The ‘new’ Malaysian government tabled its federal budget last Friday, the first since a change in the nation’s government in more than 60 years. Themed ‘A Resurgent Malaysia, A Dynamic Economy, A Prosperous Society’ the budget will revolve around three focus areas and twelve key strategies, aiming at restoring the Malaysian economy. A total of MYR314.5 billion was disbursed, an increase of 8.3 per cent from last year’s budget.

The education sector, as with previous years, was allocated the largest share of the budget, amounting to MYR60.2 billion (19 per cent). However, the allocation for scholarships have been reduced, with only MYR3.8 billion allocated compared to approximately MYR4.8 billion the previous year. MYR2 billion from this year’s allocation will go to MARA.

Other allocations and initiatives related to education include:

  • MYR20 million in matching grants to launch of an apprenticeship and graduate enhancement programme to increase graduate employability
  • MYR206 million to the development and provision of training programmes in polytechnics and community colleges
  • MYR50 million for technical and vocational education and training development (TVET)
  • MYR400 million for local higher education institutions to develop their research capacity
  • MYR30 million matching grants for the Malaysia Partnerships and Alliances in Research (MyPAIR) programme
  • MYR17.5 million allocation to the Malaysian Professional Accountancy Centre (MyPAC) for the development of Bumiputera accountants
  • MYR210 million to strengthen Bumiputera education and human capital development via schemes managed by the Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera

Some of the key economic and human capital development focus areas other than the above include:

  • E-Sports – an allocation of MYR10 million to the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation has been provided to develop software engineers and games developers
  • Digital economy and Industry 4.0 – including provision of MYR2 million to enable collaborations between the public and private sector and funds for the adoption of smart technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence and automation
  • Islamic Finance – development of Malaysia as the hub of bond and sukuk markets
  • Aerospace – development of Malaysia as an aerospace industry hub
  • Halal industry – aim of having Malaysia as the global halal hub by 2020

Opportunities for the UK education sector will be surrounding these key focus areas in the areas of direct student recruitment and collaborations with local higher education institutions.

Commentary by Jennifer Wan, British Council Malaysia

Although the education sector has received a large allocation of the federal budget, the reduction of the provision of scholarships is largely expected. With the debt levels of the nation, the Malaysian government has indicated that ‘sacrifices’ has to be made to manage these.

Much of the funding allocated for education, however, has been for domestic human capital development rather than provision of scholarships for overseas studies. The budget document released does not have a breakdown of scholarships for the different ministries which usually would be allocated education scholarships, except for MARA, which was allocated more than 50 per cent of the total scholarship allocation.

Student recruitment opportunities – aside from the traditional subjects – which the UK higher education sector will find are in the focus areas surrounding industry 4.0, islamic finance, food science, aerospace, professional accountancy, research and the niche and emerging e-sports.