Cooperation of ministries needed to attract more international students - Noraini

NILAI: The commitment and cooperation of strategic partners from various ministries can help the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) achieve its target of 250,000 international student enrolments in local universities by 2025.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad said planning, formulation of policies and determining effective strategies involving ministries should go hand in hand so that all initiatives can be implemented and be on the right track.

She said the effort needs to involve various parties, including the Home Ministry; Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry; Immigration Department; and Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS).

"The contribution from all quarters is needed to enhance the growth of international students and staff, in addition to increasing inbound and outbound mobility.

"Promotional activities and strategic cooperation also need to be improved," she said in her speech at the 2022 Higher Education Seminar at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) here today.

Also present were MOHE secretary-general Datuk Seri Abdul Razak Jaafar and USIM vice-chancellor Prof Ts Dr Sharifudin Md Shaarani.

Noraini said that so far, 131,255 international students are registered with higher education institutions across the country, and the number of applications increased by up to 32 per cent last year.

A total of 44 papers were presented in three sessions of the seminar, which involved 145 participants from 29 local universities and six foreign institutions.

Meanwhile, Sharifudin said the seminar themed 'Accelerating Sustainable Higher Education Internationalisation Aspirations' discussed the efforts to implement internationalisation programmes and their effectiveness.

-- BERNAMA