BY ANGIE NG
angie@thestar.com.my

Opportunities abound for well-planned and holistic learning cities.

EDUCATION  is undoubtedly the basic foundation to build a strong, stable and progressive world, based on the notion that educated people will have a higher propensity to absorb knowledge, and hopefully will be able to contribute towards a more progressive and harmonious world for all mankind to thrive.

Taylor's University Lakeside Campus in Subang Jaya.

According to famous American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The secret in education lies in respecting the student.” This is more so in the current information age and the opening up of so many channels of information and learning platforms, that with the proper hardware and software, quantum leap progress can be made by mankind through education. After all, the human mind has immense power and can achieve great things, even seemingly insurmountable feats or miracles.

In order for Malaysia to up its ante and progress into a robust nation status, much more needed to be done to provide the best education we possibly can to all Malaysians – from primary school right up to tertiary levels.

Given the increasing student population in the country, there is a need for more education hubs and cities to be established that can potentially yield many intrinsic benefits, including massive savings in foreign exchange (forex) expenses – a rising cost that is being further exemplified by the sharp drop in the ringgit, and potentially also bring in more forex earnings to the country, if we have our own crop of Ivy League institutions that will be able to attract quality students to our shores.

Well-planned education cities and hubs will require holistic planning to bring together reputable institutions that cater to the different ages of students, accommodation for the students and academic staff, good connectivity to major highways, and also the various ancillary facilities for the communities living there.

Forward-looking and visionary developers need to offer unique selling propositions in their developments that include spicing up their project offerings with value-adding features and amenities, and one of the game-changing themes being deployed by developers is education-themed developments that cater to the needs of young families with growing up children.

Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultants in the Private Sector Malaysia (PEPS) president Datuk Siders Sittampalam. Siders is also PPC International Sdn Bhd managing director.

According to property consultancy, PPC International Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Siders Sittampalam, education cities are part of mega integrated or township developments that comprise residential, commercial, industrial and other public amenities such as medical facilities, leisure and entertainment parks. They will contribute to the development of new growth areas, especially where growth in some states is relatively slower.

“Educational cities bring immense social and economic benefits to the country, and they are considered the most valuable initiatives undertaken by any government in pursuit of nation building.

“Domestically, it provides wide and systematic education to the youth of the nation. Harnessing our education prowess not only brings economic benefits, it enhances our human capital and creates a highly skilled and specialised workforce. It will also encourage our students to engage in research-based pursuits and industries.”

He says Malaysia has positioned itself to a large extent as a regional education hub that is attributed by competitive course fees, varied study options, and branches of international university campuses at affordable cost. This is further underpinned by relatively low living cost, a safe and peaceful country, and political stability.

Siders, who is also the president of Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultants in the Private Sector Malaysia (PEPS), elaborates that while there are a number of education cities in the country, they are mainly concentrated in the southern and central regions.

“There is scope for more education cities to be developed in the northern region, especially in Penang, and the eastern region, notably in Terengganu and Kelantan. This would expand the educational opportunities to the local people there and contribute to the growth of property development in those areas. Also, it will create multi-disciplinary and specialised courses to be made available in the country. For example, education cities in the northern region may be of medical and manufacturing-based courses,” Siders observes.

Savills Malaysia deputy managing director Paul Khong concurs, noting that education cities are great stories for development in Malaysia.

"This sector is almost recession-proof as most parents give high priority to their children’s education, while cutting back on other expenses. Many newer projects are now being moved into education city(s) for better synergy and larger land plots for development with the various incentives offered," Khong says.

Knight Frank Malaysia managing director Sarkunan Subramaniam says by harnessing quality education at affordable cost will benefit a wider student population, reduce forex outflow to other countries, attract foreign direct investment into the country, slows down brain drain, and drives economic and innovation growth.

University of Reading Malaysia’s new campus in EduCity, Iskandar Malaysia.

Education hubs or cities will be able to provide good manpower to businesses within the rest of the developments and form the resource pool of educated and skilled workforce, besides raising academic standard and improving job prospects for the people.

Sarkunan notes that good education cities should be equipped with the basic facilities and infrastructure such as quality and affordable student accommodation, leisure facilities such as campus sports and activities, arts and cultural activities, easy access to and from campus (cycling paths), and to train stations and airports, as well as convenience stores, banks, groceries, mini-markets, hypermarkets, post office, and food and beverage outlets.

“Malaysia has several education hubs or cities, notably EduCity in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor, that comprises a cluster of international universities (Malaysian campus) and institutions such as Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, University of Southampton, University of Reading, Management, Marlborough College Malaysia, and Management Development Institute of Singapore.

“In Cyberjaya - Putrajaya, Selangor, there are Multimedia University, Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, and Limkokwing University of Creative Technology; while Nilai boasts of a number of prestigious institutions, including Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, INTI International University & Colleges, Nilai University, Nilai Polytechnic, Manipal International University, Cempaka International Ladies’ College, and British international school Epsom College in Bandar Enstek Campus.”'

He says the Klang Valley is another bastion for education, with Taylor’s University, Sunway University, HELP University, KDU University College, and International Medical University among the reputable institutions. In Sepang, Sunsuria City will be home to the new Xiamen University Malaysia Campus.

