Please find article below, from New Straits Times (Malaysia); Jun 02, 2002

Time to think global

By this, Fielden refers to on-line education providers, transnational

New Straits Times (Malaysia); Jun 02, 2002

THE brave new world of internationalization is here and higher education has gone into overdrive. Governments long associated with higher education exports as well as governments just introducing the commodity have given themselves daunting targets, launched aggressive marketing campaigns and are redefining policies. The United Kingdom in 1999 set itself a 25 per cent target of the international student market. Following suit, the United States announced that it had targeted a 40 per cent share of the market. In late 1998, France introduced the EduFrance initiative targeting 500,000 international students over a four-year period with a budget of 100 million French francs (RM54.3 million), the focus being on students from Asia and Latin America. In June last year, education was Australia's 11th largest export earner, totaling A$4.038 million (RM8.7 million) and surpassing wool, petroleum products and cars. South Africa announced in a national plan last year that it was its regional duty, as a member country of the South Africa Development Economic Community (SADEC), to provide higher education opportunities at domestic rates to students from SADEC nations. Germany in turn, through its German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), will be funding its universities in off-shore markets. In 1999, the DAAD took on the task of international higher education marketing and presented its information and advice at world trade fairs and exhibitions worldwide. So real are the implications of internationalization that "countries are putting Government money into marketing", sums up John Fielden, director of CHEMS Consulting, a Commonwealth Network of Independent Consultants in Higher Education Policy and Management. Fielden presented this scenario when he co-facilitated the recent Strategic Workshop on Internationalization of Higher Education in Petaling Jaya. The workshop was attended by key personnel from public and private universities and other institutions of higher learning. Just what is internationalization of higher education? "The response of the teaching systems of countries and institutions to the globalization trend," says Fielden. A significant symbol of this trend being the General Agreement on Trade in Services, an off-shoot of the World Trade Organization. Initiated in 1995, GATS entails progressive liberalization in services, including education. Signatories have until June 2002 to make their respective stands. Three countries which have submitted their proposals for liberalization to the WTO are the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The significance of GATS? Liberalization in processes for foreign student visas and taxation as well as speedier approvals for foreign providers of education may well fall within its realm, says Fielden. Internationalization, he explains, is manifested in various ways, notably the strength of the foreign student population in an institution. Mind you, internationalization could and should mean foreign exposure, not just foreign faces, says workshop co-facilitator Alan Olsen, Singapore-based Strategy Policy and Research in Education Pte Ltd director. A Carnegie Foundation study in 1996 found that 85 per cent of academic staff in Hong Kong universities had foreign degrees for their highest qualifications, 43 per cent in Israel and 22 per cent in Australia. In the UK, USA and Germany, academics with foreign degrees totaled three to five per cent.

Internationalization, says Olsen, produces the graduate who is trained to function in global working environments. Citing a journalism graduate from Sydney for example, Olsen says, he should be trained not only for the Sydney Morning Herald, but also the South China Morning Post and the New York Times. Internationalization also involves academics. This would mean research publication records of international standing and global networking as well as forward-looking vice-chancellors. It could also be present in curricula. While Fielden acknowledges difficulties in internationalizing the curriculum for organic chemistry and like disciplines, some measure of streamlining is possible in others, particularly professional qualifications. One such example is the current drive by accounting standards bodies of various nations to agree upon international accounting standards. Internationalization also heralds the new-age term "borderless" and consequently, the dawn of "international invaders". Consortia also offering the on-line alternative and web-based corporate universities funded by employers. Internationalization could also mean transparency of processes, adds Olsen. He cites the Australian experience in July last year when rigorous but transparent changes were introduced to its student visa application system. A significant change was the introduction of five assessment levels for students. Each country is accorded a level, with the fifth being the most stringent. Assessment requirements include evidence of financial resources. The new system, according to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, was aimed at ensuring greater transparency, consistency in decisions and integrity. Internationalization could also be read in the trend in global demand for international higher education. According to research conducted by IDP Education Australia, from 2000 to 2025, Asia will figure increasingly as the biggest source for international students. Africa is moving towards being the second largest source. Where does Malaysia figure in the scheme of things? Internationalization is a vital component for competition in the global environment besides entailing multi-culturalism, networking and benchmarking, acknowledges Education Ministry Higher Education Department director Prof Dr Hassan Said. Hassan spoke on the ministry's role at the workshop. The ministry, he says, supports internationalization through the promotion of student and staff exchanges, joint working groups, the presence of foreign staff in public universities, memorandums of understanding, networking, foreign campuses in Malaysia and scholarships and fellowships. Yet, challenges exist. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Anuwar Ali believes he speaks for the nation's public universities when he says meeting local demand for university places is top priority. "It's a pragmatic and political issue," explains the workshop panelist. Some public universities like UKM however do have arrangements with foreign universities which enable small groups of students to study at UKM for a semester. When it comes to reciprocating though, Malaysian students face financial difficulties since they have to source for their own funding. There is however another avenue for public universities to welcome foreign students: post-graduate studies. Here, the vice-chancellor effusively claims "We are as open as anybody" and states that UKM hopes to intensify such efforts. Foreign students account for about 20 per cent (about 400 students) of UKM's post-graduate student population. "In a way, I think public universities will have little choice except to expand and to pay more attention to post-graduate programmes in terms of getting foreign students and we look forward to that," he says. A keen believer that student exchange entails "a learning process", Anuwar believes internationalization would also bring forth the question of quality. "If we want foreign students to come here, the quality of our programmes has to transcend teaching capacities, facilities and research publications. If we do that, there'll be a following." Making reference to the present predicament of some 44,000 unemployed local university graduates, Anuwar adds that quality would also mean the marketability of a graduate, particularly during the recession. So it appears that a large portion of the responsibility of answering the call of internationalization rests on the private higher education sector. Workshop panelist and Malaysian Association of Private Colleges secretary-general Datuk Professor Teo Chiang Liang is not shying away. This sector, he says, is all for it and has in fact been embracing the concept for many years. He cites professional exams like the ACCA and LCCI, 2+1 and 3+0 degree programmes, the establishment of foreign university branch campuses in Malaysia and a recent development: Malaysian institutions spreading their wings to neighboring countries such as the Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India and Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (Unitar) in Cambodia. Dr Khong

Kim Hoong, Help Institute's academic director and a former public university academician, believes the private sector recognizes its role and the change education has seen over the years. Students in the old days never thought of questioning authority, he says. Today, "students are our customers" and institutions and lecturers are kept on their toes in the bid to provide quality education. Fetters persist though. Foreign students in Malaysia, says Teo, currently go through a "very extensive process for getting visas". Teo also bemoans for the umpteenth time the unyielding and inflexible nature of National Accreditation Board requirements. He cites the requirement that lecturers possess qualifications higher than the course taught. Practical experience is what counts more, urges Teo, in certain fields like art and graphic design, advertising and hotel management. A participant asks, "What's in store for local universities when pitted against international and mega universities?" Partnerships, to Fielden, appear to be "the only way in, credibly and professionally". And what of the consequences when an institution chooses not to jump onto the internationalization bandwagon? "In the long run, the quality of students is affected. Without the internationalization element in their lives, abilities and curriculum, they'll miss out." He adds, "It probably wouldn't be picked up in the first instance but it would be a long-term issue for a country."

Clare Joy

Campaigns Officer

World Development Movement

Clare@wdm.org.uk

Tel: +44 020 7274 7630

Fax: +44 020 7274 8232

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