Moving forward

By Samantha Joseph

In this last piece on the private education sector, KiniBiz questions the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) and its role in enforcing standards, spots changes in the landscape of the private education provider and takes a look at suggestions on how to make the industry more quality- and student-oriented.

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Much of the blame for Malaysia’s dissatisfaction when it comes to Private Higher Education Institutes (PHEIs) is directed at the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).

The role of MQA according to its website is ‘to implement the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) as a basis for quality assurance of higher education…The MQA is responsible for monitoring and overseeing the quality assurance practices and accreditation of national higher education.’

As with Malaysian regulatory bodies, MQA has had accusations of ineptitude and corruption flung at it.

“I’ve heard all the stories about MQA, about our inefficiencies, about our lateness, about being tyrannical. Regardless, we are a regulatory body, which by definition must have an element of enforcing compliance,” chief executive officer of MQA, Syed Ahmad Hussein responds to questions by KiniBiz.

“The worst thing that could happen to MQA is the perception that we accept bribes. We might as well close down if that is the perception. But I’ve heard of it. And I’ve challenged some people to bring it up.”

Thus far, he says, there have been no formal complaints of corruption against MQA, and welcomes feedback that would allow MQA to improve itself.

Complaints of ineffectiveness may be intertwined with a confusion on what MQA’s actual role is. Calls for MQA to close down colleges and take action against dishonest providers are out of their boundaries.

An analogy used by Syed Ahmad to describe MQA is a comparison to Puspakom, an inspection centre for vehicles: “The relationship between MQA and the Ministry (of Education) is like the relationship between Puspakom and JPJ. They test vehicles for roadworthiness. If I want to sell my car to you, JPJ will ask me to ask Puspakom to check my car. Puspakom will look at all the technical details and then they will give you a letter saying that your car is roadworthy.

And only then can you sell your car.

Puspakom will not ask to whom are you selling to, where did you get your car from, or where did you get your money to buy your car from.”

This then highlights an issue that seems to dog ministerial applications of ideas – a lack of centralisation. While MQA has the mandate to qualify a programme, the actual application of the programme and the legitimacy of the institution itself is out of their purview. Even the ability to take direct action must go through the Ministry of Education.

When it comes to medical and nursing schools, the Nursing Board, the Malaysian Medical Council and the Ministry of Health become involved, further fragmenting the regulation of the education industry.

This situation will have to be remedied before any impactful measures can be taken to direct the quality of education in the country.

Competition in education

While the two-year moratorium on private tertiary education announced by the government this year is a prudent step to allow more focus to be relegated towards quality, higher education providers still face an uphill task in terms of competition.

The moratorium excludes foreign branch campuses as they ‘rate highly in international rankings’. Currently, Malaysia is host to Curtin University of Technology Sarawak, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, Monash University Malaysia, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak, University of Nottingham in Malaysia, Manipal International University and University Of Southampton Malaysia Campus.

The ambitious EduCity Iskandar project will be home to the Netherlands Maritime Institute of Technology, Raffles University and University of Reading, while Jaipur National University, Hanyang Malaysia Institute of Technology and Xiamen University will also be opening their doors on Malaysian soil.

Foreign branch campuses may prove to be the best bet for quality competition yet, as the combination of better perception from consumers and an accountability in quality standards to the mother campus would ideally ensure that the standards practiced here are on par with the international.

While high competition is expected to affect profits of higher education providers, the narrowing of the education market has yet to affect the primary and secondary education providers.

Organisations who diversify their offerings to include the lucrative private and international school industries will be able to reap the benefits as parents from the growing middle class turn away from the substandard, monoracial public schools.

Some organisations like Taylor’s intend to provide comprehensive education from kindergarten to graduation, essentially grooming a captive audience.

Paramount Corporation has also gone the way of integrated education specialist with KDU Education Group, comprising of KDU University College, KDU College, KDU Management Development Centre, Sri KDU Schools and Sri KDU International Schools. The latter two are providers of primary and secondary education.

KDU’s 2012 annual report reveals that it is the non-tertiary level education division that has been enjoying the largest growth.

“For 2012 PBT (for the education division) grew by 17% to RM28.3 million, attributed to the primary and secondary school sector’s performance that recorded a seventh consecutive year of strong  enrolment, revenue and profitability growth,” the report stated.

