondary school certificate. For these reasons, universities in Southeast Asia can expect to be under even greater pressures to increase their enrolments during the 1970's. Yet, due to an absence of a lack of coordination among the universities and between the universities and the governments, the increased enrolments have not necessarily been in those disciplines most needed for nationai, deve- lopment purposes, thus resulting in graduate unemployment or underemploy- ment.' At the same time, while higher education enrolments and expenditures expanded, these have not been accompanied by a comparable growth in graduates employment opportunities which seems to suggest that the grwing investment in higher education ;s increasingly an investment in unproductive human resources.2 This is evidenced by the fact that the average level of education among the unemployed is rising and that university graduates are turning to jobs that do not require their level of education and training. Uni versity graduates driving taxis in the Philippines is a case in point. Therefore, while universities have an important role to play in producing high-level manpower, the number and types of graduates they produce should also be related to national development needs. On the other hand, ministries of education should not think that so long as the demand for places in the universities exceeds the supply. expansion is justified socially, if not econ- omically. This is hecau',e uncontrolled expansion of higher education without corresponding produccive employment opportunities is likely to generate political as well as educational unrest among the graduates. Meeting the ex- cessive social demand,. for higher education might not he inappropriate during the 1950's and early 1960's when shortages of high-level manpower were At the Ra,ikamhaeng University in Thailand, for instance, out of 30,000 students who remained ..'ter the first semester at the end of 1971, 16,000 were studying law. it is difficult to believe that Thailand needs another 16,000 lawyers as against doctors engin- eers and others or can provide productive employment for this large number of addition al lawyers.