Higher education in Malaysia: Quantity over quality

Four hundred and fourteen private colleges for a population of just 28 million people, of whom three million are migrant workers, must seem like an eye-popping number to most people.
What was the Malaysian government thinking when it allowed all these schools to mushroom?
Whatever it was thinking, it has now changed its mind. Effective from Feb 1, no more new private colleges will be allowed for two years.
Notwithstanding the ban, the government will still review the cases of a handful of schools seeking to upgrade their status, seeking international rankings or considering building new campuses.
All these colleges have created a sea of unemployed graduates who cannot find the cushy jobs they hoped would be waiting for them when they graduated. But there is no point in giving out too many scrolls if the scroll is not worth the paper it is printed on. In any case, will a two-year moratorium make any difference? This is not the first attempt to slow the growth of private colleges. The government imposed such bans earlier in the fields of dentistry, medicine and nursing.
The thinking now is that there are ample private higher learning institutions in the country to meet the demand.
As of November 2012, Malaysia had 37 private universities, 30 private college universities, seven international branch campuses, and 414 private colleges offering certificates and diplomas in various fields. Read more...