4. Tertiary Education
In order to meet the manpower requirements of a rapidly growing economy, tertiary education was directed at increasing enrollment at the degree, diploma and certificate levels, particularly in science, medicine, engineering and other technical related courses.. Efforts were undertaken to increase intake into local public institutions of higher learning by expanding physical facilities of existing campuses and establishing new universities. Opportunities for Bumiputera to pursue studies at the tertiary level were expanded at the Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM) where enrollment increased from 27.500 in 1990 to 35.480 in 1995. Enrollment at the degree, diploma and certificate levels increased by 52.7 per cent from 100.590 in 1990 to 153.610 in 1995. In 1995 an estimated 50.600 Malaysian students or 20 per cent of students in tertiary education were enrolled in various institutions overseas.14
PROSPECTS, 1996-2000
In order to meet the objective of education and skill training programs, which is to produce an adequate number of skilled and quality workforce to meet the manpower requirements of the country as well as produce citizens who are disciplined and possess high moral values and good work ethics, the following measures were suggested:
+ to increase the capacity of existing institutions and establishing new ones, particularly in science, engineering and other technical fields;
+ strengthen the delivery system through the provision of qualified and experienced teachers and instructors, as well as greater utilization of up to date technologies and computers so as to improve the overall quality;
+ improve the management and implementation of education and training programs through enhancing managerial capability as well as strengthening the monitoring and evaluating system;
+ strengthen research and development (R&D) within the existing institutions of higher learning as well s collaborating with local and foreign R&D institutions;
+ increase science and technical manpower, particularly in R&D;
+ provide appropriate incentives to increase enrollment in the science stream.
+ improve educational facilities in rural areas so as to reduce dropouts from the schools, while at the same time helping the children to perform better;
+ inculcate positive values and right attitudes as well as innovativeness, communication and analytical skills among students and trainees;
+ encourage reemployment of retired teachers to overcome the problems with shortages in critical subjects;
+ encourage more private sector investment in education and training to complement public sector efforts.15
As far as the future development of pre-school education is concerned, the Government targets at participation of at least 65 per cent of children in the age of 5-6. A comprehensive policy will be formulated for the development of pre-school education, covering major aspects such as curriculum, physical facilities and teacher training, in addition to further improvements of coordination and quality of pre-school education in the public and private sectors. In this respect the latter will be encouraged to provide more pre-school facilities. Furthermore, greater parental involvement in their children’s education will be encouraged to increase awareness of parents on the importance of pre-school education in their children’s development. New syllabus and teaching methods with emphasis to practical experience will be further developed.
As far as secondary education is concerned, the enrollment at the secondary level in Government and Government-aided schools is expected to increase by 25 per cent from about 1.6 million in 1995 to 2.0 million in the year 2000. The increase will be more significant at the upper secondary level with the extension of basic education from nine to 11 years. A total of 9,770 new classrooms will be built in order to accommodate the increase in enrollment and reduce overcrowding.16 Teaching method which are simple, practical and interesting will continue to be used in order to increase student’s interest as well as improve their performance. Appropriate incentives will be provided to science students so as to increase enrollment in the science stream. Taking into account the latest technological development, the use of computers in secondary schools will be extensively promoted to build a strong foundation for a computer literate society. Extensive monitoring and evaluation of student’s performance at all levels will be undertaken, in addition to development of new teaching and learning approaches so as to enhance student’s academic performance.
With the country’s rapid industrialization, the demand for and educated and skilled workforce will increase in tandem. Taking this into consideration, the development of tertiary education during the next five years will aim at following:
+ increase capacity to meet the growing local demand for higher education as well as developing higher education as an export industry, making Malaysia a regional center of higher education;
+ improve quality and relevance of courses offered so as to match the national requirements;
+ increase the enrollment at the first degree level in local public institutions for those on the 19-24 age group from 3.5 per cent in 1995 to 5.6 per cent in the year 2000;
+ increase the capacity for post graduate courses from 11.5 per cent of total enrollment at the degree level in 1995 to at least 14 per cent in the year 2000;
+ increase the capacity of enrollment in the science, engineering and technical related courses so as to intensify the production the production of manpower with science and technological knowledge, in order to meet the rapid industrialization requirements;
+ increase the capacity and capability to undertake research and development (R&D), particularly those which are relevant to industrial and services sectors’ requirements
+ increase private sector participation to supplement Government efforts in expanding tertiary education opportunities, while at the same time helping to reduce the growing public expenditure on education.16
INCREMENTALIST MODEL: a framework for evaluation
After the discussion on the public policies on education adopted by the Government, it would be useful to evaluate the policy using one of the models of public policy making from class lectures, i.e. the incrementalist model of public policy making.
Incrementalist argue that every policy adopted by the government is a continuation of the past governmental policies or activities, with some modifications. The new policy will be slightly modified, and will not bring anything new, as government just tries to adjust itself to new situations. Because of time constraints to look for alternatives, unavailability of resources, cost of information and other reasons, government continues with past policies, instead of new policies, but with some modifications. New public policies are seen as variations of the past ones because people are familiar with the public policy, and slight modification gives legitimacy to it; government lacks the time and it is difficult to collect all the information and data needed on time; the permanent bureaucrats have their own framework unless they could be convinced of need for a completely new system, they would not wait to do it.
In case of education policy adopted by Malaysian government, and looking into it through the incremental model of public policy, it is obvious that most of the policies taken by the government can be characterized falling under the incremental model of public policy making. Education is not a rapidly changing and dynamic field where one has to be radical and ever-changing. Rather it is a consistent and involatile system where changes are not so rapid as they are in other social institutions. Of course one cannot argue that all the policies are made based on this model of public policies, not all the public policies are made based on incrementalist view of policy making, it would be inefficiency of the government to adopt all the policies based on this model of public policy making. Policies are made based on rationality, public choice model, the game model, systems model depending on the issue, time, interests or in other words defining and determining objectives of a particular issue at hand. Education is a field that reinforces and improves itself from past experience, therefore most of the policies are just continuation of past policies with a view of adaptation to new situations for betterment and progress to meet the social, economic and political needs and requirements of the society.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion one could say that education is accorded a high priority in nation building in order to cater for socio-economic as well as political needs and requirements of the society, which is undergoing a rapid socio-economic change. With this respect, 11 years of education system is aimed at providing a sufficient pool of well-educated, highly-skilled and strongly motivated labor force as well as to produce responsible citizens with high moral and ethical values. The government is facilitating change and seeking innovative approaches to expand the education base. With the adoption of corporatization, a market sensitive education is evolving, giving chance to private sector to participate in nation-building by providing education in areas of high demand, and where government is not efficient enough. The effectiveness of governmental policies on education is very much reflected in the social and political stability of the country, which is on the way of establishing itself as fully industrialized country in the 21st century. Though the country is presently undergoing an economic slowdown, the government sees its success in education of the population and therefore allocates financial support accordingly; more and more classes and schools are built, more institutions of higher learning are expanding themselves due to the high demand which is increasing throughout the country.