Malaysia's education system needs catching up: Economist
By Rupa Damodaran (NST)
MALAYSIA’S education system is expected to rate “honourably well” in the global competitiveness report that will be released next month, but it has a lot of catching up to do in terms of its secondary and tertiary segments, warned a leading economist.
Augusto Lopez-Claros, chief economist and director of the global competitiveness programme at the Geneva-based World Economic Forum, described the country’s current education levels —including the English proficiency level, as still low by international standards. “Don’t compare your achievements vis-à-vis 20 years ago, but that of the (education) standards of other economies,” he said at the Global Leadership Forum in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The Global Competitiveness Report 2005/2006 will be released next month. The Global Competitiveness Index looks at 90 variables in the calculation for the competitiveness for 125 countries and weighs factors differently depending on the stage of a country’s development.
Lopez-Claros said Malaysia should look to South Korea, Taiwan and Israel as benchmarks, saying that these countries are relevant competitors in terms of size and population and in terms of what they were 30 years ago, their experience and what they have done differently.
“For South Korea, it has put in far more emphasis on education and training than Malaysia judging by the school enrolment rates, quality of the universities, level of resources its government has put behind education and boosting the training of the labour force,” he added. This is evident looking at South Korea’s transformation from an agriculture economy (US$3,800 GDP per capita) to a high technology power today (US$20,000 GDP per capita), which acts as a successful story with lessons for the rest of Asia and the world.
Israel, he added, also evolved from a major citrus exporter to a high technology power house due to its enormous investment in education as well as close collaboration between the business and university communities.
Economies like Brazil, he said, which thrived 30 years ago before being overtaken by others, need this kind of cross feedback between the universities and business community.
“Malaysia too needs to be vigilant because other countries are moving quickly finding niches, cooperating with each other.” Countries have to be vigilant, looking at their history but also over their shoulders what other countries are doing. As economies become globalised, what the other countries are doing is becoming more and more important.
MALAYSIA’S education system is expected to rate “honourably well” in the global competitiveness report that will be released next month, but it has a lot of catching up to do in terms of its secondary and tertiary segments, warned a leading economist.
Augusto Lopez-Claros, chief economist and director of the global competitiveness programme at the Geneva-based World Economic Forum, described the country’s current education levels —including the English proficiency level, as still low by international standards. “Don’t compare your achievements vis-à-vis 20 years ago, but that of the (education) standards of other economies,” he said at the Global Leadership Forum in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The Global Competitiveness Report 2005/2006 will be released next month. The Global Competitiveness Index looks at 90 variables in the calculation for the competitiveness for 125 countries and weighs factors differently depending on the stage of a country’s development.
Lopez-Claros said Malaysia should look to South Korea, Taiwan and Israel as benchmarks, saying that these countries are relevant competitors in terms of size and population and in terms of what they were 30 years ago, their experience and what they have done differently.
“For South Korea, it has put in far more emphasis on education and training than Malaysia judging by the school enrolment rates, quality of the universities, level of resources its government has put behind education and boosting the training of the labour force,” he added. This is evident looking at South Korea’s transformation from an agriculture economy (US$3,800 GDP per capita) to a high technology power today (US$20,000 GDP per capita), which acts as a successful story with lessons for the rest of Asia and the world.
Israel, he added, also evolved from a major citrus exporter to a high technology power house due to its enormous investment in education as well as close collaboration between the business and university communities.
Economies like Brazil, he said, which thrived 30 years ago before being overtaken by others, need this kind of cross feedback between the universities and business community.
“Malaysia too needs to be vigilant because other countries are moving quickly finding niches, cooperating with each other.” Countries have to be vigilant, looking at their history but also over their shoulders what other countries are doing. As economies become globalised, what the other countries are doing is becoming more and more important.
posted by The Malaysian. at 8/03/2006 01:59:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home