Higher Education in Malaysia 97
small but welcomed measures towards bridging the inherent inequities
in the Malaysian HE topography.
The other source of student financing is through government loans.
The Higher Education Fund Corporation (Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan
Tinggi Nasional or PTPTN) was established under the National Higher
Education Fund Act 1997 (Act 566) with the objective of ensuring efficient
management of low-interest loan financing, using public funds, for eligible
students (based on monthly family income) in public and private HEIs.
Loan holders with a first class honours degree are able to convert their
loans retroactively into scholarships, without repayment obligations.
Availability of loans has also helped to raise enrolments in the liberalized
private sector, now totalling around 50 per cent of all student enrolment
in the country.
Accessing loans for study in public and private HEIs has assisted
students from needy backgrounds from all ethnic groups to pursue studies
at tertiary level. The availability of these loans while providing greater
access, particularly to private sector students who would otherwise be
left out of higher education, also leaves them to start their careers with a
much larger financial burden than those in the highly subsidized public
HEIs. This underscores issues of equality of access mechanisms particularly
as Bumiputras constitute 84.8 per cent (2008) of those enrolled in public
HEIs (Table 4.3).
QUALITY AND MALAYSIAN HEIs
Increased access seems to go together with quality deficits: there are more
students but not necessarily more learning relevant to individuals and
society. Exponential enrolment expansion in public and private HEIs has
had a major impact on the quality of teaching and learning, largely through
stretching the available pool of academics over multiple institutions, adding
new discipline areas, new student configurations, and redirecting resources.
Malaysian higher education institutions have been urged to meet enrolment
targets to match the government’s aspirations for national economic
growth. The expectation is that an educated and skilled labour force would
attract international students, and foreign business and industry would
locate here, with investors finding a high-quality environment attractive.
Malaysian government investments in education are among the largest in
the region — only China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan spend more