By NNN-Bernama
Dubai : Efforts to promote Malaysia as an educational hub among Middle East and North African countries are bearing fruit, judging from the increasing number of students from the region who have opted for Malaysian institutions of higher learning over the past few years.
Malaysia Education Promotion Centre (MEPC) Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa, Shushilil Azam Shuib, said the number of students grew from some 2,000 in 2000 to 6,000 in 2005, 7,800 in 2006 and more than 11,000 in 2007.
“Initially, our target is to attract 13,500 students from the region by 2010 but by the look of it we can achieve this number by this year. So, I’ve been advised to revise the target to 15,000 students by 2010,” he told Bernama at the MEPC Dubai office.
He said Higher Education Minister Mustapa Mohamed and senior ministry officials such as its secretary-general Dr Zulkefli Hassan and Higher Education Department director-general Prof Dr Hassan Said, have embarked on aggressive promotional campaigns to lure students from this region to Malaysia.
Shushilil Azam explained that various factors worked in Malaysia’s favour as far as attracting Middle East students was concerned.
“The people here view Malaysian Muslims as moderates and that the Islamic religion being practised in Malaysia as practical and represents the reality. We’re also an open society where everybody, including ladies, are free to pursue knowledge,” he said.
Malaysia’s high quality and competitively-priced education as well as relative security are also considered as important pull factors.
On the advice of the ministry, he said, MEPC had identified several countries as important target markets, namely Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Oman.
“Take Iran for example. There are currently close to 3,000 Iranian students in Malaysia compared to around 1,000 a few years ago,” he said, adding that special focus would also be given to countries like Palestine, Iraq, Jordan and Syria.
“The people of Iraq and Palestine are now facing hardships and insecurity. Many of them have fled to neighbouring countries like Jordan and Syria.
“MEPC has been told to organise education promotional activities in those countries. We’re not being opportunist here, we just want to help them out in the educational field,” he said, adding that around 850 Iraqis were currently pursuing studies in Malaysia.
Shushilil Azam said it would be more than enough for Malaysia to welcome just five per cent of the millions of students from this region who are eligible for tertiary education, to spur the country’s education industry.
Mustapa’s and other senior ministry officials’ commitment to attract as many students from the Middle East as possible was evident as they flew thousands of kilometres to meet their counterparts or attend education-related events in this region.
Shushilil Azam said during these trips, various activities had been conducted, such as organising education gala nights where foreign speakers who had good ties with the Malaysian educational scene attested to the high quality of education available in Malaysia.
Also, student recruiting agents were given special awards to motivate them further while alumni associations comprising former students of Malaysian universities in countries such as Libya and Saudi Arabia were also roped in to participate in promotional activities.
Shushilil Azam said Mustapa had proposed the continuation of several initiatives such as inviting ministerial delegations from Middle East countries to Malaysia to enable them to have a closer look at what Malaysia had to offer in the field of education.
“We’re also bringing in education reporters from Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Iran to visit universities and places of interest so that they can write about Malaysia and its education system from their own perspective,” he said.
And for the first time this year, special trips to Malaysia during the summer holidays will be organised for parents from this region that will allow them to visit interesting places and learn more about Malaysia’s universities and education system along the way. It will start with parents from Iran.
The initiative to bring Middle East students to attend short-term courses in Malaysia during the summer months will also be continued this year.
Shushilil Azam further said that the Higher Education Ministry and MEPC Dubai would participate in a series of international education exhibitions throughout the Middle East and Africa in 2008.
Other events outlined for this year include Malaysia education seminars, road shows and solo exhibitions in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Oman and Yemen.
The ministry will also be involved in “MOHEX” shows throughout 2008 in countries such as Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Algeria, Sudan, Jordan, Egypt and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Furthermore, MEPC Dubai is making arrangements to hold educational promotions at shopping malls in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah), Oman (Muscat,Sohar and Salalah), UAE (Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Fujairah) and Syria (Damascus and Aleppo).
The advantages of Malaysian education would also be promoted in special publications and over radio and television.
Shushilil Azam said MEPC Dubai would visit more than 300 schools this year in efforts to highlight the benefits of studying in Malaysia.
Relevant brochures will be distributed to O- and A-level students while attempts will be made to win the hearts of parent-teacher associations in efforts to encourage students choose Malaysia.
Plans are also afoot to convince various expatriate communities — from countries like India, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan and Egypt — in the Gulf region on the advantages of Malaysia’s education system.