Advancing internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia and its rationales through international networking: The ASEM education process / M.Miandy Munusamy

M.Miandy , Munusamy (2021) Advancing internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia and its rationales through international networking: The ASEM education process / M.Miandy Munusamy. PhD thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

The international dimension of higher education plays an important role for political, economic and social development as well as for the academic performance of a country. Malaysia’s primary aspiration is to create a higher education system that ranks among the world’s leading education systems. Currently, only one public university in the country is ranked in the top 100 globally according to the QS Global ranking. Where international students are concerned, the majority studying in Malaysia are from Asia with only a small number from Europe. Within the field of higher education, the ASEM Education Process (AEP) can be considered an important platform for strategic cooperation and networking between Asia and Europe. Malaysia has been an active member of the AEP since 2008, but the impact of participation on tangible outcomes or policy development has yet to be seen. The gap in the internationalisation process has resulted in the necessity for Malaysia to seriously enhance the international dimension in higher education. This research aims to determine the rationales for internationalisation of higher education and to analyse how the AEP can support these rationales to advance the internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia. The research focuses on national level internationalisation and involvement of Malaysia in the AEP since 2008. Exploratory sequential design under mixed-methods research by employing purposive and total population sampling are employed in the study. Semi-structured interviews with fifteen officials from the Malaysian public higher education sector were conducted to determine the rationales for the internationalisation of higher education. Subsequently, the data on the support of the AEP were gathered through a Likert style questionnaire with 130 local and international respondents. The qualitative and quantitative data were analysed using the Nvivo 11 and SPSS v24 and SmartPLS v3.2.8 software respectively. The Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was conducted to discover the relationship between the AEP, networking in internationalisation and the internationalisation of higher ducation in Malaysia. Both findings were triangulated and a framework with strategies to advance the internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia is recommended. The qualitative findings indicate that the Malaysian higher education system focuses mainly on the economic and socio-cultural rationales and less on the political and academic rationales. The study shows that international networking through international cooperation is crucial in strengthening Malaysian higher education internationalisation. The PLS-SEM results affirm that the AEP enables Malaysian higher education internationalisation advancement with partial mediation of networking in internationalisation. The results further reinforce the belief that networking in internationalisation has significant effects on the AEP and internationalisation to advance Malaysian higher education internationalisation. The strategies framework created through triangulation demonstrates that the AEP supports the rationales for internationalisation through networking in internationalisation which leads to more enhanced internationalisation. In practical terms, the study allows policymakers to utilise and take advantage of inter-regional cooperation, internationalisation and networking. The findings are a contribution to strategy formation for international cooperation and design of internationalisation policies by policy makers to realise Malaysia’s aim to become an international higher education hub in the region and attract 250,000 international students by 2025.

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