The Malaysian government announced its federal budget for 2018 two weeks ago with good news to the education sector. A total of MYR280.25 billion was disbursed, with MYR61.6 billion (22 per cent) going to the education sector. After seeing a reduction of allocation over the past two years, the Higher Education Ministry will receive MYR13.89 billion, a 13 per cent increase from last year’s budget

For scholarships, allocations include:

• MYR2.2 billion for the Public Services Department, Ministry of Higher Education and Ministry of Health
• MYR90 million for the MyBrain programme, allowing 10,600 students to do their Masters and PhD
• MYR4.5 million for 100 students in TVET
• MYR2.5 billion for MARA’s higher education sponsorships and training programmes, the highest allocation ever

Other allocations and initiatives related to development in education include:

• MYR250 million to set up a STEM Centre, in collaboration with Academy of Sciences Malaysia
• MYR4.9 billion to implement the Malaysia TVET Masterplan
• MYR400 million for public higher education institutions as research and development grants, including a special allocation to University Malaysia to achieve top-100 in the world
• MYR200 million for MARA’s Graduate Employability Training Scheme

Public universities in Malaysia had a reason to cheer as they saw their operating budgets going up by 10 per cent, circumventing the drastic cut announced last year. All five research universities in Malaysia will see an increase between 20 – 36 per cent in their operating budgets, while only three public universities will see a minimal drop of less than 2 per cent.

Some of the evident buzzwords in the Budget include entrepreneurship, SMEs development, TN50, Industrial revolution 4.0 and TVET while the key industries with allocations include:

• Agriculture
• Education and training
• Financial services
• Green technology
• ICT (including IR 4.0)
• Logistics and infrastructure
• Tourism
• Pharmaceutical and healthcare

Commentary by Jennifer Wan, British Council Malaysia

There are only two years left to 2020, the year Malaysia aims to be a high-income, developed nation. Moving forward beyond 2020, Malaysia needs to have an entirely different strategy to drive the nation further, and thus the launch of the TN50 roadmap. The current issues plaguing the country are mainly related to the lack of sufficient skilled workers, slow uptake on science, technology, engineering and maths subjects at school level, graduate employability and the performance of public higher education institutions.

It is no surprise then, to see that the budget allocations mainly channelled towards addressing these shortcomings, in order to prepare the nation for the Industrial Revolution 4.0. In addition to that, there are also initiatives to drive high-impact investments in certain industries.

UK institutions doing direct student recruitment in Malaysia should be aware of the government’s key focus areas. Student demand should gradually move from the more traditional subjects to the ones in line with industry demand. Links with the industry and internship opportunities will appeal to students who are now seeking for a more value-for-money and holistic international education.

The individual agencies have yet to announce any changes in their scholarship award numbers, following the increased allocation. However, we do envision that there would not be any drastic changes to the current student numbers being sent overseas.

For institutions looking at business development or TNE opportunities, the key industries above can be something to be considered, versus the usual collaborations in business, accountancy or engineering.

For more information on the market and how British Council can help promote your institution in Malaysia, please contact Jennifer Wan.