Malaysia eyes Brunei education market

MALAYSIA sees Brunei as one of the markets for international students, a top Malaysian official told The Brunei Times, recently.

“As of 2010, there were 328 Bruneians studying in Malaysia, out of which 157 are studying in public institutions while the remaining are in private institutions,” said Hj Mohd Zaki Zakaria, the Principal Assistant Director with Education Malaysia Division of the Ministry of Higher Education.

The division manages the promotion and marketing of Malaysia’s education throughout the world.

Hj Mohd Zaki Zakaria said: “This number is still small compared to the number of students from countries like Iran, Iraq, China and Indonesia,” he said adding that the division was beefing up its promotional activities to create Malaysia as a destination for higher education in Brunei.
Hj Mohd Zaki was speaking to The Brunei Times at the last day of the second Malaysia Showcase 2011, held from November 18 to 20 at the Times Square Mall Shopping Centre. The education exhibition was part of the showcase.

“We wish to increase the awareness among Bruneians about our higher educations, our quality and facilities,” he said.

Malaysia has more than 90,000 international students from 150 countries enrolled in its higher educational institutions.

Seven universities took part in the exhibition in Brunei.

The participating universities were International Islamic University (UIA), Universiti Sains Islam Antarabangsa (Usim), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Technical University of Malaysia Malacca (UTeM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sarawak campus, Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and INTI International University.

Hj Zaki claimed that response from the public to the exhibition was ‘quite good’.

“We have already been visited by almost 500 visitors. There were several serious inquiries about our higher educational institutions,” he said.

The visitors were offered consultations on the facilities, locations as well as list of programmes offered by the respective universities.

The event was supported by Putrajaya Holdings and Tourism Malaysia, along with Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia and Enterprise Asia. Malaysia Showcase 2011 highlighted the country’s products and services as well as attractiveness as an investment and tourism destination.

By Rasidah Hab, Brunei Times/ANN