Area	total: 329,847 sq km (127, 355 sq. mi) land: 328,657 sq km water: 1,190 sq km
Capital	Kuala Lumpur (1,482,400)
Largest city (2006 Commonwealth)	Kuala Lumpur (1,482,400)
Other large cities	Subang Jaya (954,300); Kelang (936,700); Johor Bharu (838,900); Ipoh (692,200)
Climate	Tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons. Terrain: coastal plains rising to hills and mountains.
Time Difference	UTC+8 (13 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

 

Government type	constitutional monarchy note: nominally headed by paramount ruler (commonly referred to as the King) and a bicameral Parliament consisting of a nonelected upper house and an elected lower house; all Peninsular Malaysian states have hereditary rulers (commonly referred to as sultans) except Melaka and Pulau Pinang (Penang); those two states along with Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia have governors appointed by government; powers of state governments are limited by federal constitution; under terms of federation, Sabah and Sarawak retain certain constitutional prerogatives (e.g., right to maintain their own immigration controls)
Head of State	Head of State: HM The Yang Di-Pertuan Agong XIII Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah. Head of Government: Prime Minister YAB Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak
Independence	31 August 1957 (from the UK)
Constitution	31 August 1957; amended many times the latest in 2007
Legal system	based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court at request of supreme head of the federation; Islamic law is applied to Muslims in matters of family law and religion; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.
Suffrage	21 years of age; universal
Administrative divisions	13 states (negeri-negeri, singular - negeri) Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Pulau Pinang, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, and Terengganu; and 1 federal territory (Wilayah Persekutuan) with three components, city of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya

 

Telephones - main lines in use (2008)	4.292 million
Telephones - mobile cellular (2008)	27.125 million
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (2009)	109.7
Broadband Internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants (2009)	Fixed 6.09 Mobile Broadband 26.75
Telephone system (2008)	general assessment: modern system featuring good intercity service on Peninsular Malaysia provided mainly by microwave radio relay and an adequate intercity microwave radio relay network between Sabah and Sarawak via Brunei; international service excellent domestic: domestic satellite system with 2 earth stations; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity 125 per 100 persons international: landing point for several major international submarine cable networks that provide connectivity to Asia, Middle East, and Europe; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean, 1 Pacific Ocean)
International dialling code	+60
Internet domain	.my
Internet hosts (2010)	344,452
Internet users (2008)	16.903 million
Internet users per 100 inhabitants (2009)	55.9
Computers per 100 inhabitants (2008)	38.7
TV sets per 100 people	N/A

The mainland areas of Malaysia have evidence of human habitation dating back approximately 4,000 years. Peninsular Malaysia was not well-suited to agriculture, and it appears that other nations overlooked the area except as the passageway between the mainland and the more fertile volcanic and coastal islands of Indonesia. No major empires developed on the peninsula, although the Majapahit Empire, and later the Malacca Sultanate, subdued the land in the 15th century. The Portuguese established a colony in 1511, which was later captured by the Dutch. The British East India Company took a lease over Penang Island in 1786, commencing a long and growing relationship with the British Empire until 1957. European traders were made welcome, staying several months at a time during the monsoon season, improving the prosperity of the region. British involvement in the region also includes the purchase of Singapore in 1824 for the value of its harbor for shipping, and the economic benefits flowed on to the general region. This relationship with Singapore continued until it withdrew from the Malaysian Federation of States to become its own independent state in 1963.

In 1942, at the start of World War II, the Japanese captured Malaysia, recognizing its strategic importance, and occupied it until the end of the war, when it returned to British control. The ethic Chinese in the region were very harshly treated with many thousands dying in massacres during the occupation.

There have been many religious influences on the area. Merchants bringing Islam began travelling through and settling in the area from the 15th century. Buddhist monks were often the first educational pioneers providing learning and operating simple schools for villagers.

Independence from Great Britain was achieved in 1957 and a period of modern democratic Malaysia has ensued.

