Open up local education system ..BY: By Michael Sun ..LD: EDUCATION in Malaysia needs to cater to more international students and gain from them. China is increasingly seen as a major player in determining full employment in the Asean region, particularly.

(From New Straits Times (Malaysia))

EDUCATION in Malaysia needs to cater to more international students and gain from them. China is increasingly seen as a major player in determining full employment in the Asean region, particularly in countries that are open to trade and investment flows.

Malaysia needs to network with future Chinese industry captains, scientists and government officials to benefit from China's technological advances and its growing middle-class market.

"Mainland Chinese students are here on a private basis. We need to open our public universities to overseas students," said Tengku Shamsul Bahrin, president of the Malaysian Association of Private Colleges and Universities (MAPCU) and president of Nilai International College.

"China is a big market and we must adjust to competition and new developments," he added.

Malaysia's procedures to encourage foreign students to study here should be efficient and transparent, he said.

"Sometimes these are not efficient and some programmes take a long time to be approved. We have to create new programmes because the market changes fast as academic developments are speeded up by developments on the Internet," he said.

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