Foreign students are no longer finding Malaysia as an attractive place to study because of rising fees and delays in student visa approvals.

This delay comes after the haste in setting up a private company, Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS), in February to monitor foreign students.

Even until today, EMGC is unable to operate to its fullest as hundreds of foreign student applications for visas have not been approved.

Though owned by the government of Malaysia, under Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), EMGS is supposed to operate as a private company. It was set up on the directive of the minister, Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

mied aimst medical college centre faculity 050109 03 According to education officers, a businessman and friend of the minister spearheaded the setting up of EMGS, to which private institutions have to pay exorbitant fees.

The EMGS, private institutions are saying, is suffocating tertiary education in the country, as foreign students have to pay various fees of more than RM1,800 from Feb 1, compared with about RM400 previously.

Several foreign governments sending students to Malaysia on scholarship have withdrawn their applications after facing delays in getting students visas.

The new fees include immigration processing (RM1,000), visa fees (RM60 to RM90 depending on country of origin), insurance (RM500 for normal and RM800 for premium) and medical check-up (above RM250).

Umno cronies in the picture

Students are complaining that some Umno cronies and businessmen may be working hand-in-glove with ministry officers behind the EMGS and this has delayed their study visas.

National Association of Bumiputera Private Higher Educational Institutions Malaysia (PKIMB) president Zainuddin Wazir said they have appealed to MOHE to get the system right and process visas faster.

"PKIBM and two other private associations have jointly appealed to the MOHE by presenting a paper on streamlining the visa and other approvals without extra costs. We hope this issue will be resolved soon," Zainuddin said.

Educators and students see Malaysia as having excellent infrastructure to support the higher education sector, even before MOHE was established.

Unfortunately, it has systematically been brought to its knees - not by the institutions or the students, but by the bureaucratic regulatory regime intent on controlling and squeezing the life out of the sector instead of facilitating its growth.

No longer the 'darling' of investors

Things have deteriorated so badly now that the education sector is no longer the darling of investors and entrepreneurs eager to sink their funds into what has for long been a high-value business with tremendous returns, a private institution head said.

Asked about this, Higher Education Department director-general of Rujhan Mustafa said in a brief reply: "EMGS is a standalone agency under MOHE. It is not under my department. Since it is involved in the higher education industry, I personally want to make things easier, transparent and attractive to the players.

"I have asked the CEO of EMGS to go to the ground, to talk to the players. I am also engaging with them... We will definitely look into the matter for further action by EMGS."

EGMS chief executive officer Mohd Yazid Abd Hamid said in a statement that the RM1,000 processing fee for a new foreign student visa application was to relieve the government's burden of global efforts in marketing Malaysia.

Universities and colleges are refuting this, saying they have spent millions of ringgit on marketing their institutions over the years and that the government was duplicating their efforts.

On the visa approval delays, Yazid said: "The applications we have received so far have been processed within the 14-day time-frame and the rest are currently being processed to meet the given time-line."

Higher learning institutions have been holding daily meetings with EMGS, but no action has been taken to get their foreign students visas approved, several said.

'Negotiations with AXA Affin open and transparent'

Meanwhile, insurance agents are upset with EMGS for appointing an insurance company with favoured contract status as the sole provider for the compulsory general insurance coverage for all foreign students.

Yazid's response: "Negotiations with AXA Affin were done through an open and transparent procurement procedure."

Insurance agent Pee Che Yong in a letter to ther Public Complaints Bureau of the Prime Minister's Department said the EMGS had ruled that students can only buy their insurance through the EMGS.

With these untried and untested systems implemented, captains in the education sector see the enrolment of foreign students dropping as they are sceptical of EMGS being able to deliver to their expectations.

M KRISHNAMOORTHY is a freelance journalist and local coordinator for CNN, BBC and several other foreign television networks. He was formerly a journalist with The Star and New Straits Times and has authored four books.