The structure of education in Malaysia is based upon a 3-6-5-1 model. Recent developments include initiatives to move away from rote learning practices to ones that include more critical thinking and greater understanding of concepts. There is a significant divide between National schools and Chinese schools although there have been steady moves to unify the system. However, the tertiary entrance system is heavily biased towards Malay students achieving university places over Chinese students. As a result, many Malaysian students study overseas if there is financial support to do so.

a)    School education

Pre-Primary Level

Pre-primary education is available to most children between the ages of 3-6 within a system of kindergartens largely operated by private providers. Pre-school attendance rates are very high with 99% of all six-year-olds attend the primary school, with 92% of students continuing through to upper secondary school.

Primary Level

Primary education consists of six years of education commencing at 7 years of age and continuing until 12, called Year 1 to Year 6 or Standard 1 to Standard 6. Promotion to the next year is automatic, regardless of academic performanc e.

Secondary Level

Secondary education in Malaysia covers five years. The different types of schools fit into five categories: National Secondary School (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan), Religious Secondary School (Sekolah Menengah Agama), National-Type Secondary School (Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan), which is also referred to as Mission Schools, Technical Schools (Sekolah Menengah Teknik), Residential Schools and MARA Junior Science College (Maktab Rendah Sains MARA).

National secondary schools use Malay as the main language of instruction except for Mathematics, Science and Languages other than Malay. In the final year of secondary education (Form Five), students are assessed according to the Malaysian Certificate of Education (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, SPM) examination, equivalent to the former British Ordinary or 'O' Levels.

Non-Government Schools

The government has a complex system of funding for privately-operated schools with some blurring between the public and private sectors and the level of funding received. The Ministry of Education sets the standards for curriculum for all types of private and publicly operated schools. A network of International schools meets the needs of many expatriate students.

b)    Vocational education and training (VET)

Students wishing to obtain a diploma in areas of vocational education may attend one of the many polytechnics that specialise in this area.

c)      Higher education

Pre-Tertiary and Tertiary Education

Recent re-evaluation of university colleges in Malaysia has led to the increase in number of institutions classified as universities with the authority to confer degrees. Some of these are:

Northern University, Malaysia

University of Malaysia, Kelantan

National Defence University of Malaysia

University of Malaya

Technical University of Malaysia, Melaka

Islamic Science University of Malaysia

University of Malaysia, Pahang

Science University, Malaysia

Sultan Idris University of Education

University of Malaysia, Perlis

University of Malaysia, Sabah

University of Malaysia, Sarawak

International Islamic University of Malaysia

National University of Malaysia

MARA University of Technology

Putra University, Malaysia

Darul Iman University of Malaysia

University of Malaysia, Terengganu

Complementing these are two private universities, Multimedia University, and Universiti Teknologi Petronas, both with high international reputations. There are four foreign universities with branch campuses in Malaysia: Monash University Malaysia Campus, Curtin University of Technology Sarawak Campus, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, and University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. Institutions of higher education include the SAE Institute and the Australia and Raffles Design Institute, Singapore.

Accreditation of academic programs provided by private colleges and universities is overseen by the National Accreditation Board. The management and coordination of quality assurance in public universities is carried out by the Quality Assurance Division (QAD) under the oversight of the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Tertiary education through Virtual Campus Initiatives are available through: Multimedia University, Open University of Malaysia (UNITEM), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR), and Wawasan Open University

Overview of Distance Education

Distance education in Malaysia began with the activities of private correspondence schools. During the first part of the 20^th century, institutions, such as Stamford College and Raffles College, offered correspondence courses to individuals unable to find places in government-funded schools. By the 1950s, UK institutions, such as the University of London, were offering external degrees. In addition, there were professional bodies in the United Kingdom that provided certificate and diploma level correspondence programs in different fields. The Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) became the first Malaysian provider of higher education by distance in 1971. However, growth in the sector was relatively slow until the 1990s. The situation changed when education for adults was made a major priority as part of the Malaysian Government’s Seventh Malaysia Plan (1996–2000). The result was a rapid expansion of the provision of distance education by Malaysian universities. Almost all major universities in Malaysia now offer distance learning programs, including a growing number of private providers.

