Japan plans to set up campuses of 3 universities in Malaysia

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VIENTIANE, Laos: Japan plans to set up branch campuses of three renowned Japanese universities including Tokyo Science University in Malaysia in line with efforts to make Malaysia a regional education hub, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said this was conveyed to him during his meeting with Japan’s Education Minister Shimokura Hakubun on the sidelines of the 8th Asean Education Ministers’ Meeting (ASED-8) here yesterday.

Speaking to Malaysian journalists here, he said the Education Ministry would study the proposals from the universities concerned which intended to use Japanese as the medium of instruction.

He deemed it to be an encouraging development after receiving a similar request to set up a Korean Institute for High School to cater to the needs of South Koreans living in Malaysia.

Five related meetings were also held on the sidelines of the two-day ASED-8 which ended yesterday, namely the 3rd Asean+3 Education Ministers’ Meeting; the 9th Asean Senior Officials’ Meeting on Education; the 5th Asean+3 Senior Officials’ Meeting on Education; the 3rd East Asia Summit Senior Officials’ Meeting on Education; and the 2nd East Asia Summit Education Ministers’ Meeting.

Delegates from Asean, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, India, New Zealand, Russia and the United States participated in these meetings.

Touching on his meeting with South Korea’s Education Minister Hwang Woo-Yea, Muhyiddin said he had raised the subject of having teacher and student exchanges between Malaysia and South Korea.

Muhyiddin also had a one-to-one meeting with Philippines Education Minister Armin Luistro who thanked Malaysia for providing education to its nationals living in Sabah.

On ASED-8, he said the members decided to increase cooperation to a higher level by having senior officals meetings annually instead of biennially.

He said they also agreed to have closer cooperation to create new education opportunities especially in vocational studies and information communication technology (ICT).

Muhyiddin also announced that Malaysia would host ASED-9 in 2016 with the dates to be determined later. — Bernama