Catching up: Muhyiddin and his wife Puan Sri Nooraini Abdul Rahman mingling with the Malaysians in Dubai. – Bernama:-
DUBAI: Improvements to the Malaysian education system is a continuous process and whatever changes that are made for the betterment of students cannot be done overnight, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.
He said Malaysia was ranked 11th in the World Education Service Report of preferred destinations for higher education with the number of international students having increased to 93,000 now from 86,000 in 2010.
The Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013-2025) and the National Higher Education Strategic Plan had helped to improve aspects in the education system and make the country a regional hub for tertiary education, he said.
“We have been meeting many different groups on national education and we are working to improve the national education system.
“We hope to have an enrolment of 200,000 international students by 2020 with the higher education sector contributing between RM34bil and RM61bil to the gross national income at that time,” he said during a dinner with the Malaysian diaspora here on Friday night.
Later, he participated in a question-and-answer session with Malaysians staying in the Middle East.
Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said the MEB was not only to prepare Malaysian students for future and global challenges, but to help instil positive values, tolerance and unity among the younger generation.
“We are now facing new challenges in the form of new technology and the need for new jobs in specialised areas.
“This is where Talent Corp can come in to help bring Malaysian professionals overseas to come home and contribute,” he added.
On security, Muhyiddin admitted that more needed to be done although the crime index had seen a reduction.
He added that the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) would be beefed up while new assets would be obtained to stop encroachment and kidnapping cases.
Muhyiddin also briefed the Malaysians on the successes of the Government Transformation Prog-ramme (GTP) which had helped to improve the lives of the people, including 4.3 million rural folk.
“The Government, for example, built and maintained 4,000km of rural roads, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, since 2010.
“Investments reached RM216.5bil last year amid a more challenging global economic environment,” he added.
– The Star
