From quality control to quality assurance and enhancement

PEOPLE see private tertiary education in Malaysia as a showcase of entrepreneurship and free enterprise. The business is often thought of as one of those industries that have independently prospered, their growth largely driven by the players’ initiative and enthusiasm rather than by Government will.

That is not true, of course. Some policy decisions have had deep impact on the industry, and one of these was the move in the mid-1990s to increase access to higher education by expanding the public tertiary education system and liberalising the private education sector.