The use of distance education in Malaysian secondary schools is relatively uncommon. Part of the reasons is that many parents are doubtful of the effectiveness of distance learning, in general, and e-learning, in particular. Malaysian society is relatively conservative. Traditional face-to-face teaching is still seen as the ideal.

Malaysian polytechnics have shown relatively little interest in distance education, unlike many universities. As with the secondary sector, the main barrier is widespread prejudice against distance learning. Distance education is still seen primarily as a means of reaching adult learners who already work full or part-time.

In contrast to the situation in the secondary and TVET sectors, distance education is flourishing in Malaysian higher education. The major public and private universities active in the DE field include:

Malaysia Multimedia University (MMU)

Open University Malaysia (OUM)

School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPACE)

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia(UKM)

Universiti Malaya (UM)

Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia(UTM)

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)

University Tenaga Nasional

University Tun Abdul Razak(UNITAR)

Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM)

Wawasan Open University (WOU)

A varied range of technologies is employed in distance learning in Malaysian higher education. Although many universities continue to rely heavily on correspondence courses, there is increasing use of Internet technologies, including, email, online chat, bulletin-boards and videoconferencing. However, most distance education providers in Malaysia have lagged behind world-class institutions overseas in the adoption of the latest Web-based e-learning approaches. Extensive use is still made of fixed videoconferencing facilities at local learning centres to deliver videoconferencing. As broadband becomes more widely available, a switch to the wider use of Web-based multimedia and Web 2.0 approaches is expected.

The Open University Malaysia provides an example of the successful use of distance learning in the university sector. Although a private university, Open University Malaysia (OUM) is owned by a consortium of 11 Malaysian public universities. Distance learning is typically through a combination of online delivery and face-to-face tuition at Learning Centres, although a growing number of students study entirely online. The OUM has over 79,000 students in 70 academic programs. The OUM received an Award of Excellence for Institutional Achievement in Distance Education by the Commonwealth of Learning in 2010.  

The Government sponsored the Off-Campus Programme at the Mara Institute of Technology (ITM), which was introduced in 1973 to produce more professionals and semi-professionals amongst the Bumiputra (indigenous group). The Off-Campus academic programme at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is the largest provider of distance education at the tertiary level, leading to degree qualifications.

In addition to Malaysian providers, there are a number of foreign universities active in the provision of distance learning. These include well-known UK universities such as the University of London, which offers over a 100 bachelors and masters level programs through distance education in Malaysia. There is also a significant Australian presence in the distance education marketplace.

Administration and Finance

Education in Malaysia is overseen by two government ministries: the Ministry of Education (Kementerian Pelajaran) handles matters pertaining to pre-school, primary school, secondary school and post-secondary school and the Ministry of Higher Education (Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi) those relating to tertiary education. Although education is the responsibility of the federal government, each state has an Education Department to coordinate educational matters in its territory. The main legislation governing education is the Education Act of 1996.

There are also other government agencies involved in higher education under the jurisdiction of MOHE; namely the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional – PTPTN) and Yayasan Tunku Abdul Rahman (YTAR).

Higher Education Reforms

In recent years, Malaysian public universities have come under increasing demands to improve the quality of their teaching and research. There are serious concerns among Malaysian policy makers regarding the quality of public universities. In particular, the failure of Malaysian universities to find a place on Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s ranking of the top 500 universities in the world has caused considerable disquiet. The Ministry of Higher Education’s National Higher Education Strategic Plan 2007–2020 sets down a number of objectives. These include: widening access and increasing equity in higher education; improving the quality of teaching and learning; intensifying research and innovation; and the enculturation of lifelong learning. Achievement of these objectives will impose new challenges on Malaysian public universities.

