The government of Malaysia has approved long-stalled plans by an organization representing the country’s Chinese residents to establish its own private university.
The new institution, to be known as the University of Tunku Abdul Rahman, or U.T.A.R., will operate under the governance of the Malaysian Chinese Association, the country’s dominant political and cultural grouping of Chinese Malaysians, who account for some 30 percent of the country’s 22 million inhabitants.
It is expected that the institution’s main campus will be in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, with branch campuses in several other states.
The university will offer degree courses in science, technology, and business management, with the possibility that it will create a new medical school for the country as well. Depending on the programs being taught, the languages of instruction are expected to be a mix of English, Malay, and Mandarin Chinese.
No timetable has yet been announced for when the university will open its doors, although the Chinese association has already promised that U.T.A.R. will be open to academically qualified students of all races.
Some critics had earlier warned that any such new university would ultimately cater exclusively to Chinese students, just as a number of existing national universities have for many years been confined almost entirely to Malay students and faculty members.
The announcement, which was made by the country’s Ministry of Education, follows more than 30 years of frequently heated lobbying by Chinese educators to establish a university to complement the three existing Chinese-administered tertiary institutions in Malaysia, which provide vocational training.
Privately administered Chinese schools in the country already enroll more than 600,000 pupils, 10 percent of whom are ethnically non-Chinese.
A 14-year campaign to establish what would have been known as Merdeka University as a national institution of Chinese higher learning ended abruptly in 1982 after the nation’s highest court ruled the plan unconstitutional.
In a statement, an official of the Malaysian Chinese Association, Ng Yen Yen, said the latest plans would be critical in helping Malaysia meet its self-imposed deadline of 2020 for becoming a fully industrialized economy, as well as stemming the tide of young Chinese students who until now have often pursued opportunities for study abroad, particularly in Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.
“As part of the country’s goal to be a fully developed nation, we must give our young every advantage and every opportunity to achieve this,” Ms. Ng said. “The whole nation, and not just the Chinese community, will gain from it.”
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