Malaysia’s international schools are receiving government and global attention as a result of being considered a critical part of the country’s Economic Transformation Programme.

In its aim to become a high-income nation by 2020, the government has identified education as one of twelve national key economic areas for Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme. Two government-led projects within this focus on education include scaling up and promoting Malaysia’s international schools.

The government sees a number of reasons to develop international schools in the country. These include supporting the expanding schooling needs of expats, meeting the demands of repatriating Malaysians, retaining Malaysians who would otherwise consider international options for schooling, attracting parents from other countries to choose Malaysia as a school destination for their children, and giving increased school choices to local Malaysian families.

International School Options in Malaysia Today

According to recent data from ISC Research (part of The International School Consultancy Group, ISC) which has been researching the worldwide international school market for over 25 years, there are currently 133 English-medium international schools in Malaysia. This includes preschools, primary, secondary, and schools that teach all grades K-12. Combined, they are presently teaching a total of 53,000 students and employing over 5,400 full time staff, mostly expatriate, fully qualified teachers from English-speaking countries including the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the US.

Kuala Lumpur has the largest number of international schools; 27 are located in and around the city, educating over 17,000 students. Other major centres for international schools are Penang and Johor Bahru. Most of the international schools in Malaysia (63%) follow a UK-oriented curriculum. A further 8% are American oriented American-oriented in their teaching and learning. More than half (62%) say they are also take an international approach in their learning, and a quarter of all Malaysia’s international schools are bilingual. Fifteen international schools deliver the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. About 8% of the international schools in Malaysia have over 1,000 students, while 69% have less than 500 students.

Growth of Malaysia’s International Schools

Since 2009, ISC reports that student enrollment in Malaysia’s international schools has grown by 84% and the number of staff has increased by 94%. This growth is expected to continue for several years to come and ISC predicts that all of Malaysia’s international schools – including new schools – will see increased enrollment of both expatriate and local students in forthcoming years.

One significant impact on the demand and changing face of Malaysia’s international schools took place in 2012 with the lifting of restrictions affecting the number of Malaysian citizens who were able to attend international schools. A 40% cap, or as it was called, a quota, was removed and no new limitations put in its place. This now means that international schools are legally entitled to enrol up to 100% Malaysian nationals if they choose. A number of leading schools in the country are aiming for a 50:50 ratio of local and expatriate children; representing within their intake an increasingly popular overarching international school ethos that combines both local culture and English medium, internationally-oriented learning. This option is proving attractive to an increasing number of local middle-class families due to the requirement within the Malaysian curriculum for national schools to teach Maths and Science in the medium of Bahasa Malaysia (the Malay language).

New Developments for International Schools

One recent development supported by the Malaysian government and attracting global attention are educational hubs. These are expansive learning campuses housing a range of schools and universities, designed to provide high quality internationally-oriented education for students of all ages, including tertiary education.

The new Kuala Lumpur Education City (KLEC) is one example of this. The hub has attracted some prestigious schools including the UK’s Epsom College. This is the first overseas campus for Epsom College which will have capacity for 900 students aged 11 to 18 in a, predominantly boarding, senior school. It will eventually have an additional 500 students in its prep school, which is currently being built on a separate site. The school is following the example of several other independent British schools, and still more are expected to follow suit.

A second education hub, EduCity is also in development in Iskandar located in the State of Johor neighbouring Singapore. Other new international school developments are the IGB International School in Kuala Lumpur which opens its doors for the new 2014-2015 academic year, and Taylor’s International School in Puchong, a British curriculum school which opens in January 2015.

ISC says new international school developments in Malaysia over the next three to five years will contribute a 39% increase in international school student places. “Plans to develop international education in the country are likely to produce an upward trend in the country’s skilled labour force,” states ISC’s latest Demographic Study and International Schools Market Intelligence Report on Malaysia.

The International School Consultancy Group (ISC) is the leading organisation in the world for market intelligence on the international schools market. More information is available at www.iscresearch.com.

Text by Anne Keeling of The International School Consultancy Group ISC [email protected] Tel: 02920 712265 Mobile: 07906 353 863

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Source: The Expat magazine June 2015