Malaysian Education Summit

30 May 2003

Address by Tan Sri Dato' Professor Dr Lim Kok Wing at the Marketing, Promoting And Branding Malaysian Education - New Success Factors

At the Malaysian Education Summit

Organised by the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute

As an industry, we are an infant. As an industry, we are perhaps not more than five years old.

We are a young international education provider or exporter. Australia, UK and US have been key players for a long time.

As I see it, we have yet to sort out fully our internal problems and process - from course accreditation to issues with regard to quality assurance, to government support in international marketing.

This we have to do quickly, and we have to do it with the view of becoming a world class competitor. It cannot and must not be left to the individual colleges. In any case, whatever we do we need approval from the Government - from course approval, location approval to immigration approval. This has to be a national agenda.

Foreigners will not come if they do not believe this is an excellent place for educating the young. They come for the qualifications as much as the experience of being in Malaysia.

To ensure that students who come to study here are not disappointed, and that Malaysia is well perceived, we have to put in place mechanisms that will ensure only colleges and universities that are good enough are allowed to recruit students from abroad.

I would imagine that the purpose of this session is to identify ways and means in which to market and promote more effectively Malaysia as a centre for education.

To do that really well, Malaysia as a country must be seen as a good place for young people to be, a safe place, a place that is conducive to studying, a desirable place.

To a certain extent, we have become a centre for international education, joining traditional providers such as UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in providing education to developing countries. And because we deliver programmes that are from these countries, the selling has not been too difficult.

As I understand it, there are some 30,000 foreign students from about a hundred countries enrolled in various colleges and universities today, with most of them in private colleges and universities. It is the intention of our Government to increase the number of foreign students rapidly.

Compared with the traditional education providers such as UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, our numbers are small, less than 1% of the global international student market, and we are new to the game. Hence, there has been much talk about the need to brand our country well so as to be able to compete better, especially as the world becomes more and more globalised, making competition more and more complex. Adding to this competitive environment is the online learning or virtual campus alternative.

We need to bear in mind that it is the quality that makes a brand famous. A brand name on its own does not become famous. It needs a reason to be well liked and be well known. This applies whether it is a country or a company or a university that we are talking about.

It was the music of the Beatles that made them world famous. It was not their name that made their music famous.

It was copiers that made Xerox a world brand, and computer software that made Microsoft a worldwide best seller. It was shoes that made Nike famous. It never was the other way around.

It is Mercedes Benz, BMW and Volkswagen that made Germany known as a country that makes the world's best automobiles; it's high quality watches that made Switzerland famous; leather goods and fashion wear that made Italy famous as the world's fashion centre.

It is also true that if the country has already established a positive country image, it will make the marketing of whatever it produces easier.

If Malaysia is not seen as a safe place, or the education it provides is not seen to be of high standards, and the qualifications offered do not have international standing, no one will come here to study.

At what stage are we, and how much more and better do we need to do in order to compete more effectively, in a highly competitive market place?

That is what our panel of speakers will be sharing their thoughts with us on.

All three of our speakers are highly competent in addressing the issues covered by the topic given.

Ms Elizabeth Lee is the principal of Sunway College, one of Malaysia's best known private colleges. Elizabeth was educated in UK and she capped her studies there with a post-graduate qualification from the University of Cambridge.

Dr Alan Barker is an associate partner of IBM. He has worked with several Governments in the Asia Pacific region, including the Malaysian Government. Among the many projects he has spearheaded recently was a study on the export potential of Malaysia's higher education.

Out third speaker is Mr Steve Yap who owns a well established recruitment agency.

Although Mr Yap's business is very much in sending students abroad, his insight of the international market will be enlightening to us all I am sure.

So without much ado, may I now call upon Elizabeth Lee to make her presentation. Elizabeth, you have 20 minutes.

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