Malaysia plans PNG engagement

By SALLY TIWARI
PAPUA New Guinea is among the list of the countries Malaysia wants to engage students from for further studies.
Prof Rujhan Mustafa, the Malaysian director general of the department of higher education, said Malaysia currently hosted more than 90,000 foreign students from over 50 countries in its universities.
Mustafa said Malaysia planned on increasing places for foreign students worldwide to 150,000 by 2015.
The Malaysian government wants to promote research and learning through more new scholarships to PNG students and others through the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme and the Malaysian International Scholarship Programme.
He was in PNG over the weekend to promote Malaysia as an educational hub for the region.
He told PNG Minister for Higher Education  David Arore that Malaysia was fast gaining popularity as a destination for higher education worldwide.
Unesco recognises Malaysia as a favourite venue for university education.
“In its 2008 report, Unesco calculated that Malaysia has captured over 2% of the international student population in a period of just five years,” Mustafa said.
He said Malaysia offered competitively priced quality education for international students, where cost of university education including tuition and living expenses was between US$8,000 (K17,800) and US$12,000 (K26,700)annually for  public and private universities.
He compared this to countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and Britain where the cost of study was three times more.
“Malaysia also offers a unique, hospitable learning environment with serenity, ethnic and cultural diversity,” he said.
Arore said he would push for an agreement to be signed between the two countries before the end of 2012.
He was pleased with affordable educational costs and also at the ethical and moral values promoted by the Malaysian institutions, such as respect for family and tradition.
Arore said developing PNG students in the field of technology was one of his main goals and he would look more towards South East Asian countries to achieve this.