Malaysia to attract more foreign students

KOTA KINABALU: The Education Ministry hopes to double its annual income through foreign student enrolment from RM4.5bil currently to RM10bil by 2020.

It also hopes to increase the number of foreign students to 200,000 and getting at least two universities into the top 100 ranking in the world by then.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said he would like to achieve this target during his tenure as minister and improve the level of education at the same time.

“One of our research institutions has been listed as among the best in the world and this shows that we have achieved part of our target,” he said during the Sabah Zone education road show with the theme “Soaring Upwards” here yesterday.

He said this showed that the education system in Malaysia was world class.

“I am also pleased that our energy and fuel subject is among the top 100 and engineering is in the top 50 in the world,” he said.

Idris believed that tertiary institutions such as Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Univer­siti Sains Malaysia would be among the world’s top 100 institutions by 2020.

The road show is organised in line with the newly implemented Malaysian Education Blueprint (Higher Education) for 2015-2025.