On August 16th last year, Southern College (SC) in Johor, Malaysia, received the letter of approval it had been waiting for. Having been given permission by Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education to start running degree programmes, it is now, proudly, Southern University College (Southern UC). The Private Higher Educational Institutions Act of 1996 legislates for the upgrading of higher education colleges to universities by laying down a necessary transition period of between four and eight years for the management of such a momentous change. During this period the status of any institution undergoing this transition becomes that of a "university college" - which thus explains SC's new name.
This long anticipated development had been planned for since 2006, when its board of directors laid down a series of five-year plans to guide SC's future as a landmark educational institution in Southern Malaysia. The projected timeline for SC's expansion and upgrading includes becoming a fully-fledged university by 2020 and an internationally recognised one ten years later. And with last August's approval letter, it seems to be well on course to realise these ambitions.
The permission to offer degree level programmes at SC coincided with a similar expansion of the university sector on the other side of the causeway and at a symposium held in October of last year, representatives of three universities involved in the bi-national move to increase university participation rates met to present and exchange their views. The speakers from Southern UC were its Chairman of the Board of Directors, Datuk Teo Ah Kiang; its President, Dr Thock Kiah Wah; and its Senior Vice President, Professor Wong Yoon Wah. EduNation was there to listen to what they had to say about the history of Chinese education in Malaysia, the philosophy and pedagogy of Southern UC, and the direction that they wish to see higher education take in the future.
A Chinese Education Funded by the Chinese Community
In Singapore, education is largely funded by the government. However, across the border in Malaysia this is not the case. Chinese education, in particular, has had to fund itself. A long tradition of altruism, public subscription and donations has seen the Malaysian Chinese community and its friends create and support a whole network of educational institutions that have sought to preserve the Chinese language and culture. Originally, this network was made up of schools only, but after years of lobbying the permission to offer higher education opportunities as well was finally granted. Of the three higher education institutions in Malaysia that are now funded and managed independently by the Chinese community, SC is the first to be allowed to upgrade itself to a university - and thus fulfil the dream of the whole community to have a Chinese system of education that runs from Primary 1 to university graduation.
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马来西亚柔佛州南方学院去年8月16日正式接获高等教育部的批准信，获升格为大学学院，