Future Direction of Tertiary Education

The Malaysian university system is expected to continue its rapid growth over the next few decades. The Malaysian Government is committed to broadening the choices available to higher education students, increasing the number of higher education providers and attracting additional private and overseas investment into the sector. This expansion is driven by a number of policy drivers. The first of these is need for a broader skills base if Malaysia is to become a developed country by 2020 as the Government intends. Another major driver is the economic cost of overseas study by Malaysian students, which is a major drain on the country’s foreign currency reserves. The expansion of university access and greater equity in tertiary participation is also seen as a critical factor in maintaining social stability in a multi-racial society. Finally, there is a widespread belief that Malaysia will reap significant economic benefits if it can establish itself as a regional education provider.

Information and Communications Technology Initiatives

A survey conducted in 2004 (Asirvatham, Kaur, & Abas, 2005) showed that

• Malaysia is moderately ready for e-learning,
• Malaysia is not environmentally ready,
• Malaysia is technically ready,
• Enablers are mostly ready, culturally,
• Learners are more ready for e-learning compared to the perception of their lecturers, and
• Malaysia is not seen as financially ready by providers and policy-makers.

During the first years of using the Internet and ICT, most of the E-learning projects, even those aiming to design learning processes, were focused on technical innovation to create technology based learning environments. More recently, the focus is increasingly on the learner and on methodologies and didactics.

a)    Information society strategy

None identified.

b)    Major e-learning initiatives

As part of its Vision 2020, the Malaysian Government has sought to realise an ambitious goal, the creation of a world-class ICT infrastructure in the country by the end of the current decade. One result of this determination was the Smart School (Sekolah Bestari) initiative, a flagship program launched in 1996 as part of the MSC Malaysia project. The goal of the initiative was to bring about a radical change in educational philosophy in the nation’s schools. As part of the initiative, it was hoped that teachers and students would shift from an exam-dominated learning culture to one based on thinking and the creative use of knowledge. At one stage it was envisaged that all nine thousand schools in Malaysia would be smart schools by 2010.

In practice, the initiative ran into a number of obstacles. Not the least of these was the task of embedding a radically different e-learning culture across so many schools at once. As a result, the Malaysian Government has modified its approach. The Smart Schools still exist, but increasingly they are operating within Cluster Schools. Cluster Schools are groups of schools working together as teams. The concept serves to encourage teachers to share resources and knowledge. In addition, each Cluster is linked to an institute of the higher learning, an approach which providing teachers with essential support as they grapple with new technologies and ways of teaching.

The University Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR) was founded in 1998 as Malaysia’s first virtual university to take advantage of the growing sophistication of telecommunications within the country. Established by a private company, UNITAR was intended as a radical experiment in the Malaysian context. The main investment was not in physical facilities, but rather in the development of the institution’s technology infrastructure.

It was intended that UNITAR would provide a lower-cost alternative to a conventional university. UNITAR’s mission was to provide quality education to a global market at an affordable price. For this reason, it was decided that English would be the language of instruction.

Initially, UNITAR delivered its programs on CD-ROM as a result of doubts regarding the feasibility of fully online delivery in the Malaysian context. As the Malaysian telecommunications has structure developed, UNITAR has increased its online teaching, despite initial misgivings regarding the capacity of Web-based teaching to equal the richness of CD-ROM-based multimedia. One of the lessons learnt from the UNITAR experience has been that it is often better to employ a mature technology than to opt for the latest technology. The latest is not always the best in terms of building a stable learning environment for students. The success of the UNITAR over the last decade has demonstrated the value of this cautious approach.

c)     Benchmarking e-learning

None identified.

d)    Support for OER

Open University Malaysia (OUM) has established OUM OER, an online repository of open educational resources developed by academic staff at the institution. The aim of this repository is to provide quality OER that are free and accessible to the general community through the Internet. Another Malaysian university with an interest in OER is Wawasan Open University, which has an active research program in the field.

e)    Government entities

Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA)

Ministry of Education (MOE)

Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE)

f)      Associations and networks

Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU)

Malaysian Association of Distance Education (MADE)

Malaysian Association of Private Colleges and Universities (MAPCU)

g)    Distance Education journals

Malaysian Journal of Distance Education (MJDE)

Malaysian Journal of Educational Technology

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

Interesting Distance Education Initiatives

Wawasan Open University (WOU) is almost unique among modern universities in South-East Asia. It is Malaysia's first private, not-for-profit, open university. WOU opened its doors in 2007 with 720 students, aged between 21 and 71 years. WOU is primarily funded by a charitable trust and through donations from corporations and members of the public. Its goal is to make university education more accessible and affordable to adult learners, irrespective of gender, age, ethnicity or background. WOU prides itself as being “the people’s university”.

