Idris Jusoh’s ‘silly logic’ not good for public varsities

Most foreign students in Malaysia make for private universities.

KUALA LUMPUR: The silly logic of Second Education Minister Idris Jusoh means the quality of public universities in Malaysia must be lower than that of private universities since the number and percentage of foreign students in private universities is much higher than that of the public universities.

And this must mean that the Ministry of Education has done a poor job in improving the quality of education in public universities since they have failed to attract more foreign students compared to the private universities.

If the ability to attract foreign students is an indicator of a world class higher education system, does that mean that the public universities are of a lower quality compared to the private universities?

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming was commenting on Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari pointing out on Monday that there are hardly any British, German or Australian students studying in Malaysian universities especially in comparison to the much larger number of Malaysian students who are studying in the UK as well as Australia.

Idris Jusoh had said last Sunday that the higher education system in Malaysia was already world class based on the high number of foreign students studying in the country.

Using the latest available statistics from the Perangkaan Pendidikan Negara: Sektor Pengajian Tinggi 2013, Ong notes that there were a total of 28,826 foreign students studying in the public universities, representing 5.1 per cent of the total student population (not including polytechnics and community colleges).

At the same time, there were a total of 52,598 foreign students studying in the private higher education institutions – universities, university colleges and branch campuses, representing 10.8 per cent of the total student population.

Table 1: Number and percentage of foreign students in public and private higher education institutions, 2013

If we zoom in on individual universities, the three public universities with the largest number and percentage of foreign students are the International Islamic University with 5408 foreign students (17.2 per cent of student population), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with 4103 foreign students (11.8 per cent) and Universiti Malaya with 3289 students (12.7 per cent), added Ong.

In contrast, the top three private universities with the larger number and percentage of foreign students were Lim Kok Wing University with 5764 foreign students (70.6 per cent), Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation with 4843 foreign students (65 per cent) and the little known Al-Madinah International University with 3272 foreign students (95 per cent).

Again, does this mean that the public universities are worse than the private universities in terms of education standards?

Is this why there are more foreign students in the private universities compared to the public universities?

In addition, does this mean that UM is not on par with Lim Kok Wing from an education standards standpoint?

“These would be the conclusions we would arrive at if we used Idris Jusoh’s silly reasoning,” said Ong. “The reason I am highlighting these statistics is to show that the number and percentage of foreign students currently studying in a country or in any particular university can never be used as an indication of the quality or standards of education.”

He cites some figures.

The percentage of undergraduates in Cambridge who are international students was approximately 19 per cent compared to 11 per cent in Harvard. The percentage of international students who are undergraduates at the London School of Economics is 42 per cent.

Should we take this to mean that the level of education at LSE is higher than that in Cambridge which in turn is better than Harvard?

“What matters is the quality of the students entering these universities, regardless of whether they are foreign students or citizens,” said Ong. “And what matters to these students is the type of educational experience they will receive once they enter these universities.”

“The danger in giving too much focus to international students is that some of our policymakers may make use of this as a ‘shortcut’ to artificially boost our university rankings. “

The percentage of foreign students is one of the components of the QS University World Ranking making up 5 per cent of the overall score.

“It would be a sad day indeed if the thinking of our Education Minister then gets passed on to university administrators who will then open up their doors to allow in foreign students, regardless of their quality, so that university rankings can be artificially improved,” warned Ong. “This makes Idris Jusoh’s statement on Sunday even more irresponsible and worrisome!”