By Samantha Joseph
The Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) initiative by the Ministry of Higher Education has turned out to be more of a bane than a boon to foreign students and private higher education institutions.
Applications for student passes by potential foreign students have been held up without explanation, and additional fees have been implemented, seemingly without earlier notification of students.
Because these delays disrupt foreign student enrolment, the profitability of the private education institutions have been badly compromised — and unless something is done, may continue to take a hit into the year.
The new agency, which was set up ostensibly to market Malaysia’s higher education overseas, as well as regulate the recruitment of foreign students and provide them with support services, has become a bureaucratic bottleneck.
In a statement to the press last month, EMGS CEO Mohd Yazid Abdul Hamid admitted that since EMGS was set up, about 60% of the international student visa applications could not be completed within the promised 14-day period.
Elizabeth Lee Fuh Yen
“As an idea, it was a good thing. But it’s not working out,” Elizabeth Lee, senior executive of Sunway University and the Sunway Education Group pointed out in an interview with KiniBiz. “It’s not working as well as it was first envisaged. It’s an added cost for students and it’s extremely slow.
We have students whom we have offered to come on a particular intake…right now they are unable to come in because their student passes are not ready.”
Lee goes on to note that the implications from EMGS’ inefficiency is costing the private higher education industry millions.
This is backed up by analysts who have noted softer student intakes for the first half of 2013, attributable to the stringent new visa approval system for foreign students and the longer-than-expected time to process foreign students’ visas.
In a report by Kenanga Research today, analysts are worried about education stocks that rely heavily on foreign student enrolment, like HELP and SEGi, whose student base is made up of approximately 15% foreign students.
“For illustration, should we wipe out 5% of those foreign students, we reckon our HELP and SEGi’s FY13 net profit is expected to be cut by 13% and 3.5% to RM11.3 million and RM29.4 million (from RM13 million and RM30.9 million) respectively,” the bank-backed research house said.
New fees making students think twice
Under the current EMGS system, foreign students are required to pay not only for a multiple entry visa and student pass, but also for a medical check-up fee, new student pass processing fee and health insurance. Of these, the medical check-up fee, processing fee and insurance fee are new, and make up the bulk of the charges at a collective RM1,750. The average total fees from EMGS is around RM1,850.
So far, the only tangible thing that EMGS has brought to the table is an added burden of RM1,000 in processing fees for students.
An added complication is that medical checkups are to be done only at EMGS-approved clinics, and foreign students have the choice of only one insurance provider under EMGS-AXA Affin. This monopoly is said to have bagged AXA Affin up to RM42 million in gross premiums.
A student from Kenya studying at a local private institution was shocked at the hike in fees. Previously, she said, they only had to worry about the student pass, which costs RM60. Now, some students are stranded because they can’t raise money for the entire process.
It also seems that students were not sufficiently notified by authorities and their institutions, leading to confusion over the EMGS fees.
Oddly enough, only private institutions of higher educations fall under EMGS’ supervision. The public universities are allowed to set their own fees and make their own arrangements for international students without outside interference.
Justified?
Malaysia has had an ambivalent relationship with its foreign students, with the government and higher education institutions encouraging their entrance into the country at the resistance of some members of the community who point to a prevalence in drug abuse and theft among other things as reasons to protest the increase in foreign student numbers.
At the same time, going through EMGS was supposed to ensure that the welfare of legitimate foreign students were taken care of by a dedicated organisation.
“It protects Malaysia, it protects genuine students’ interest, and it was supposed to be a one-stop centre, making the entry into Malaysia easier for both institutions and students,” Lee admits. But it has shown tremendous problems, and she argues that the international students are inadvertently and indirectly discouraged from coming.
She does believe that there will be some changes on the way to fix the situation. “There’s been a lot of pressure on them (EMGS) to get it working right. The people who are working on it are genuinely trying to make it work. It cannot continue like this. It just can’t.”
Yazid had last month said that there were plans for an integrated office for EMGS and immigration officers to speed up the student visa application process. Will this be enough to alleviate the stress on the education sector? That remains to be seen. And if the plans fall through, there is little recourse for private education institutions and foreign students alike.
You must be logged in to post a comment.