Higher Education in Malaysia 91
and potential brain drain emigrants if salaries and productivity in the
nation remain relatively low.
EQUITY ISSUES
While access to higher education has increased notably over the last four
decades, the thorny question of equity remains very much alive. Key
issues are whether the system promotes access for all Malaysian groups
to publicly funded higher education; how inputs are allocated; and how
benefits are distributed. The participation of the various ethnic groups at
tertiary level in both local institutions and overseas improved in absolute
numbers. Enrolment data between 1970 and 2008 indicate that the Bumiputra
enrolment increased at a greater rate than non-Bumiputra enrolment in
the public higher education system with shares for Chinese and Indian
students decreasing significantly over the same period.
Enrolment Patterns
Enrolment of Malay/Bumiputra students in the public universities rose
from 53.9 per cent in 1970 to 71.3 per cent in 1985 and to 83.1 per cent in
- This is naturally followed by declining proportions of students of
Chinese and Indian origins. Chinese enrolment decreased from 38.5 per
cent in 1970 to 11.2 per cent in 2008, while the Indian share of places in
public universities declined from 4.9 per cent in 1970 to 2.7 per cent in
2008 (Figure 4.1). Post-2008 data, disaggregated by ethnic group, is not
in the public domain.
Data on the total public sector higher education institutions comprising
universities, polytechnics and community colleges (Table 4.3) demonstrate
the dominance of Bumiputra students in all these institutions. In 2008,
total public HEIs enrolment showed that Bumiputras took up 84.8 per cent
of the places followed by 9.7 per cent Chinese, 2.8 per cent Indian and
2.6 per cent others.
Noteworthy as an explanation for the high proportion of Bumiputra
share in higher education is the Universiti Technology MARA (UiTM)
whose main objective is to train students “in professionally recognized
courses of study ... (and to prepare) Bumiputra students for the professional
scientific and technological fields”.^1 In 2012, its 30-odd campuses and
22 affiliated colleges took in 73,625 new students, had an enrolment of