Chinese university grads want equal treatment

Chinese university graduates not getting equal treatment in Malaysia is among the reasons hindering them from returning and serving the country upon passing out.

The United Association of Private Chinese Secondary School Committees Sabah (UA) wants the federal government to take heed and bring about an amicable solution.

“The federal government needs to iron out the many problems facing Malaysians who graduate from universities in China,” said UA chair Liew Sui Fatt.

“Graduates from China should be treated equally as their counterparts from local universities and other universities abroad.”

For starters, said Liew, the federal government should sign the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) between China and Malaysia on higher education degrees as soon as possible to resolve the anomalies.

Likewise, Sabah Tshung Tsin Secondary School governor Jimmy Yong Kyok Ming stressed the importance of building relationships with educational institutions in China via the MRA.

They were speaking yesterday on the sidelines of the 2011 China Higher Education Exhibition at Tshung Tsin in Kota Kinabalu. More than 30 institutions of higher learning from Hong Kong and China are taking part in the exhibition which has been held annually since 2003.

The UA chair noted that over 10,000 students from China are currently enrolled in local universities but only 3,000 Malaysians have opted to study in that country.

Popular courses, according to Liew, are Chinese and modern medicine, science, engineering, humanities, commerce, arts, sports, veterinary science and law.

Meanwhile, of the many students who pass through Chinese independent schools in Sabah annually, 77 percent pursue tertiary studies but only 8.5 percent make for Hong Kong and China, while 36 percent prefer other universities abroad.

He attributed the small number of Malaysians in China to the absence of the MRA as a discouraging factor.

Zhejiang University, among the top three institutions of its kind in China, was cited as a case in point. Of the 2,000 international students here, only 105 are Malaysian.

“The Malaysians in China can help maintain good ties with the country if the MRA becomes a reality,” Yong pointed out. “Secondary schools in Malaysia and higher learning institutions in China can foster close educational ties to create a win-win situation.”

The idea is that the MRA would facilitate schools in Sabah continuously interacting with tertiary institutions in China, sharing learning resources, forming sister schools, sending teachers to schools in China to learn and enter into an exchange of teachers.

“Chinese independent schools can shine in the global arena and show the world their academic standards and capabilities,” said Yong.

From the Chinese side, the Sabahans want scholarships and financial assistance and reservation of seats for courses relevant to Malaysia’s development. However, this does not mean that Malaysian students want Chinese universities to lower their entry requirements.

“If we can reserve specific courses for Malaysian students, they would be able to contribute to the nation and society when they graduate,” said Liew.

On the monetary side, the plus point is that university tuition fees in China generally are already in the low RM10,000 to RM14,000 per annum range, while living costs come to about RM4,000 per annum or less.

Exhibitors at Tshung Tsin admitted that non-recognition was particularly a sore point with the increasing number of Malaysian students enrolled in traditional Chinese medicine courses in recent years. Forty percent of the course content, it is said, covers modern medicine.

Last year, it was learnt, 20 Malaysians enrolled at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SUTCM) alone. Half of them were sponsored by the Chinese government. The university has 900 international students, including 80 Malaysians.

SUTCM Director of Admissions, Shen Qingfeng, stressed that Malaysians would be skeptical of the skills of traditional medicine practitioners in the country as long as they are not certified.

“We hope that Malaysian students can learn traditional medicine in China,” she said. “They can use their expertise to create a more professional environment as well as increase standards in the field.”

A five-year traditional medical degree at SUTCM, according to Shen, costs RM 14, 000 per annum. Students have the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree with an additional two years. A hostel room for two students costs RM3,000 a year while meals cost around RM10 per day.

Exhibitors generally say that Malaysian students in China have no problems with the Chinese language and have an advantage in English but may find mathematics difficult.