IT IS indeed heartening to have confirmation from our Prime                                                                                           
Minister that preparations are onstream to make Malaysia a                                                                                            
centre of educational excellence, reducing the outward flow of                                                                                        
students overseas and attracting overseas students.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
One important psychological BARRIER that is being removed is                                                                                          
that English will be allowed in the teaching of technological                                                                                         
subjects at our local universities.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
This move is timely as we have everything going for it and                                                                                            
virtually nothing against it.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
The move is all the more compelling as we already suffer from                                                                                         
a foreign exchange leakage in excess of RM2 billion annually                                                                                          
to support our students overseas.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
In fact, our student body in Australia and the UK accounts for                                                                                        
the most dominant group of overseas students in these                                                                                                 
countries.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
We are fully conscious that the services sector will be                                                                                               
required to contribute more powerfully towards the achievement                                                                                        
of Vision 2020.  Traditionally we identify financial and                                                                                              
banking services hospitality and the other invisibles of                                                                                              
freight, insurance and professional services as the key                                                                                               
drivers of the sector                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
But we have, until recently grossly overlooked the potential                                                                                          
of education.                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
In many developed countries and even with our closest                                                                                                 
neighbour Singapore, education is classified as an industry,                                                                                          
capable of attracting enormous foreign exchange and generating                                                                                        
employment opportunities for a vast number of intellectuals                                                                                           
and supporting staff                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
Not only is this positioning based on economic rationale but                                                                                          
also, importantly, a developed education industry helps retain                                                                                        
intellectual brainpower which can be put to work to improve                                                                                           
the quality of life of our society                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
Malaysia is at the centre of the economic region and we should                                                                                        
vigorously exploit the opportunities that are unfolding.                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
Economically: we have performed very well, having exploited                                                                                           
our national resources (particularly energy), our                                                                                                     
manufacturing and our construction activities. But natural                                                                                            
resources tend to exhaust manufacturing is fickle and                                                                                                 
construction has a ceiling.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
The service sector, on the other hand, is limitless if                                                                                                
education, technology and scientific progress is included. The                                                                                        
limits to intellectual expression are only constrained by the                                                                                         
frontiers of the mind.                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
We need the stimulus and nourishment of academic and                                                                                                  
professional vigour to grow and flourish as a scientifically                                                                                          
driven society and heed the substantial contributions that                                                                                            
Waseda, Harvard, Oxford and the Sorborne made to the                                                                                                  
modernisation of their respective countries.                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
We have the comparative advantage in the region-an educated                                                                                           
and literate society, intellectual freedom, good                                                                                                      
infrastructure, living comforts and a tradition of investing                                                                                          
in the education of the next generation.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
Continuing adult education is already a reality with us as                                                                                            
vendors from private colleges to consulting organisations to                                                                                          
professional institutes provide us the opportunity to continue                                                                                        
our study into undergraduate and graduate degrees.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
Even medical education through twinning arrangements is now                                                                                           
the most recent opportunity. The new focus should be to make                                                                                          
Malaysia a reputable centre of educational excellence for                                                                                             
designated disciplines that will attract inward bound students                                                                                        
from the region.                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
Most developed countries encourage this and many have started                                                                                         
to attract foreign students- we should not miss this vital                                                                                            
opportunity as a major vehicle for our own development.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
But we do need to dismantle laws and regulations that                                                                                                 
currently hinder the proposed educational revolution. Five                                                                                            
years ago I tried to set up an educational establishment in                                                                                           
Singapore only to be advised by the authorities that it was                                                                                           
not yet possible because of restrictive Singapore regulations.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
At that time we were already pri vatising education in                                                                                                
Malaysia. Since then Singapore has moved deliberately to                                                                                              
remove all obstacles and has introduced Open University                                                                                               
through the Singapore Institute of Management. The stage for                                                                                          
competitive action in education has already arrived.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
One area of action is the required amendments to the Education                                                                                        
and the Universities and University Colleges Acts, mooted                                                                                             
years ago but yet to be tabled in Parliament.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
Another is effective co-ordination with Immigration so that                                                                                           
movement of bona fide overseas academicians and students into                                                                                         
the country is not impeded by bureaucratic delays.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
Yet another is the extension of incentives to this emerging                                                                                           
sector.  Because of high investments and long gestation                                                                                               
periods for specific educational opportunities like                                                                                                   
engineering, technology and the applied sciences, the industry                                                                                        
could well be stimulated by pioneer status or other forms of                                                                                          
governmental support.                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
If we are able to divert part of the RM2 billion back into the                                                                                        
country plus capture part of the huge expenditure that our                                                                                            
neighbours also spend in pursuing overseas education, the                                                                                             
market is, indeed enormous.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
Properly nurtured and developed the education industry should                                                                                         
be a significant contribution to Vision 2020.