Internationalization of Higher Education: A Case Study of Policy Adjustment Strategy in Malaysia

Abstract

At the beginning of the new millennium, Malaysia aspires to become a regional hub for education. Therefore, there is an adjustment strategy in Malaysian higher education policy. Among other elements are and the liberalization of the higher education sector in 1997, which led to the development of language-in-education policy; and the formation of the Ministry of Higher Education in 2004. This policy encompasses the economic, political and socio-cultural domains. Instead of only analyzing economic, political and socio-cultural viewpoints, we analyze this policy from the knowledge perspective. We review the literature on the link between knowledge and policy-making. Then, with emphasis on English language usage, we review language policy in general, and in Malaysia. Case study approach is used; because this gives an in-depth understanding of the policy-making process in Malaysia. The Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, policy-making process is the case study. Prior to the case study analysis, we also review the general policy-making process in Malaysia. The findings show that first; the Ministry of Higher Education of the Malaysian Federal Government is generally responsible for most of the policy-making process. And second, benchmarking with international best practices is one of the bases for the development of higher education policy in Malaysia.