Abstract
AbstractUniversities from varying institutional and geographical contexts have increasingly invested in offshore subsidiaries in the Malaysian private higher education sector. Literature on transnational education policy and management as well as economic‐geographic accounts of firms’ transnationalisation or public service provision have not investigated foreign providers’ direct investment and market access strategies in the higher education sector. This paper addresses these gaps, showing how and why foreign actors’ investment and market involvement in Malaysia have changed. Empirical data is drawn from qualitative interviews and policy documents. The research reveals that foreign universities have strategically modified their business partnerships and bi‐national accreditation to bypass and bend state regulation of market access as well as to restructure internal organisation and geographical configuration. The paper proposes conceptualising foreign higher education providers as transnationalising, reflexive networks within networks that respond to dynamic market access regulation by adopting firm‐like investment strategies.
Highlights
Malaysian students were long considered a substantial share of fee-paying foreign students, and higher education institutions (HEIs), in particular in the UK or Australia, have aimed at attracting Malaysians to move and study abroad
Not enough is known about providers’ foreign direct investment (FDI) and market access strategies that help bypass and bend state regulations in the HE sector. This paper addresses these shortcomings from an economic-geographic perspective, answering two research questions: how have foreign providers accessed the HE market and invested in HE provision in Malaysia? And why have foreign HE providers’ offshore subsidiaries in Malaysia changed their forms over the last 30 years? The analysis provides valuable insights on HEIs’ investment strategies and their responses to evolving regulations on multiple scales
The paper has shown that over the last 30 years, since 2010, foreign providers have become increasingly involved in the Malaysian domestic private HE market through transnational corporations (TNCs)-like investment strategies in offshore subsidiaries
Summary
Malaysian students were long considered a substantial share of fee-paying foreign students, and higher education institutions (HEIs), in particular in the UK or Australia, have aimed at attracting Malaysians to move and study abroad. While numbers of Malaysians studying abroad have decreased, private higher education (HE) inside Malaysia has become one of the country’s high-turnover economic sectors and an important market for foreign degrees. Foreign HEIs entered the domestic Malaysian market by offering their programmes on site in different forms. Their market involvement ranges from articulation agreements with domestic. HEIs to substantial investment in fully-fledged campuses in Malaysia. For both providers and government, this gives central relevance to questions of market access and investment regulation in Malaysia
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