Malaysia Education

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Malaysia Education

Malaysia and New Zealand share close education links, with many New Zealand universities having well established contacts and formal agreements with Malaysian education providers. The New Zealand private sector also has education links with Malaysia and former Prime Minister Clark, together with Malaysian Minister of Education Dato' Seri Hishammuddin, visited one successful project initiated by a New Zealand education consortium in Perak in 2007. Malaysia is an important source of overseas students. Malaysian students contribute an estimated NZ$80 million to the New Zealand economy. In the 2007 calendar year there were a total of 1,931 fee-paying students from Malaysia enrolled with NZ education providers, as follows: Schools: 83; Universities: 1,539; Polytechnics: 119; Subsidiary providers: 35; and Private providers: 152

Many thousands of Malaysians have been educated in New Zealand, originally through the Colombo Plan, and many now occupy senior positions in business, the professions and government administration. A Chair of Malay Studies was established at Victoria University in 1996. A bilateral Education Memorandum of Understanding (1996) provides a means for policy cooperation between our education authorities. NZQA has, since 2001, had an MOU with the Malaysian National Accreditation Board (LAN). Then Minister of Education, Hon Trevor Mallard visited Malaysia in May 2004 to raise the profile of New Zealand education expertise in Malaysia.

During the visit to New Zealand of Prime Minister Abdullah in March 2005 it was announced that an education counsellor would be placed in the New Zealand High Commission in Kuala Lumpur. An Education Counsellor took up the position in July 2006.

From 2004 the New Zealand Government has funded a new International Scholarships programme. Malaysian students have been recipients of the scholarships (2004: four PhD students; 2005: three PhD students and 1 undergraduate student). In 2007 there were a total of 162 Malaysian PhD students enrolled in New Zealand universities, up from 90 in 2006. These students have domestic status, so are additional to the fee-paying figures stated above.