Revenue for the primary and secondary school comprising the private school, international school and International Baccalaureate Diploma programme grew by 27% to RM49.3 million while PBT grew by 29% to RM19.8 million. This is in contrast with a 2% decline in the revenue of the University College, while the overall decline in PBT for the tertiary education sector at 7% to RM8.3 million.

Even in this area, local education providers find themselves in competition with overseas institution and branch campuses of private boarding schools. Britain’s Epsom College, brought in by AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes and situated in Bandar Enstek, and Marlborough College in EduCity Iskandar are among the strongest competitors.

At this point, analysts and industry observers are expecting the market to sort itself out as consumers become more educated on their choices and more aware of their rights, and institutions become more focused on quality rather than on profit-making.

“Companies are coming and recruiting directly from institutions that they have figured out have the students they want,” an industry observer with experience in public and private higher education. “This is what the successful private higher education institutions will become, they will have very good career centres where employers can come and recruit students.

I suppose in ten, twenty years, only the good PHEIs will remain. The rest will collapse, or merge. But the pity is, during this transition, the kids who go to the ‘lousy’ schools – their education will be wasted.”

Possible solutions

Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar asserts that in the case of medical education providers, there should ideally be a separation between the private sector and the public sector.

“The government should actually ease out of the provision of education. Because the private sector can do it more efficiently,” says Dr Kumar. In the grand scheme of things, the government should retreat to a regulatory and supervisory role, coming up with principles, parameters, and dealing in enforcement and monitoring. The private sector should be allowed to provide tertiary education, he says, not just for healthcare, but for everything.

The suggestion of privatising of the higher education sector is not a novel one; in 2011 Britain’s Minister of State for Universities and Science put forward a white paper introducing privatisation of education and training.

The Guardian wrote a rather scathing article in response to that, pointing out that this would increase the already-expensive tuition fees that undergraduates face, and might eventually result in those who can’t afford an education simply not pursuing one. In the UK, the class divide is still a sensitive subject and education has always been sold as a solution that would lead to equality.

Malaysia has a similar situation, and ostensibly the public education system exists to cater to the poorer of the nation, a majority of whom come from among the bumiputras. Privatising the education system may increase the cost of education and competition for scholarships, and reduce the access to education as a whole. In this scenario, institutions like UiTM may not be able to survive.

As Malaysia’s education sector is just as politicised as any other area, any reforms or changes will be slow to be implemented, and will likely be abandoned halfway to the detriment of everyone involved except the politicians.

A move towards not-for-profit higher education institutions may be the answer to ending the fierce competition between private education providers that have resulted in students signing up for qualifications that have no demand, programmes of questionable quality and less-than-straightforward marketing tactics to attract fees.

Not-for-profit institutions still collect fees, but instead of prioritising returns to individual shareholders, profits are fuelled back into the institution to the benefit of the students. This would be a significant step away from the outright commoditisation of the education industry that is the norm at the moment.

“I think Malaysia should encourage the emergence of NFP private universities that are strong and really quality oriented, the Yale-Harvard-Princeton standard,” Syed Ahmad says. A stumbling block for NFPs is that there should be an existing pool of funding beforehand.

For example, under the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation is Sunway University, Monash University Sunway Campus, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Sunway International School. The Foundation was set up by Sunway Group founder Dr Jeffrey Cheah, and reinvests all the profits from the institution to benefit students in the form of facilities and education.

Starting small may be a possibility, Syed Ahmad says: “I think there are some Malaysian families with enough money who want to send their children to high quality schools, especially if they know that it is not for profit.”

But an insider involved in the running of an NFP institution points out that it is difficult to justify working on NFP principles as there are no incentives given by the government. There are no tax breaks, he says, and ‘the government treats both NFP and for-profit institutions the same’.

Syed Ahmad agrees that that NFPs should be given certain incentives to encourage volunteerism and encourage contribution to the community. “In fact, MQA is willing to be a part of it. Perhaps reduced fees for certain things for NFPs. I think that’s where some strong innovation, some strong value creation can happen.”

Removing the pure monetisation aspect and forcing institutions to be accountable to its students rather than its shareholders may be the best bet yet in turning around Malaysia’s struggling homegrown higher education offerings.

Yesterday: A question of quality