Mulling over mergers

MERGERS in education are fast becoming a global phenomenon, an inevitable response to the competitiveness of the education industry. In Britain, talk of university mergers have been bandied around for years, including unions between top institutions like London Guildhall and the University of North London (now called London Metropolitan); Glasgow University and Jordanhill College; and Edinburgh University and Moray House.  

On Malaysian shores, the proposal for such a move was mooted four years ago by then education minister Tan Sri Musa Mohamad. He wanted private colleges mergers to “maximise resources” in view of stiffer competition from regional markets and foreign education institutions. Musa envisioned reducing the number of private colleges from the 500-odd to less than 100.