Too many universities?

KINIBIZ According to a Kenanga report quoting Ministry of Higher Education numbers, there are 21 public universities, 37 private universities, 20 private college universities, seven foreign university branch campuses, and 414 active private colleges, 30 polytechnics and 73 public community colleges in Malaysia. That amounts to 602 higher education institutions (HEIs).

These HEIs service 1.2 million students, resulting in a rather unbelievable average of 1,993 students per institution.

"There are too many private HEIs," says an industry insider who has taught in both public and private institutions. "From an economic viewpoint, they are providing a public good, and because it is a public good, Malaysia has allowed a whole lot of private profit-seeking institutions in.

"Once they've set up base here, basically they can continue operating as long as their revenue overcomes the marginal cost of providing the education. Which means that we have a large number of colleges around producing an uneven quality of education."

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Associate Professor Norzaini Azman pointed out that "although we need diversity in types of education available, we need to be careful, because the liberalisation of education has given rise to people who have taken advantage of the opportunities and see education as a commodity."

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