Dr. Hussaini Omar has taken over as the new Director General Education for Malaysia. He was formerly the Chief Executive Officer for Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). The new DG Education will be leading on delivering the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 in his new role.

The Malaysian Ministry for Higher Education announced in January 2021 the six strategic strands that will drive the Ministry's initiatives for 2021. The six strategic areas of focus are:

1. Empowering the Education Digitalisation Agenda
2. Enhancing Strategic Collaboration Network
3. Strengthening Graduates Marketability
4. Driving Community Well-being
5. Promoting Institutional Excellence
6. Enlivening the Spirit of #KPTPrihatin (KPT Prihatin is the MOHE programme under the Economic Stimulus Package to provide financial aid to public university students)

The areas of focus are designed to help the Malaysian education sector recover from the impact of Covid-19.  About 1.2 million students including 130,000 international students to Malaysia could not experience regular teaching and learning.

The six strands call for enhanced capacity to deliver digital teaching and learning and to increase academic and industry collaborations. The government is placing top priority on graduate employment, professional training programmes and entrepreneurship to improve graduate marketability.

Sources: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/education/2021/02/07/new-dg-for-higher-education and https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/01/07/higher-education-ministry-outlines-six-strategic-focuses-to-drive-2021-dire/1938367

Comments by British Council Malaysia:

The announcement of the six strategic focus areas for 2021 re-enforce Malaysia’s strategic plans to strengthen Malaysia as an education hub and an international study destination. The government has undertaken significant initiatives to support the HE sector and Malaysian universities are increasingly rising in the ranking tables, with institutions dedicated to research and technology.

The new major areas of focus for the Ministry of Higher Education are graduate employability, social entrepreneurship and graduate marketability. This is aimed at reducing graduate unemployment and job creation for sustainability.

The six focus areas, as announced by the Minister for Higher Education, are indicative of priority sectors. This will generate increased interest in specialisation and potential exchange of knowledge and expertise in these areas between Malaysian institutions and international institutions for possible joint programmes as the Ministry continue to develop initiatives under these broad areas.

The appointment of the former CEO of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency as the Director General of MOHE is timely, as he spearheaded prompt and effective interim response during the critical phase of the pandemic, to provide flexibility to higher education providers to deliver modules and assessments virtually.  It is hoped that his leadership and his background as an alumnus will further strengthen UK-Malaysia connections and collaborations in the HE priority areas for both countries.