YH: We set up to do three things- the first is to develop Malaysia as a hub for education and training. Not just regionally but we have the aspiration to become a global player as well. Second to promote Malaysia in terms of both the education offering as well as training and finally to become a one-stop centre pertaining to the national student visa management and processing. Our services are actually used before a student comes to the country, at the time of arrival and eventually at the time when they are in the country– so we provide an end-to-end service.

We are in the process of creating a national arrival centre at the airport

We are in the process of creating a national arrival centre at the airport and then at the same time we also provide a rapid access information system for the enforcement agency just in case there are any cases pertaining to students and they need to identify them quickly.

Also, with the immigration department, we issue the national student identification card which never existed before. We try to provide all the services within one location and because of that EMGS is now also placed together with the international student unit of the department of immigration. So we can do the whole processing within one facility rather than going to many other facilities.

When we started back in 2013, we were only providing services to the private higher education sector. We have expanded to cover the students at international accredited centres and the department of skills department.

In March this year we also started covering students coming to language centres all over Malaysia. And from the first of April we started to provide services for public universities. So, now we cover entirely the adult students. To me I look at this- it took us about one and a half years- but the respective agencies now believe in the processes and services we are providing and more importantly, believe in the value added that we provide to the government in terms of monitoring, tracking and reporting the international student presence in Malaysia.

The PIE: So are you a private entity that’s been contracted by the government?

YH: No, we are actually a company limited by guarantee, so we are under the ministry of education. However, we are incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, directly under the administration of the ministry. Kind of like a government owned entity. We are a directly owned agency, our incorporation is like a company so that we can move and be pretty flexible.

At the moment, all applications are made directly to the institutions. There are currently no plans to make it compulsory

The PIE: Are there any plans to bring international schools under your coverage?

YH: Not yet. We are focussing on adult learners for the time being. International students’ presence here is predominately because their parents are here, but we do have a small amount of students coming solely on their own. We do have international students who come here on a daily basis from Singapore and return at the end of the day because the cost of primary and secondary education in Singapore is very very high.

The PIE: Are there any plans to create a mandate obliging students to apply to university through the EMGS website?

YH: At the moment, all applications are made directly to the institutions. There are currently no plans to make it compulsory. The EMGS is only a service the starts post-placement, however there have been talks where we would become more like the UCAS system proving the validity of the student comes first before they can apply to the university.

The PIE: The Malaysian government set a goal of having 200,000 international students by 2020 and now that that goal seems attainable, there appears to be shift toward recruiting quality students rather than just numbers.

YH: The part on the quality yes, but right now I haven’t seen the latest numbers. So I have about seven years to go before the heat turns up. We have seen a significant drop in the applications, but the number of visa issues remains high. In 2014 it increased significantly. We hope that this trend continues and if it does we should be ok. My immediate yard stick will be at the end of the year- our target is 150,000 for 2015. Then we see if the work for the past two years has brought fruit to the whole thing.

The PIE: Tell me about your strategy to reach this 200,000 goal?

YH: About 60% of the students coming to Malaysia are from OIC countries. For obvious reasons, students from the Middle East and Africa and other muslim countries prefer this as a destination. The Organisation of Islamic Countries consists of the GCC, the MENA region, even the former CIS countries, so one of the key factors is the moderation– being a Muslim country, but also being very modern and very open, very accepting. And we have seen over the past two years an increase in numbers coming from the UK and also from Europe and the US because of the partnership or collaborations they have with local universities.

We have seen a significant drop in the applications, but the number of visa issues remains high

We will continue to concentrate on our core, which is the OIC countries, but we are also enhancing our spread into new regions, looking at East Asia – China, South Korea and also Japan.

We’re also working with universities to start looking at specialised programmes they can offer – it may not be a full-blown degree programme but a shorter version focussing on mobility and also exchange programmes, because those seem to have good traction, especially among students from Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

The presence of the national foreign branch campuses also contribute to our growth. For the past three or four years we’ve seen the growth of foreign branch campuses in Malaysia, so some of those have fully completed their facilities, so they’ve started taking international students in from this year. They will bring a different group of students – those students who opted to go for a UK university but with an Asian experience instead of going directly to the UK.

The PIE: How will the blueprint, announced by the Ministry of Education last month, affect EMGS?

YH: We were mentioned twice in the blueprint: one is looking at possible reform in terms of immigration privileges for students and also for student coordinating. One of the things I’m pushing is to provide opportunities for international student graduates who studied here to be able to undergo an internship programme post-graduation, because the only way they can do that now is to get an employment visa. That would be an addition to them, and also making us more attractive because we have multinationals operating in Malaysia and the markets in Asia.

For international students looking at getting the best exposure in tropical biotechnology and life sciences, this is the place to be

The PIE: So with the new blueprint you’re looking to push for a one-year post study work visa?

YH: Basically, that’s one of the main points that we’re looking to propose, and we’re also looking at the source of data intelligence pertaining to international students. Once we have all the public and private universities under our management, we will be able to do real time, rapid reporting. So if you were to ask me today I could give you student data from the closing of yesterday, and we’ll be doing real time reporting on a weekly basis.

The PIE: How do you think the blueprint will affect Malaysia’s position as a study destination?

YH: As far as international students, the blueprint continues to put an emphasis on building and developing Malaysia as an international education hub. It’s also looking at the internationalisation of Malaysian universities. Because right now, while there have been instances where we have individual professors or faculty, or individual institutions going out for internationalisation, now it has been adopted as a kind of national strategy under the blueprint.

As far as I’m concerned it’s much easier to sell the country with focused specialisation. We cannot be the best in everything but we do offer certain areas that have a unique value position. For example, for international students looking at getting the best exposure in tropical biotechnology and life sciences, this is the place to be. We have various public institutes, the university research available where collaboration with multinationals is happening and by being here you have access to all this opportunity.

The PIE: What gets you out of bed every morning?

YH: I have always been working in education and training, but before I wasn’t working on the supply side. Personally I look at what the value this work can do for the neighbouring countries, as you notice a lot of the ASEAN and Asian countries are less developed and Malaysia now has the opportunity of becoming an important partner in training, developing and supplying those countries with the competence they require. We see ourselves as an outsource partner to train and develop the required talent in those countries. I find that to be fulfilling.