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KEYNOTE ADDRESS

DATUK SERI DR. NORAINI AHMAD
MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION MALAYSIA

EDUDATA WORLD SUMMIT

 10th JUNE 2022


  • Thank you very much Mr./Madam moderator, for a very kind
  • I am humbled by the opportunity given by the organizers to share my thoughts on an important subject here Indeed, it is an honour to be here today with our distinguished audience and participants whether you are online or in person.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

[INTRODUCTION]

  • “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today” a powerful quote by Malcolm X.
  • I was appointed as a Minister back in 2020. Nine days after the appointment, the Malaysian government had enforced a Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18th, 2020.

[FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS: PANDEMIC CRISIS CONTROL]

  • Coming into this Ministry brought upon the responsibility of having approximately 1.2 million students under our purview.
  • These students come from 20 public universities, 435 private higher education institutions, 105 community colleges, and 36
  • The most immediate task was to aid more than 57,000 students who were on campus during the first wave of the MCO which lasted till June 2020.
  • We knew how the students felt, and food is the most basic necessity for students on campus.
  • We managed to provide meals to all the students worth 11 million
  • On top of that, we established a 24-hour hotline to manage the crisis. Counselling centers were also set up on campus for students in need.
  • After managing the necessities for nearly one semester, we managed to facilitate our students to return to their homes.
  • This venture involved the coordination of 1,860 buses and 137
  • After we managed to send back all the students, we had to ensure the continuity of higher education via online teaching and

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

  • We were determined to hold on to the driving force of Malaysia’s Education Blueprint.
  • There are 10 Shifts in this Blueprint. I will focus on three shifts, namely, the Quality of Graduates, Global Prominence, and the Nation of Lifelong Learners.
  • In line with managing the pandemic and addressing the shift to Globalized Online Learning, our plan for the Digitalization of Higher Education was immediately implemented.
  • Together with the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia, we worked towards bridging the digital divide between those from different demographics and geographic locations, to ensure that all students had access to their online classes.
  • We also collaborated with telecommunication companies that provided special data plans to students.
  • A total of 6 million USD was allocated for the laptops and ICT facilities which benefitted 110,000 students.

Ladies and gentlemen,

  • I wish to highlight that Malaysia’s higher education institutions have been implementing Open Distance Learning since 2013 and Massive Open Online Courses since 2014.
  • The pandemic, however, has pushed their implementation into full
  • Our efforts in digitalization are not yet near the finishing
  • We realize that there is room for improvement and it is the way forward for the higher education sector.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

[ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION]

  • In Malaysia, education has always been a
  • Last year, our Prime Minister announced a development roadmap spanning from 2021 to 2025, known as the 12th Malaysia Plan.
  • In this plan, it was stated that research and development expenditure accounted for 5.2% of the nation’s GDP by 2025.
  • A huge amount of the research and development allocation will be utilized by these higher education institutions, especially by our research universities.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

[EDUDATA CONTRIBUTING TO QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION]

  • In 2017, Leeward Capital Management published an article in The Economist entitled, “The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.”
  • We believe data has been valuable in improving the quality of higher education.
  • At the ministry, we developed EduData platforms such as:
  1. The Ministry’s data system named MyMOHEs;
  2. A system to track graduate employability, known as the Tracer Study;
  3. We have an analytical higher education dashboard;
  4. A Graduate Reference Hub for Employment and Training called the GREaT Portal; and
  5. A data system for private higher education institutions, known as e-IPTS.
  6. We also have  our  own  national  rating  system  in EduData namely MYRA, SETARA and MyQUEST.
  7. The data pooled from these systems have given valuable insights to the Ministry, higher education institutions and various stakeholders on ways to further improve curriculum and the training provided for students entering the competitive job market.

[ACHIEVEMENT 1: QS RANKINGS]

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and gentlemen,

  • While we acknowledge that the quality of higher education can be measured in many ways, we also believe rankings are reflective of
  • All five of our research universities are ranked in the top 50 of best universities in Asia.
  • One of our universities is ranked in the top 100 best universities in the QS World Universities Ranking 2023. In total, 4 universities are listed in the top 200.
  • Our universities have been actively participating in QS events such as QS APPLE and MAPLE summits where we have been sharing our insights and subsequently improving ourselves by networking and learning from other international higher education institutions’
  • Our universities will continue to support QS events in the We understand that subject ranking is also important. Hence, we will ensure that it will be a part of our priorities.

[ACHIEVEMENT 2: INTERNATIONALIZATION]

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

  • One of our national universities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia is currently working towards establishing an offshore campus in Qatar.
  • To achieve this, our local universities have launched many initiatives including offering offshore programs.
  • We target to host 250,000 international students by
  • Currently, we have more than 131,000 international students enrolled in Malaysian higher education institutions.
  • Our universities have also been forging partnerships through the Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for research and innovations as well as student and staff mobility programs with our international counterparts.
  • We understand international collaboration is vital in higher Recently, we made a trip to India, Qatar, the United Kingdom and Romania to enhance international collaboration through MoUs and MoAs.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

[ACHIEVEMENT 3: SUSTAINABLE & INCLUSIVE LIFELONG LEARNING] 

  • The Ministry of Higher Education particularly emphasizes the 4th United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Quality
  • This, in combination with our 12th Malaysia Plan, highlights the importance of the notion of "leaving no one behind".
  • To that, we wish to focus on micro-credentials and the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL).
  • Both of these initiatives are administered by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).
  • MQA regulates the accreditation of all programs in Malaysia to ensure that the quality of our higher education is never
  • Under the micro-credential initiative, learners can take short courses at different institutions and combine them for conversion into an awarded certification.
  • Recently, MQA launched a micro-credentials portal, a one-stop center for local and international students to obtain information on the programs offered in Malaysia.
  • By September 2022, the data bank for micro-credentials will be completed and launched.
  • We currently have more than 11,000 micro-credential courses offered by our higher education institutions.
  • On the other hand, the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning, or APEL, allows applicants to use their experiences to earn credits in their study program.
  • As of June 2022, we have more than 26,000 applicants pursuing
  • I, personally, have had a wonderful experience with
  • I was able to complete my second Doctorate in the area that I am most passionate about, namely Women Entrepreneurship.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

  • We believe that the EduData Summit is very important in higher education as it provides a platform for international communities to discuss best practices in data-driven decision making.
  • We understand that the QS EduData Summit is being organized annually. One of our universities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, would like to offer to host the QS Higher Ed Summit Asia Pacific in Kuala Lumpur next year.
  • With that, thank you very Terima kasih.

Muat Turun:

pdf EduData Keynote Address (169 KB)

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