DOCURENT RESUME ED 134 108 HE 008 589 AUTHOR Kong, Kee Poo TITLE Tertiary Students and Social Development: An Area for Direct Action--Student Rural Service Activities in Malaysia. INSTITUTION Regional Inst. of Higher Education and Develdpment, Singapore. PUB DATE 76 NOTE 85p.; For related studies, see HE 008 588-590 AVAILABLE FROMRegional Institute of Higher Education and Development, CCSD1 Building, Hen Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore 5 ($6.00j EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 Plus Postage. HC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Administrative Problems; Community Development; *Community Programs; *Developing Nations; Educational Finance; Enrollment Rate; Ethnic Distribution; *Higher Education; Public Support; Rural Areas; *Rural Development; School Community Relationship; *Student Volunteers; *Universities IDENTIFIERS Kebangsaan National University of Malaysia; *Malaysia; National Institute of Technology (Malaysia); Univeristy of Malaya; University of Agriculture (Malaysia); University of Science (Malaysia) ABSTRACT The study is a survey of the different kinds of voluntary rural service (service-learning) corps of students from the institutions ot higher-laducation in-ffaraysia. Tha-lattOry, organization, and activities of the service corps are examined, and this type of student social action is viewed with reference to the role of higher education in the social development of the country. Such student service activities are also considered in the wider perspective of other developing countries throughout the world, and an overview is given of the organizational, financial, and political constraints of the program in Malaysia. Statistics cited include: _student_enrollment_in_five_institutions_(University_of-MaIaya, Science University, National University, University of Agriculture, and National Institute 'of Technology) for recent years; a list of tertiary institutions and their years of establishment; enrollments in upper secondary and postsecondary schools in peninsular Malaysia, 1965-73; Full-time students in the universities, 1959-74;-fatherls social class by sex and ethnicity in final-year students at the University of Malaya; enrollment in tertiary education by ethnicity, 1973-74; estimated expenditure of the teaching force scheme, 1973; public expenditure on education as a percentage of national income, 1960 and 1968; and percentage distribution of ethnic groups of enrollment in the University of Malaya, 1959-74. A bibliography is included. (Author/MSE) Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is ndt responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. c) TERTIARYSTUDENTS AND I-4 SOCIALDEVELOPMENT: -.1- AN AREA FOR DIRECT ACTION- STUDENT RURAL SERVICE ACTIVITIES IN MA LA YSIA Kee Poo Kong SDEPARTMENTOFHEALTH. EDUCATION& WELFARE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEENREPRO- REPRODUCE THIS DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM "PERMISSION TOMATERIAL YMICRO ORGANIZATION ORIGIN- GRANTED BY THE PERSON OR COPYRIGHTEDHAS BEEN ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OROPINIONS FICHE ONLY STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE. INSTITUTE OF SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL OPERAT EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY ORGANIZATIONSWITH THE NA TO ERICAND AGREEMENTS OiG-LINDERINSTITUTE-OF-EDUCATIONOUTSIDE-- TIONAL REPRODUCTION FURTHER REQUIRES PERMIS THE ERICSYSTEM OWNER " SION OF THECOPYRIGHT Regional Institute ofF'ler Education and Development TERTIARY STUDENTS AND SOCIALDEVELOPMENT: AN AREA FOR DIRECT ACTION- STUDENT RURAL SERVICE ACTIVITIES IN MALAYSIA BY Kee Poo Kong REGIONAL INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAND DEVELOPMENT SINGAPORE 1978 . 3 Copyright © 1976 by Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development Third Floor, CSSDI Building Heng Mul Keng Terrace Singapore 5 Printed in Singapore by Times Ptinters Sdn Ethd CONTENTS Foreword VII Preface ix List of tables and figures xi CHAPTER I: HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE MALAYSIAN CONTEXT Introduction 3 The Growth of Higher Education in Malaysia 3 Factors Shaping the Recent Growth ofHigher Education 11 CHAPTER II : HIGHER EDUCATION AND SOCIALDEVELOP- MENT: AN AREA FOR DIRECT ACTION STUD- ENT RURAL SERVICE ACTIVITIES Introduction 23 Changing Historical Roles 23 Social Functions of Higher Educationin the Developing Countria, 24 An Area for Direct Action: Study-Serviceor Service-Learning Activities 25 CHAPTER III: VOLUNTARY RURALSERVICE ACTIVITIES OF TERTIARY STUDENTS IN MALAYSIA Introduction 29 The Student Pioneer Corps and theTeaching Force 29 The National Student Service Corps 35 The Development