Supporting postgraduate students from China in Malaysia through learning communities
List of Authors
  • Airil Haimi Mohd Adnan , Mohamad Safwat Ashahri Mohd Salim

Keyword
  • China, Malaysia, higher education, postgraduate students, learning community

Abstract
  • Malaysia is trying to position itself as a hub for higher education in Southeast Asia. In 2022, the number of international students in Malaysia is believed to be between 130,000 to 170,000 with an ultimate goal to increase the figure to 250,000 by 2025. Today, nearly half of the international students studying in Malaysia hails from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with a substantial number of postgraduates. These students need a lot of support, as highlighted by a PRC-based student recruitment and training provider called S/E International Education Group (S/E Group). Together with S/E Group, we assisted PRC postgraduate students through the creation of ‘learning communities’ both virtually and in real life. Our collaboration also resulted in the production of training materials for these students, especially video-based learning (VbL) ones. In this paper, we highlight some problems faced by PRC postgraduate students in a foreign country, the objectives of our collaboration with S/E Group and the process of helping the former. Data were collected through an online survey (42 respondents) and face-to-face interviews (eight participants invited from the survey stage). The efforts of our team with support from S/E Group in Shenzen, China have helped these students to adapt to life in Malaysia, and to perform more effectively at postgraduate level at local colleges and universities, both private and public. Not only does this collaboration contribute to the progress of Malaysia as a higher education hub, but it also ensures that the United Nation’s SDG-4 ‘quality education’ is realised.

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