The Malaysian Association of Private Colleges and Universities (MAPCU), an association of 50 education providers, seeks to promote and develop the private education sector.

To meet the demands of the evolving market and establish Malaysia as an education hub, education providers need to come up with new courses and programmes that meet needs of students and the job market.

Its president, Tengku Shamsul Bahrin, said there must be an expansion in the number of programmes offered by providers to be a competitor in the world market.
“Private education is dynamic and education providers should be allowed to offer as many new programmes as they wish.”

Institutions should not be imposed with too many rules and regulations, which serve only to stiffle the development of liberal education, he added.

This is one of the major concerns of the association, which believes that education providers are overburdened to an extent, compared with neighbouring countries.

In fact, diversity in programmes is also a factor in attracting foreign students, as they will favour newer and more relevant programmes.

“If there were too many hurdles in the process, colleges will feel it too much of a hassle in introducing new programmes,” he said.

“If the process takes too long, many may not be able to provide these new programmes in an efficient and quick manner,” he added.

The association represents some of the bigger education providers and is responsible for 90 percent of the 3+1 twinning programmes in the country, a figure which also includes more than 50 percent of the student population at the tertiary level.

Another major concern of education providers is the keeping the costs down, an important factor as colleges need to keep the costs low to remain competitive and at the same time, not burden students.

Students need only pay less than half of the fees it would take to study abroad, a crucial factor for students, both local and foreign, with an eye on costs.

Colleges and universities place an emphasis on providing a well-rounded education for its students and this requires additional funds.

Costs should not be increased any further, as it would be sent back to the customer and colleges would lose their competitiveness, he said.

“Education is much wider than just academics. It encompasses character building, community consciousness and being sensitive to society's demands,” he said.

He said private education providers could benefit from some form of funding from the Government, especially in sporting and recreational facilities.

There is now no form of funding or assistance for the private education sector.

The association also works closely with the Ministry of Education and is recognized by the National Accreditation Board, The Multimedia Development Corporation, the Ministry of Finance, and the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's Department.

However, he said the private education sector would benefit from a representation by the association in the National Higher Education Council.

The association has been pushing for a representation at the council for some time, for it feels that it would be able to play an important and beneficial role there owing to its membership and reach. “We are committed to wards working together and assisting the Government in advantageous partnership, with transparency and clear-cut guidelines.”