84 Mukherjee, Singh, Fernandez-Chung and Marimuthu
higher education institutions (HEIs). The factors contributing to increased
access were primarily high secondary enrolment and completion, building
on democratization and universalization of the system; an increasingly
diversified institutional pattern of universities, colleges, polytechnics and
community colleges catering to various levels of achievement; a burgeoning
private higher education sector as a result of liberalization policies; and a
combination of public and private sources in the financing of HEIs.
This chapter examines current higher education policies and
implementation in Malaysia, understanding their historical antecedents in
relation to higher education access, equity and quality issues. The issues
are analysed within the overall context of the need for well-qualified
and highly skilled graduate participation in an increasingly globalized
knowledge-based economy with the goal of reaching high income status
as envisioned by Vision 2020 (Mohamad 1991). The key challenge is human
capital growth. Underlying the discussion is the question: which policies
and actions have worked, and which need to be reviewed and adjusted
to ensure that the nation’s talent pool will match the demands of a high
income, knowledge economy?
METHODOLOGY AND DATA
The study draws heavily on government documentation issued by the
Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE),
and the Department of Statistics, particularly its Census Reports and
Labour Force Surveys. Data provided by officials and politicians to the
press have been included.
Lack of data or incomplete data relevant to the issues investigated
by the study dogged the researchers. Data collection processes proved
to be complicated by the fact that official data put out in the Malaysia
Development Plans or by MOE and MOHE are not presented in a consistent
format from year to year, rendering comparisons and analysis over time
extremely difficult. Many of these inconsistencies result from the varying
definitions of categories used by MOE and MOHE and agencies responsible
for collecting data. Data may be presented in different ways, with raw data
alternating with percentages. Selection of data to be presented is also not
consistent: in 2012, unlike previous years, MOHE published data only on
the public HEIs and none on the private HEIs, preventing comparisons
over time between the two sectors.