STRATEGIC PLAN - Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi

Critical Agenda ProjectsPRIVATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATIONIntroductionQuality human capital is a major prerequisite to ensure continuity in the development of the country.Towards this end, such duties and responsibilities are also borne by private HEIs in the country. Twothrusts outlined in the National Higher Education Strategic Plan (PSPTN) focused directly on the roles tostrengthen institutions of higher education and to manage access and equity.At present there are 452 registered and active private institutions offering various programmes ofstudy at Certificate, Diploma, Bachelor, Masters and Doctorate levels. Of these, 23 Private HEIs areof University status, 21 University Colleges and 403 Colleges, while five others are foreign universitybranch campuses. As of December 2010, 8114 programmes have been approved by the Departmentof Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education, to be offered at private institutions, of which about59% have fulfilled MQA requirements and have been accredited. In addition, from December 2010,these Private HEIs, with the strength of 25 486 trainers, have been providing opportunities for 408,034students to further their studies at various levels of study. From this number of teaching staff, 55.1% ofthem possess Master degree and PhD or other equivalent qualifications. With the capacity of spaceand existing trainers, private institutions currently have a student enrolment at Master’s and PhD levelstotalling 24,468, or about 6% of the total enrolment in private institutions.Phase 2 FocusPrivate HEIs will continue to play a role in providing educational opportunities in the country. Apart fromproviding educational opportunities, the quality of education will continue to be the main agenda of theimplementation of PSPTN Phase 2. To this end, several strategies have been formulated to achieve the goal.• Access to Higher EducationThe rapid growth of Private HEIs has improved access to higher education for Malaysians. Thislays a strong foundation towards achieving the aspirations of the country to allow at least 50%of its population, particularly for the cohort aged 17 to 23 years, to receive higher education bythe year 2015. By providing admission to various fields of study by private institutions contributetowards education democratisation by increasing the number of Malaysians gaining access tothe highest level of education of his choice and according to his capability.To achieve the goal of enhancing the level of access to private higher education, the following56The National Higher Education Action Plan 2011 - 2015