Although many of the major Malaysian universities have employed e-learning approaches for some years, awareness of the importance of online teaching among teaching staff and students is still uneven.  In 2008, the OUM sought to evaluate the success of its online forums. The evaluation covered 137 forums within 20 courses. The results were disappointing. A number of tutors were unable to support online discussions effectively. There were also other tutors who were rarely participated. As a result, the benefits of online classes were not clear to students. The OUM took action in August 2008, revising its tutot training. The new training program emphasised the importance of supporting online forums, and provided tutors with instruction on the online presence that was required to build a community of inquiry. This training included advice on the social, cognitive and teaching aspects of the tutor’s participation. These problems are not unique to the OUM or even to Malaysian distance education universities. They occur to a greater or less degree wherever the shift to e-learning occurs. What is important is that the OUM had a thoughtful, deliberate approach for dealing with this challenge.

Pre-tertiary education (pre-school to secondary education) is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education (MOE). The Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) has overall responsibility for the post-secondary and higher education.

The Asia Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC) recommended that member countries develop their own national qualification framework that should enable reciprocal compliance of standards and criteria within a regional basis. It is also recommended that each qualification levels be characterized by different aspects of competencies. Competencies for each level should consist of knowledge, intellectual skills, psychomotor skills, ICT skills, learning skills, personal attributes and context

The different levels of qualifications are recommended to be as follows:

Certificate of Technical, Vocational & Professional Education and Training

Certificate of Competency for Skills Training

Diploma for Skills Training

Diploma in Technical / Vocational/ Professional

Advanced Diploma

Bachelor (Hons)

Masters

Doctoral

a)    International regulatory and policy frameworks

The MQA is part of the Association of Quality Assurance Agencies of the Islamic World (ADAAIW), the ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN) , the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) and the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN).

Malaysia is a party to the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Agreement (AANZFTA). This agreement has significantly liberalised the conditions under which Australian and New Zealand education providers can operate in Malaysia.

b)    Regional agreements

Malaysia Education for All Mid-Decade Assessment Report 2000-2007

Achieving The Millennium Development Goals 2005

c)     National regulations and policy

All most all public universities are governed by the Universities and Universities College Act 1971 and technical education is provided by the Education Act 1996 and funded by the government. The Private Higher Education Institutions Act 1996 regulate the establishment of all full fledge universities, university colleges and the non-degree granting institutions. PHEIs must be approved by the Minister on the recommendations of the National Accreditation Board (LAN). Assessment or accreditation of Minimum Standards as required by the Act and regular monitoring are required. Non-degree granting institutions are allowed to conduct degree programmes only in collaboration with local and foreign universities, diploma and certificate programs, professional courses and short courses.

Education Act (1996)

Malaysian Qualifications Act (2007)

National Council on Higher Education Act (1996)

National Higher Education Funding Act (1997)

Private Higher Educational Institutions Act (1996)

University and University Colleges Act (1971)

Universiti Teknologi MARA Act (1976)

National Higher Education Action Plan 2007-2010

Education Development Plan For Malaysia 2001-2010

The Development of Education 2008

ICT in Malaysian Schools: Policy and Strategies (2002)

Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan PIPP 2006-2010

d)    State/District regulations and policy

Not applicable.

e)    University policies

Malaysian public universities operate in an increasingly demanding environment. Liberalisation of the higher education sector has led to growing competition from private sector providers, both Malaysian and foreign. There is also growing pressures on universities for greater public accountability. Since 2007, public universities in Malaysia have been given increasing autonomy in decision-making. This development has increased the pressures on institutional decision-makers, as they are now called to account for any deficiencies.