15,000 Johor Students Study in S’pore

Rather than getting their education locally, some 15,000 students from Johor have opted to pursue their studies in various private schools in Singapore. The revelation was made recently during the Johor state assembly sitting where assemblymen were discussing the reason the local education is being ditched.

Better facilities and Singapore’s reputation as a world class education provider have driven many of the parents to send their kids crossing the bridge in order to get the best out of their children. Without a doubt, getting education in Singapore is not cheap but many of the parents come from the wealthy family who can afford the high fees in the hope of high return in the form of accomplished students. These parents also prefer their children to be taught in English medium schools.

Singapore also consistently has a representative in the world’s top 10 universities in a number of fields including engineering and business. When it comes to studies, Malaysia is not even close with the neighbouring country, and often finding itself struggling to slot even one university into the top 200 university list. Last year, Malaysia does not have representation in the top 200 best universities compiled by the THE-QS, and this year, only UM made it.

Assemblymen are concerned with the development, and Johor state education department is now looking at ways to set up more private schools locally, especially in the newly developed Iskandar Malaysia region. At the same time, effort is being made to upgrade local primary and secondary schools in terms of facilities, infrastructure, academic standard and development of staff.

The chairman of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development, Education and Higher Learning committee, Datuk Maulizan Bujang maintained that the state local schools “have been recognized as one of the best among developing countries and there is no question about standards.”

Other posts you may want to read:

1. Higher Education Ministry Carnival 2010
2. GSM-UPM Hailed as Malaysia’s Top Business School
3. 9 Universities Battling For APEX Status
4. Manipal University Status Leaves Medical Students Bummed
5. The THE-QS University Ranking
6. Excessive First Class Students in UK
7. The ASEAN Scholarship
8. UM To Reduce Undegraduate Students

Author's bio: Zul is the founder and principal contributor for the SKOR Career blog. He is the author of two books, The Malaysian Job Seeker's Dilemma and Buat Duit Tanpa Kerja Makan Gaji (How to Make Money Without a Job), available in major book stores nationwide. You can reach him at zulkiflimusa[at]gmail.com.