Malaysia education institutes lures Indonesian students

By Yudha Kartohadiprodjo

JAKARTA (JP): "Go and study as far as China," said Mohammad the prophet. In the past few years, however, Indonesians have gone further than China: the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia have been the preferred destinations to study abroad.

The monetary crisis has made many Indonesian students planning to go abroad reconsider their plan due to the steep exchange rate of the rupiah to the U.S. dollar.

Malaysia could be seen as an appealing alternative. Its education system might be attractive in many ways to Indonesians. In terms of quality, "Malaysia has some educational institutions comparable to the best in the West," boasted Datu' Sri Mohd. Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, Malaysia's minister of education at the opening address of The Malaysian Education Exhibition 1998. The exhibition was held recently in Jakarta and Bandung to introduce Malaysia's tertiary education to Indonesians.

Malaysia has also sent many of its students abroad. Last year alone, their 50,000 students studying in America eclipsed Indonesia's 12,000.

Realizing that such a scheme is expensive in the long term, the Malaysian government has run an educational reform program. Now, Malaysia is ready to sell its educational system to neighboring countries as a commodity.

Malaysia's education reform process started a few years ago when Malaysian universities introduced a twinning program for its students. In Malaysia, only state universities could issue academic degrees. To fulfill the increasing needs of a skilled manpower, the Malaysian government now encourages private institutions to create partnerships with overseas universities.

By cooperating with overseas educational institutions, undergraduate students from Malaysia's private universities may study for two years in Malaysia and later continue their studies abroad. It is also expected that under such a cooperation, the quality of Malaysian education will not only increase but also save the foreign exchange.

One example of this program is the International Medical College. The college currently has 20 Partner Medical Schools (PMS). The program promises that professors from the PMS will visit frequently and give lectures. After two-and-a-half years of study, students from the college will be awarded with an advance diploma in medical science and have the chance to continue studying abroad at a PMS. McGill University, Canada, and University of Melbourne, Australia, are among the universities that participate as PMS in the program.

According to Abubakar, from Malaysia's Ministry of Education, the twinning program is highly successful. Abubakar is the director of registration and quality assurance in the ministry's department of private education.

"Since it started, some Malaysian institutions have even created a three-plus-zero program. Under that program, an overseas institution fully trusts a Malaysian institution for the whole education process," said Abubakar. He added that upon graduation, the students would receive certificates from the overseas institution.

In August 1995, Malaysia's prime minister, Datu' Seri Dr. Mahatir Bin Mohammad, declared his ambition to make Malaysia a Multimedia Super Corridor, turning Malaysia into the Silicon Valley of Asia.

To support such an ambitious project, the Malaysian government must support tertiary institutions that concentrate on Information Technology (IT) and computer technology.

"If you want to study IT, Malaysia will be the place since the government fully supports and prioritizes this area of concentration," Abubakar said.

One of the universities to seize this opportunity is the Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology, which was formed to address the dire need of IT specialists in the region.

"We try to provide IT professionals with specific skills in their field," said Vijay Reddy, the college representative. He claimed that average job offers for graduates of his college was 3.5 jobs per graduate. The most popular job offer is as a computer programmer, with a network analyst coming in second.

The college also offers a twining degree program with Monash University.

The cost of education in Malaysia is actually not cheaper than the cost here. On average, a university charges 5,000 ringgit (US$1,315) to 10,000 ringgit a year. On top of that, yearly living expenses in Malaysia are about 7,000 ringgit. Yet, the exhibition held at the Sahid Hotel, Central Jakarta, drew an overwhelming crowd.

Visitors to the exhibition were mainly Chinese-Indonesian families. They came with a clear purpose, to look for a better education for their children. Some grumbled that a supposed quota for Chinese-Indonesian children to enroll at local state universities forced them to send their children abroad.

The combination of he monetary crisis and the May riots is what made John visit the exhibition. "It is more secure for me to be there, Malaysia is cheaper than Australia," said John, who studied hotel management at the Blue Mountains College, New South Wales, before the monetary crisis.

Attending the exhibition with his two children, Abraham Poniman had a different reason. "Malaysia is closer than any other country. It would be easier for my wife and me to visit the children at any time," he said.

Is Malaysia using the monetary crisis to attract students from Indonesia?

It seems that Malaysia has a longer reaching plan. In his opening speech, Datu Najib said the exchange of students would eventually lead to a more intense relationship in the future.

Abubakar said, "We (Malaysia) would like to help our close friend."

Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono gave his support to Indonesian students who want to study overseas. "By studying abroad, Indonesia's young generation will be able to catch up in the modernization process."

Meanwhile, the government here is trying to improve the accreditation system of local tertiary education institutes in an effort to obtain better quality among them.