Waqf Higher Education in Malaysia

Abstract

The cost of higher education has been increased, despite intervention from the government in the form of grants and soft-loans. In general, parents and students alike face the burden of ever increasing fees to enroll in higher education learning institutions while the education institutions themselves also face increasing costs to operate and provide quality education. Realizing the possible forthcoming scenarios in the current education industry, scholars and researchers have made proposals to apply the concept of waqf for education development to ensure a more affordable and sustainable education industry in the country. Waqf in Malaysia is one of the largest financial sources that have not been fully explored. By using qualitative analysis this paper focusing on the scenario of waqf in supporting education in Malaysia, especially in Higher Education Institution (HEI). Subsequently, this study attempts to examine how waqf fund is used in empowering higher education apart from looking into the efforts of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) to make this achievable. In short, this study found that taking the que from the institutions of waqf, the exploration and development of waqf fund can be accomplished through the formation of formal organizations at the state and federal level and rearrange the Malaysian educational budget and policy to support the good quality of HEI. Thus, the paper makes some suggestions as to the potential effort of waqf for higher education must be played by the Ministry of Higher Education.