KL out to lure more RI students
KL out to lure more RI students
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Studying in Malaysia is a good option for Anidia Larasati, a 17-
year-old final-year student at SMAN 70 public high school in
South Jakarta.
"I would like to take a health and medicine degree in
Malaysia. I'm still not sure whether I will go there for a
bachelor's degree this year or follow it up with postgraduate
study later, but I'm quite certain that I will do my postgraduate
study there because I heard that the study program is better
there," she said after attending the opening ceremony of the
Malaysian Education Fair on Friday.
The fair, presenting 21 universities from Malaysia, was held
from Friday to Saturday in Jakarta, and from Sunday to Monday in
Bandung, West Java.
Currently, about 16,000 Indonesian students are pursuing their
studies in Malaysia, making it the country second after China in
terms of the total number of students from here.
About 36,000 international students are studying in Malaysia,
and the Malaysian government hopes to increase that number by
increasing Indonesia's share to 35 percent, up from 28 percent
last year.
Malaysia's high standing in information technology,
engineering, English and Mandarin has attracted around 8,300
post-graduate students, Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia, Dato'
Hamidon Ali, says.
"Some benefits for Indonesian students are the cheaper costs
compared to other countries such as Singapore, the similarity of
culture, Malaysia's national language, or Malay, and Malaysia's
close proximity to Indonesia," he said.
He said the Malaysian government was in the process of
drafting new legislation to allow students to work while they
undertook graduate and post-graduate studies to lighten their
financial load.
This year Malaysia expects about 14,000 Indonesian students to
apply for higher education studies.
There are 21 private and 16 public institutions in Malaysia
that offer international degrees through affiliations with
foreign institutions.
The main target of the fair, according to Darsham Daud, the
Education Attache at the Malaysian Embassy, is the post-graduate
sector.
"We are not promoting public universities highly for bachelor
degrees because there is only a 5 percent placement for
international students in them due to the local demand, which we
prioritize," Daud said.
He said the Malaysian government provided free education up to
high school level and subsidized degrees in universities, which
led to the high demand.
It had funded its generous education subsidies using about 25
percent of the state budget for many years, he said.
"We have been lucky to have a government that cares about
education. Students are given books and in some rural areas, they
are also given free uniforms and breakfast," Darsham said. (005)