Photo credit: University of Tsukuba, Malaysia homepage
Japan’s University of Tsukuba opened its Malaysia campus within the University of Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur on September 1. The signing ceremony was held in the presence of Minister of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia YB Dato' Seri Diraja Dr. Zambry Abd Kadir in the morning of September 2.
This new campus, called the School of Transdisciplinary Science and Design at the University of Tsukuba Malaysia offers four-year undergraduate degrees. The classes at this university are offered in Japanese, Malaysian, and English, with Japanese being a mandatory requirement.
Malaysia’s Minister of Higher Education Zambry Abdul Kadir attended the inauguration of the school, as the Malaysian government has been negotiating with Japan for more than six years for this type of cooperation. The former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, known for his “Look East” policy towards the rest of Asia, introduced this idea of a satellite campus in 2018.
“The journey to bring the University of Tsukuba’s branch campus [to Malaysia] began in 2018 and today’s ceremony marks the successful culmination of these efforts,” Kadir said at the inauguration. He added, “This milestone is not only a testament to our hard work but also a remarkable achievement in the history of our collaboration.
There are 14 faculty members on this campus from both the University of Tsukuba and the University of Malaya, with 40 more to join in the future. The courses offered are jointly developed by both universities and the fields offered include subjects such as information technology, political science, and comparative literature, among others.
The operating costs for this campus will be shouldered by the University of Tsukuba, but a hefty portion comes from subsidies from the Japanese government. In 2023, the Japanese Ministry of Education set aside a budget of 1.5 billion JPY (13,964,000,000 KRW) to globalize Japanese higher education. Japan’s “Top Global University” project’s objective is to showcase Japanese education internationally while developing skilled students internationally who are also fluent in Japanese.
A joint statement by UM and Tsukuba said: “Students will be able to work for global companies and organizations based in Malaysia or overseas, and play an active role in a sustainable manner after graduation.”
University of Tsukuba’s campus in Malaysia is being watched very closely to monitor their successes and failures in a test to see the future of such campuses. The lengthy bureaucratic timeline required and the large amounts of funds necessary to keep it in operation might cause a lot of universities to pause. A publicly funded institution may also upset Japanese citizens if they begin to feel the campus is unnecessary.
저작권자 ⓒ 국제학교뉴스, 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지