Kampar, Perak, has Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar), Tuanku Abdul Rahman University College (Perak campus) and Westlake International School.

Scope for new education corridors

Another upcoming education hub will be located in Pagoh, Johor, where the first phase of the development will comprise Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, International Islamic University Malaysia, UTM and Politeknik Pagoh.

Sarkunan says there is a need to expand courses and programmes offered by the local campuses of foreign universities to cater to a wider student population, given that selected universities only offer limited courses and programmes currently, and also to ensure that the teaching staff is adequate and competent.

“Malaysia can take a leaf from other successful education cities, including London, Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore and Hong Kong. The upcoming global education hubs include Dubai in UAE, Doha in Qatar and Jeju in South Korea,” he adds.

Malaysian REIT Managers Association chairman Datuk Stewart Labrooy.

Malaysian REIT Managers Association chairman Datuk Stewart Labrooy points out that education cities in Malaysia are a work in progress, noting that Malaysia has used transnational education strategically to meet demand from specific student population groups and to cap the outflow of currency via students who study abroad.

“The country has taken a market-oriented approach and has ambitions to become a regional hub for international education. It aims to attract 150,000 international students by this year. It is envisaged that a proportion of those international students will be attracted to one of the foreign branch campuses (of which there were eight – mainly Australian and UK – as of January 2013 according to statistics compiled by British Council, 2013), established with the encouragement of the Government.

“This led to the EduCity concept and the first major development of this concept is EduCity Iskandar,” Labrooy says.

Meanwhile, facilities for other types of education and training are also important. These include vocational training institutes, not-for profit schools, research centres and schools that enable young people to receive their A-Levels after some time in the labour market.

The direct impact on the local economy will be through tuition fees or student expenses incurred within the country, and also the talented and educated labour pool if the students stay back to work and live in the country. There is also job creation at the education institutions and spillover effect to the other businesses that will benefit from the student and teacher population.

Labrooy says besides facilities like sports facilities, transportation, pubs, cafes, shopping malls, entertainment outlets, student accommodation and research facilities, there should be room for academic discourse.

“In order to be truly competitive, the education cities in Malaysia should host academic events, or invite guest speakers, and make sure that the universities and the cities will be known for their academic successes and academic freedom,” Labrooy stresses.

Artist's impression of Management Development Institute of Singapore in EduCity, Iskandar Malaysia.

Siders gave his thumbs up to EduCity in Iskandar Malaysia as probably the best planned educational city in Malaysia that will have 600 acres of fully integrated development comprising universities, institutes of higher education, R&D centres, student accommodation, as well as recreational and sport facilities – a first of its kind in Asia.

“The educational theme can be a catalyst for commercial and social activities that will promote businesses, communities and other sectors with the concentration of the student community. This further enhances the quality of workers in respect of knowledge in the country and the region at large.

“A well-trained and educated workforce will be better equipped to develop new industries. This will lead to a knowledge economy and society. In addition and on a larger perspective, Malaysia as an educational hub will lead to higher inflow of foreign funds into the country.”

Siders says successful education cities should have good public transportation such as MRT/LRT, shuttle bus, student accommodation with sports and recreational facilities and other basic amenities.

Labrooy also gave his vote to EduCity in Iskandar Malaysia as a pioneering multi-varsity education hub located in Nusajaya, comprising universities and institutes of higher education, academia-industry action and R&D centres, as well as student accommodation, shared sports and recreational facilities.

“EduCity aspires to create Asia’s first 'best-in-class' higher education destination with a superior urban environment in which students and staff can live, work, study and play. There is space for eight international universities to share facilities and, ideally, offer complementary provision. From the perspective of the three UK universities involved (Newcastle University, University of Southampton and University of Reading), the intention was for different institutions to offer courses in an area of specialist expertise (such as medicine and engineering). To this end, exclusivity agreements were provided to certain institutions so that they have a monopoly on delivering EduCity-based courses in a particular subject area for a number of years.”

Labrooy, however, observes that student numbers at EduCity currently seem to lag behind expectations (except for Marlborough College which is growing better than expected).

“There is a massive delay in construction and most campuses are expected to fully operate only in 2017 or later,” he adds.

Labrooy says Kuala Lumpur Education City, which was launched in 2007, has not progressed as expected (except for Epsom College which has opened its doors) and the website does not work. "The time horizon for this one looks like it's going to be 15 to 20 years," he adds.

"Meanwhile, Pagoh Education Hub in Johor, will not have any international universities but rather have mainly Malaysian universities operating there with the exception of a cooperation with Imperial College. There is also no website to check,” he says.

There are a number of issues that needed to be fixed, including marketing, financing, and ensuring a high reputation and academic discourse which includes freedom of speech and the right to discuss diverging political opinions openly.

“Not being fully operational and benefiting from economics of scale also means that universities have to offer the full range of services and cannot benefit from sharing facilities, services and cost with other universities just yet.

“In order for the education city to really work, universities should enable students to cross-register at the different universities to ensure a holistic education and not a single focus on one subject, and also to make use of the concept of one campus for multiple universities from different countries and with different focuses,” Labrooy concludes.