Operation Corps 41 Other Voluntary Student Service Activities 50 Education Extension and CommunicationProgramme, Agri- cultural University 54 CHAPTER IV: STUDENT SERVICEACTIVITIES_INJMDER_PER- SPEC1 IVE Latin America Africa 59 60 Socialist States Indonesia 61 63 Thailand 66 Vietnam 68 Philippines 69 _CHAPTER_V-: _THE-FUTURE- OF-STUDENT-SEF ACTIVITIES- IN MALAYSIA Structural' Limitations 74 Flnancial and Prilitical Constraints 76 Bibliography 79 Appendix 83 5 FOREWORD In 1974/75 the Regional Institute ofHigher Education and Development awarded a one-year Junior ResearchFellowship to Mr. Kee Poo Kong of Malaysia to study: "TertiaryStudents and Social Development: An Area for Direct Action Student Rural Service Activities in Malaysia". In keeping with the objectives of RIHED,this research project was designed to examine the impact of 'study-service'to the social development process in Malaysia. The Malaysianexperience is also comparedwiththeexperiencesinotherdevelopingnations, particularlythoseoftheRIHEDmembercountries,where study-servicehashelpedtobringaboutre-examinationand subsequentinnovation in curriculaofthe highereducation institutions. On behalf of the Regional Institute I wish to express my appreciation to the officials of the Higher EducationAdvisory Council and the Educational Planning and Research Divisionof the Ministry of Education, as well as the Ministry of Youth,Culture and Sports, of Malaysia, who so kindly granted the researcheraccess to various relevant information. Also,I would like to thank the officials and student leaders of the various institutions ofhigher education in Malaysia who provided much helpful informationfor the study. 1976 Muhammad i Deputy Director RIHED PREFACE This study has been made possible by the awardof a one-year Junior Research Fellowship by the Regional Institute ofHigher Educa- tion and Development. The study is essentiallya survey of the different kinds of voluntary rural servicecorps of students from the various institutions of higher education inMalaysia. The history, objectives, organization, and activities of theservice corps were investigated and this sort of student social actionis examined with reference to the role of higher education in thesocial development of the country. The Malaysian experience is viewedin the light of the experiences of Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailandand a number of other developing nations where 'study-service'or 'service-learning' has helped to bring about re-examination andsubsequent changes of curricula in the higher educational institutions. The terms 'study-service' and. 'service-learning'denote basically the same kind of social action undertaken bystudents with the dual aim of serving and learning from the communityin which they work. The terms are used here interchangeably with'rural service activities' although the latter embraces a widerscope of activities and the learning aspect of the process, though implicit,.is not highlighted. The term 'study-service' has lately gainedcurrency in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and the Middle Eastas a result of the spate of international, regional, and national meetingsheld to study and promote this activity. The leading role played bythe International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canadain many of these meetings has also helped to facilitate theadoption of the term. 'Service-learning', on the other hand, is used mainlyin the United States of America, where it has become commonly associated with the University Year for ACTION, theuniversity-based volunteer programme. The emergence of such an affirmative socialaction programme as-a-result-of-an action-oriented conception orhig-hereducation particularly relevant in the developing countries,both in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the Third World, whereurban, educated elites often isolate themselves from the ruralmasses and where much can be done by the highly educated few to helpimprove ruralliving conditions and literacy, as well as raising thesocial and political awareness of the people. Initially, attempts were made to explore, through questionnaire responses, the salient personal, academic, and attitudinal characteris- --tics of a bUof25OOlüh1ëèiiWI'ici had participated in ruralservice activities during the 1973-74 long university vacation.This was, however, abandoned as a result oi the series of conflictsbetween the Government and students in September and Decemberof 1974, which led to the sealing of the student offices and theinaccessibility of the lists of names and addresses of the 250 volunteers.Several copies of the questionnaire did manage to get through to a few volunteers, and of these 12 copies were completed